ERS Board of Trustees nominations starting soon (state agencies only)

February 01, 2023

Tweet

The Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) will accept nominations March 1 until March 31 at 5 p.m. CT to fill one of three elected positions on the ERS Board of Trustees.

Why you should participate in the Board of Trustees election

At ERS, we know you value your benefits-and so does the ERS Board of Trustees. One way to ensure you are represented in benefit discussions is to participate in the upcoming Board election to help fill the Board seat currently held by Catherine Melvin of the Department of Public Safety. Her term ends Aug. 31, 2023.

The ERS Board of Trustees makes important decisions regarding member benefits such as:

• designing plans for your health care and pharmacy benefits,
• selecting third-party administrators of health insurance and other benefit programs, and
• authorizing new programs.

The Board also manages the Texa$aver^SM 401(k) / 457 Program and oversees the ERS Retirement Trust Fund, which invests state, agency and member pension contributions.

Who can run

State of Texas agency employees who are contributing to the ERS Retirement Trust Fund and state agency retirees who are getting an annuity from ERS can run to serve on the ERS Board of Trustees.

• Please note: In this year's election, employees of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) cannot run because those agencies already have representation on the Board. But, TxDOT and HHSC employees can nominate candidates from other agencies, sign a nomination petition and vote in the election.

Nomination petition process

Each potential candidate must submit a petition with the signatures of at least 300 ERS members and retirees qualified to vote in the trustee election. ERS encourages potential candidates to gather between 400 and 500 signatures to allow for invalid entries. ERS will count a nomination petition signature only if:

• the member's printed first and last name, ZIP code and date of birth are legibly included,
• the person matches a member of the ERS plan and
• the member's signature appears only one time for only one candidate. If a member signs a nomination petition for more than one candidate, ERS will not count the member's signature for either candidate.

Potential candidates also will have the option to gather voters' electronic signature (e-signature) on a dedicated ERS nominations website. A potential candidate can contact the ERS election coordinator at [email protected] on or after March 1 to request a personalized electronic nomination site platform.

The questionnaire and other nomination materials will be available on the ERS websiteMarch 1.

The process to electronically sign a nominee's petition is simple (and very similar to how members vote online in Board elections). On the dedicated ERS nominations website, the member will log in by typing in their known credentials: their ZIP code, date of birth, and portions of their first and last names. Using the known credentials, the website will automatically authenticate their eligibility to sign a nomination petition.

Signed nomination petitions and questionnaires are due to ERS March 31 by 5 p.m. CT. ERS will certify the candidates on April 13.

Who can vote?

Voting will take place May 12 - June 16.

ERS members and retirees can vote for an ERS Board candidate if they:

• have an ERS account balance as of Jan. 31, 2023 or
• are retired state employees who get an annuity from ERS.

More information

Look for more information about the Board election-including the questionnaire and other nomination materials available on March 1-on the ERS Trustees Election and Appointments webpage and in upcoming issues of News About Your Benefits.