Regular Session News #14: RTW bill clears another hurdle; several bills achieve final passage

May 11, 2018

An amended HB 14 (Rep. Smith) was recommitted to the Senate finance committee, which passed the bill on Thursday, May 10. HB 14 would add full-time interpreter, educational transliterator, or educator of the deaf or hard of hearing and full- or part-time PreK teachers to the list of “re-employment eligible critical shortage positions” allowing retirees to return to work without a reduction of benefits (after the required waiting period and certification of shortage). HB 14 will now be considered by the full Senate.

Bills achieving final passage

The full Senate passed another return-to-work bill, HB 13, by Rep. Miller. This bill, as amended, would add presenter of professional development and tutor for any student in PreK through twelfth grade to the list of “re-employment eligible positions” allowing retirees to return to work and continue to receive a benefit check (after the required waiting period), subject to a 25% of annual benefit earnings limit. HB 13 would also change references of “K-12 teachers” to “PreK-12 teachers” in the critical shortage category, and reaffirm that retirees can be hired as testing proctors in a temporary capacity (subject to a 25% of annual benefit earnings limit). HB 13 is now pending House concurrence, scheduled on Wednesday, May 16.

The full House passed the following bills this week:

• SB 17 (Sen. Peacock) would create consistency among state and statewide retirement systems in the application of state and federal law related to military service credit purchases. This bill has been sent to the governor for final approval.  
• SB 4 (Sen. Peacock) would restrict the duties of Board-appointed actuaries to actuarial matters and would reaffirm the ability of state and statewide retirement systems to appoint independent actuaries. This will be sent to the governor for final approval.
• SB 6 (Sen. Peacock) would prohibit a TRSL member with at least five years of TRSL service credit from retaining membership in TRSL if they move to a position covered by the Clerks' of Court Retirement and Relief Fund. Technical amendments were adopted by the full House. This bill moves back to the Senate for concurrence.
• SB 13 (Sen. Peacock) would remove the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee (PRSAC) from the state Department of Treasury and would restrict chair and vice-chair duties on PRSAC to the Senate President and House Speaker or their designees. This bill will be sent to the governor for final approval.

A complete list of legislation affecting TRSL, along with the positions taken by the TRSL Board of Trustees for each bill, is available on the legislation page of our website, www.TRSL.org.