Regular Session News #14: PBI funding bill goes to House Retirement Thursday
May 17, 2023
The House Retirement Committee will consider Senate Bill 18 (Sen. Price/co-sponsored by Senate President Cortez) at 10 a.m., Thursday, May 18 (agenda).SB 18 would establish a new model for providing permanent benefit increases (PBIs) to retirees and beneficiaries of the four state retirement systems for teachers, state employees, school employees, and state police. For details on the provisions of SB 18, please read our May 2 Legislative Update.
Other news:
On Tuesday, the full House unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 67. and House Concurrent Resolution 69 by Rep. Mike Johnson.
- HCR 67 requests that Congress take actions necessary to review the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Social Security benefit reductions and eliminate or reduce them by supporting H.R. 82 and S. 597 of the 118th Congress and all similar federal legislation.
- HCR 69 urges and requests the House and Senate Retirement Committees to study and make recommendations regarding benefit options for future state employees to avoid penalties associated with the GPO and WEP Social Security benefit reductions. TRSL and other state and statewide retirement systems would be asked to participate.
Additionally, the full House amended and passed House Concurrent Resolution 70 (Rep. Beaullieu), which requests the State Treasurer and the directors of the state and statewide retirement systems report on investments, investment funds, investment advisors, and other companies used by the treasurer or systems that meet certain criteria. The amendments were technical in nature.
All three resolutions now go to the Senate for consideration.
House Bill 47 (Rep. Nelson) failed to pass the full House. HB 47, a proposed constitutional amendment, would have required a minimum of 25% of nonrecurring state revenue to be appropriated to the unfunded accrued liabilities (UALs) of the four state retirement systems for teachers, state employees, school employees, and state police, beginning FY 2024-25.
On Tuesday, the House and Governmental Affairs Committee amended and deferred Senate Bill 201 (Sen. Hewitt). SB 201 relates to certain public bodies and would require the adoption of rules and procedures to allow a member of the public body with an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-recognized disability to participate in certain meetings via electronic means and to adopt rules and procedures regarding electronic public participation in in-person meetings. The amendments were technical in nature.
SB 201 is expected to be reconsidered at the committee’s meeting next week.
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 Legislature page of this website, to see all legislation impacting the retirement system.
Stay tuned for future updates