Regular Session News #13: Return-to-work bill clears another legislative hurdle
May 3, 2024
Yesterday, the Senate finance committee favorably reported return-to-work (RTW) legislation, House Bill 967 (Rep. Riser). HB 967 proposes to do the following:For retirees who retired before July 1, 2020: Allow these retirees to return to work part-time after a 12-month waiting period in certain critical shortage positions without a suspension or reduction in retirement benefits. [Under current law, retirees reemployed in these critical shortage positions must work full-time to avoid impacting their benefits.]
For retirees who retired on or after July 1, 2020: Add a critical shortage provision to the law that, after a 12-month waiting period, allows these retirees to return to work:
- Full-time/Part-time: PreK-12 classroom teacher (in a specific subject area), or
- Full-time/Part-time: In certain critical shortage positions (same as referenced above) without a suspension or reduction in retirement benefits if they are directly reemployed by a TRSL-reporting employer. [NOTE: Those reemployed by contract or corporate contract, such as a staffing agency, will continue to have their benefits suspended for the duration of their reemployment.]
In other news:
On Wednesday, the full House passed Senate Bill 1 (Sen. Price). SB 1 would add clarifying language in the law related to employer contributions eligible for transfer to another Louisiana public retirement system when a member requests to transfer their service credit to another system in which they become eligible for membership. SB 1 now awaits the governor’s signature.
Coming up next week…
The following legislation is scheduled for Senate final passage next week:
- House Bill 31 (Rep. Freiberg) would provide a window for active, contributing ORP participants to join the TRSL defined benefit plan. The ORP is a defined contribution retirement plan similar to a 401(k). For details on the provisions of House Bill 31, please read our April 12 Legislative Update.
- House Concurrent Resolution 20 (Rep. M. Johnson) asks Congress to review the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Social Security benefit reductions and to eliminate or reduce them by supporting H.R. 82 and S. 597 of the 118th Congress and all similar purposed legislation.
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.