The state pension fund for volunteer firefighters and emergency medical responders meets Aug. 24 to take up a definition of fraud for its rulebook, adopt a budget for next year and elect its own officers.
The Texas Emergency Services Retirement System is small and unusual. Departments that rely on unpaid responders can choose to join; the city or county then pays a monthly amount for each member, and the members themselves pay nothing. There are about 3,300 active members and 4,065 retirees drawing benefits across 238 participating departments, on a fund of roughly $152 million. Participants get no cost-of-living increases and, in most cases, no Social Security credit for the service. A full benefit takes fifteen years of qualified service and age 55.
Three rules committee items sit together on the agenda. One is the fraud definition; the others are the rule that lets a department join the system and the rule that governs a department leaving or being thrown out. The exit rule is the consequential one — it requires 120 days’ notice, immediately vests every affected member regardless of age or service, and bills the local government a share of the system’s unfunded liability on the way out. No proposed text for any of the three has appeared in the Texas Register or on the agency’s site, so these read as decisions about whether to publish a proposal rather than final action.
The fund’s numbers give the budget item its edge. The share of promised benefits covered by assets has slipped from about 84 percent in 2022 to roughly 74 percent in 2025, leaving about $52 million unfunded. The more telling figure moved the other way: the time it would take to pay that down collapsed from 100 years in the 2024 valuation to 30 years in 2025, after the Legislature removed a cap that had limited the state’s contribution to a third of what local governments put in and required the state to pay an actuarially determined amount instead.
The board also elects a chair, vice chair and secretary, with three trustees seated only this month. Watch whether the fraud rule is described in enough detail to tell what conduct it would reach.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 10 a.m. CT Monday, August 24, 2026. The notice was filed the night of August 16.
- Where
- Texas Commission on Fire Protection conference room, 4800 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite 140, Austin, with a Zoom option.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Emergency Services Retirement System — nine trustees the governor appoints: five active members, one retiree and three with finance or pension experience. Jerry Romero chairs, subject to this meeting’s election.
- Format
- In person and by videoconference; the presiding trustee attends in person. Public comment comes near the top of the agenda.
- Live video
- No video archive. Meetings are recorded as audio and posted with agendas and minutes at tesrs.org; copies also on request.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · system home page
Board of trustees
- Jerry Romero, El Paso — chairman; finance seat, reappointed August 2026.
- Matthew Glaves, Alvin — vice chair; retiree seat, reappointed August 2026.
- Rupal Chaudhari, Leander — secretary; financial expert seat.
- Chris Anderson, Santa Fe — fire chief; appointed August 2026.
- Matt Hohon, Granbury — fire chief; appointed August 2026.
- Edward J. Keenan, Houston — firefighter seat.
- Lindsay Price, Seabrook — towing captain and EMT; appointed August 2026.
- Rodney Alan Ryalls, Burkburnett — firefighter seat.
- Brian Smith, Austin — investment professional seat.
The roster follows the system’s trustees page, cross-checked against the governor’s August 7, 2026 appointment release. Officer titles are those held going into the meeting and may change at it. The agency’s own page and the Pension Review Board give different term lengths for trustees, four years against six; that conflict is unresolved. Executive director: Jessica Almaguer.