Regular Session News #12: Substitute proxy voting bill moves forward

May 1, 2024

Today, the House retirement committee favorably reported a substitute bill for the investment-related House Bill 902 (Rep. Melerine). The substitute bill introduced by Rep. Melerine would to do the following:

• Generally, prohibit the governing authority of a La. public retirement system from voting on a shareholder-sponsored proposal recommendation from a proxy advisory firm unless the voting recommendation is consistent with the position of the board of directors of the business entity.
• Allow a proxy vote inconsistent with the recommendation of the board of directors if the proxy advisory firm agrees that its recommendation, advice, and analysis regarding the shareholder-sponsored proposal is in compliance with applicable law and is in the best financial interest of the system.
• Define a proxy advisory firm as an entity engaged in the primary business of providing proxy voting advice, research, analysis, ratings, or recommendations and which has a direct contractual relationship with the system.
• Provide that the retirement system is not required to proxy vote.

 The committee also amended and advanced House Resolution 169 (Rep. Bacala), which would establish a task force to study various aspects of the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) over the next year. The amendments reflected additional study considerations for the task force to undertake, including industry best practices and a comparison of employer contribution rates and accrued member benefits for the defined benefit plan and ORP.

Both the substitute bill and HR 169 move to the full House for consideration.
 

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TRSL will keep you informed about the status of bills being monitored throughout the session. You can view all meeting schedules and agendas on the Louisiana State Legislature website. Visit the Legislation page of this website, to see all legislation impacting the retirement system.

Stay tuned for future updates.