Sec. 2054.131. ELECTRONIC BENEFITS ENROLLMENT AND ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM

(a) In this section, "work site benefits plan" means a plan or other arrangement to provide to officers, employees, or former officers or employees:

(1) insurance, including health, life, and disability insurance and health benefits plans;

(2) flexible spending accounts; or

(3) savings or retirement benefits.

(b) If the State Council on Competitive Government and the Legislative Budget Board each determine that a cost savings may be realized through a private vendor selected under this section, the State Council on Competitive Government may implement a project that establishes a common electronic infrastructure through which each state agency, including any retirement system created by statute or by the constitution, shall:

(1) require its work site benefits plan participants to electronically:

(A) enroll in any work site benefits plans provided to the person by the state or a state agency;

(B) add, change, or delete benefits;

(C) sign any payroll deduction agreements to implement a contribution made to a plan in which the participant enrolls;

(D) terminate participation in a voluntary plan;

(E) initiate account investment changes and withdrawals in a retirement plan;

(F) obtain information regarding plan benefits; and

(G) communicate with the plan administrator; and

(2) administer its work site benefits plans electronically by using the project to:

(A) enroll new plan participants and, when appropriate, terminate plan participation;

(B) generate eligibility and enrollment reports for plan participants;

(C) link plan administration with payroll administration to facilitate payroll deductions for a plan;

(D) facilitate single-source billing arrangements between the agency and a plan provider; and

(E) transmit and receive information regarding the plan.

(c) The electronic infrastructure established under Subsection (b) may include the state electronic Internet portal, the Internet, intranets, extranets, and wide area networks.

(d) If the State Council on Competitive Government implements an electronic infrastructure project under this section, the State Council on Competitive Government shall select and contract with a single private vendor to implement the project. The contract must require the application of the project to all state agencies without cost to the state until the project is initially implemented.

(e) The private vendor selected under Subsection (d) must offer existing information resources technology for use in the project that:

(1) will be available to all state agencies, including retirement systems;

(2) includes each agency's work site benefits plan participants;

(3) will use, to the extent possible, the department's information technology standards, including information security, privacy and disaster recovery, and Internet-based technology standards;

(4) includes applications and a supporting platform that are already developed and used in connection with the electronic enrollment of work site benefits plans offered by other multiple plan providers;

(5) is available for use with a wide variety of plan and benefit providers;

(6) can be easily modified to permit changes in benefits offered by the state or a state agency;

(7) provides a solution to overcome limitations caused by the incompatibility of different legacy systems used by different state agencies and plan providers;

(8) is available for use over the Internet through existing or new websites or portals; and

(9) is supported, to the extent necessary, by:

(A) laptop and desktop enrollment and administration capabilities; and

(B) a telephone call center.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., 3rd C.S., ch. 10, Sec. 13.01, eff. Oct. 20, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 973 , Sec. 19, eff. June 17, 2011.