Agency Information

The Texas State Pension Review Board was created in 1979 by House Bill 1506, 66th Legislature (Chapter 801, Government Code), as an independent state agency to oversee and review state and local government retirement systems in Texas.

Our mission is to provide the State of Texas with the necessary information and recommendations to help ensure that our public retirement systems, whose combined assets total in the multi-billions, are actuarially sound, benefits are equitable, the systems are properly managed, tax expenditures for employee benefits are kept to a minimum while still providing for those employees, and to expand the knowledge and education of administrators, trustees, and members of Texas public retirement systems.

The PRB is the sole ongoing oversight mechanism for Texas public retirement systems. To fulfill its mission requires the combined effort of the systems, their sponsoring governmental entities, and other members of the Texas public pension plan community. The PRB remains focused on helping ensure that retirement benefits are securely provided at the lowest cost to the taxpayers.

FY 2021-2022 Biennial Accomplishments

During the 2021-2022 biennium, the agency implemented new legislation by adopting rules and a compliance policy for Funding Soundness Restoration Plans, updating guidance for Investment Practices and Performance Evaluations, and providing educational presentations and materials to further assist retirement systems with the new requirements. Throughout this process, the PRB relied significantly on stakeholder involvement to ensure rules, policies, and guidelines were as helpful, effective, and clear as possible.

Additionally, the PRB conducted and published two intensive reviews in 2021 and 2022 and invited prior reviewed plans to give updates on their progress towards better funding. The review process encouraged systems experiencing funding problems to work with their governmental sponsors to develop a plan to guide them towards stability in the future. Some previously reviewed systems made major reforms and progress in working with their sponsors to remedy their long-term funding situation, such as by increasing contributions, paying off unfunded liabilities with pension obligation bonds, and establishing guardrails to mitigate future funding issues.