Lawmakers could no longer ‘double-dive’ into pension funds under a recently filed bill

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On Friday, state senator Joan Huffman filed a bill that would bar longtime lawmakers from increasing their annual pay by $140,000 by cutting their pensions before retirement.

Senate Bill 1509 will repeal a state law provision passed in the 2021 session that allowed longtime legislators who maximized their annuities in the state pension system to “double dip” while collecting their pension payments while continuing to work and collecting salaries. Pension payments increase with years of service and are generally capped at the maximum civil servant salary to be earned at retirement. But state legislators who receive a $7,200 annual salary have pension benefits tied to the salaries of state district judges who earn $140,000, meaning legislators who remain in office may be able to receive retirement benefits. which far exceed their salaries in the state.

Huffman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The provision went into effect in September 2021 after lawmakers in the House of Representatives quietly added it as an amendment last session to a major bill designed to close a $15 billion hole in the employee pension system. Huffman returned the bill to the Senate in the final days of the session and was forced to pass it with an amendment, but told reporters she would work to remove the provision in the next session.

This provision applies to all public employees who have served enough years to maximize their pension payments, but state legislators, unlike other eligible employees, work only part-time. To maximize their rent, civil servants typically have to work 43.5 years. This meant that only three legislators—State Senator John Whitmire, D-Houston, and State Representatives Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, and Tom Craddick, R-Midland—were eligible for benefits. (Other legislators may have received benefits because the employee pension system allows employees to buy or transfer seniority credits.)

Whitmire, who is running for mayor of Houston, said he turned down the benefit when it went into effect in 2021. Legislators had to give up their annuities while continuing to work. Thompson and Craddick remain silent on the matter.

Whitmire accused Craddick of instigating a change in the law despite the bill being introduced by Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood. Neither Craddick nor Bonnen responded to this accusation.

Huffman, a Republican from Houston, is a major player in the Senate and chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which deals with financial and budgetary matters. It’s unclear whether Bonnen, who chairs a similar committee in the House of Representatives, will support the bill.