Regular Session News #9: Two House RTW bills move to the full House
Apr 20, 2022
Today, the House Retirement Committee reported the following RTW bills favorably:
- House Bill 22 (Rep. Edmonds), as amended, would increase the earnings limit per fiscal year to 50% of the retiree’s final average compensation (FAC) under Option 1 of the 2020 RTW law for retirees who retired before December 31, 2021. The earnings limit would be in effect from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025, after which it would revert to the current 25% of FAC. Of the two amendments, one amendment was technical in nature, and the other amendment revised a provision in the bill that would allow a larger pool of retirees to be eligible for the increased earnings limit should they become re-employed with a TRSL-participating employer.
- House Bill 1021 (Rep. McFarland, DeVillier, Edmonds, Frieman, Harris, and Romero) would amend the 2010 RTW law to allow an employer to hire a RTW retiree certified in any area to fill critical shortage vacancies. The bill would also change employer advertising and posting requirements for declaring a critical shortage as follows:
- requires the employer to post on its website for a period of 10 days and publish at least once in the official journal of the employer's governing authority a notice that a critical shortage of certified positions exists/positions sought to be filled; and
- removes the requirement that the employer must post notice with the designated career development entities within a 120-mile radius.
- House Bill 26 (Rep. Romero) would increase the earnings limit per fiscal year for RTW retirees from 25% to 50% of the retiree’s FAC for those who returned to work for the first time on or after July 1, 2020, under Option 1 of the 2020 RTW law.
- House Bill 30 (Rep. Frieman) would repeal the 2010 RTW law and enact a new RTW law, which would authorize K-12 retirees to return to work under the following conditions:
- the retirement benefit of the RTW retiree would not be suspended or reduced;
- neither the retiree nor the employer would make contributions to TRSL for the duration of the re-employment; and
- the retiree would not earn service credit during re-employment.
(For retiree of colleges, universities, vo-tech schools, and BESE special schools, the 2020 RTW law would still apply.)
Other news:
On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee reported House Bill 592 (Rep. Zeringue) favorably with amendments. This bill would make a supplemental appropriation of $48.1 million to the TRSL initial unfunded accrued liability (IUAL) from a portion of the FY 2020-21 surplus funds in the state treasury as required by the Constitution. The amendments were unrelated to the TRSL appropriation. House Bill 592 will now go to the full House for consideration.
Additionally, the full House passed House Concurrent Resolution 11 (Rep. M. Johnson), which urges and requests state legislatures to ask Congress to review and eliminate or reduce the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) Social Security benefit reductions. The resolution also requests that the Louisiana Attorney General explore legal action to restore benefits lost to the GPO and WEP. House Concurrent Resolution 11 will now be considered by the Senate Retirement Committee.
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.