Regular Session News #3: Proposed benefit increase clears first legislative hurdle

Mar 28, 2022

The Senate Retirement Committee met today and reported Senate Bill 6 (Sen. Price) favorably. Senate Bill 6 authorizes a 2% permanent benefit increase (PBI) to eligible TRSL retirees, beneficiaries, and survivors calculated on the first $68,396 of their annual retirement benefit. The PBI would be payable on July 1, 2022.
 
If this legislation is enacted, individuals who meet the following criteria on July 1, 2022, would be granted a 2% monthly benefit increase:

• Regular retiree: Must have received a benefit for at least one year and be 60 years of age
• Disability retiree: Must have been retired at least one year regardless of age
• Beneficiary of retired member: Retiree or beneficiary (or both combined) must have received a benefit for at least one year, and the deceased retiree would have been 60 years of age at the time the PBI is payable
• Survivor of non-retired member: Must have received a benefit for at least one year and the benefits must have originated from the service of a deceased member who would have been 60 years of age at the time the PBI is payable

The committee amended and reported favorably  Senate Bill 10 (Sen. Morris and Sen. Luneau).  Senate Bill 10 bill would allow active and contributing Optional Retirement Program (ORP) members to transfer their ORP funds into the TRSL defined benefit retirement plan and receive service credit based upon their participation in the ORP by paying the actuarial cost of such credit. As amended, the bill would require the ORP member:

• to have been active and contributing to the ORP on May 1, 2022; and
• to submit an application to TRSL and pay any fees related to calculating the service credit purchase.

Additionally, the transfer of funds from an ORP-participant account to purchase service credit would be classified as a trustee-to-trustee transfer to a qualified plan.

Both Senate Bill 6 and Senate Bill 10 will go to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration.

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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.