The Texas Constitution grants the legislature the power to create a retirement system for elected officials.
Tex. Const. art. XVI, § 67. Pursuant to this power the legislature enacted laws creating the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS).
See Tex. Gov't Code tit. 8B (Vernon 1990). ERS defines a special class of membership for elected officials; this class includes holders of offices normally filled by statewide election (e.g., governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general), legislators, and district attorneys.
Tex. Gov't Code § 812.002(a)(1). The retirement benefit of the office of attorney general is properly termed a “defined benefit”.
An attorney general who chooses to participate in the program contributes six percent of his or her gross salary to the system; the state, in turn, contributes seven and four-tenths percent of the total compensation of all system members.
Id. §§ 815.402(a)(1), 815.403(a)(1). Upon retirement a member receives a life annuity in the amount of “the number of years of service credit in that class, times two percent of the state salary, as adjusted from time to time, being paid a district judge.”
Id. at
§ 814.103(a). Service credit is accumulated for each month a member holds any position in the elected class.
Id. § 813.201. Therefore, a member's years of service in each of the qualified offices in the elected class are totalled at the time of retirement to calculate the amount of the retirement annuity.