Published: November 24, 2009 11:51 am      

11:45 a.m. Tuesday- Texas AG nixes extra $500 for retired educators

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A $500 bonus for about 250,000 retired educators, plus some retired state workers in Texas, won't happen because legislators improperly appropriated the funds.



Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday issued an opinion that says normal procedures for distributing the $155 million were not followed by the 2009 Legislature.



Lawmakers can set up one-time payments to retired teachers and state workers. But the ruling says legislators wrongly bypass trustees and sent the $155 million to the state comptroller's office, not to state pension funds.



Lawmakers earlier this year had said the $500 checks could be provided to the retirees only if the attorney general's office decided the funding complied with legal requirements.



Representatives of educator groups say they're disappointed.