Regular Session News #3: Senate committee OKs governance transfer bill
Apr 24, 2017
A bill to transfer governance of the Louisiana School Employees’ Retirement System (LSERS) to the TRSL Board of Trustees moved forward today in the Senate retirement committee.Senate Bill 11, authored by Senate retirement chair Barrow Peacock, would rename LSERS the Louisiana School Employees’ Retirement Plan (LSERP) and place governance of that plan under the TRSL Board. The bill would also dissolve the LSERS Board effective July 1, 2017.
LSERS provides retirement benefits for school bus drivers, maintenance workers, and janitorial personnel. The bill now moves to the Senate floor for a vote.
Other committee action included the following:
- SB 8 (Sen. Peacock) passed with amendments. It would provide for the correction of membership and enrollment errors in the public retirement systems.
- SCR 22 (Sen. Mizell) was passed. It asks Congress to consider eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) Social Security benefit reductions.
- SR 39 (Sen. Milkovich) passed with amendments. It urges and requests the state retirement systems to provide additional information in quarterly comprehensive investment reports to the Senate retirement committee.
Later this week: The House retirement committee is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m., Thursday, April 27. The tentative schedule includes the following bills affecting TRSL:
- HB 4 (Rep. Miguez) would add school nurses to the list of retirees who can return to work and continue to receive a benefit check, subject to a 25% earnings limitation.
- HB 31 (Rep. Hoffmann) would add school psychologists to the list of critical shortage positions in which a retiree can return to work without a reduction of benefits.
- HB 33 (Rep. Pearson), upon adjournment of the 2020 Regular Legislative Session, would make the chair of the House retirement committee an ex officio member of each state and statewide retirement system board, replacing the Speaker-appointed House retirement committee member. The bill also makes certain technical changes and clarifications regarding the ex-officio status of such legislators and legislative staff duties and rights.
TUNE IN & WATCH LIVE: You can watch live retirement committee meetings online at www.legis.la.gov. Click on the TV icon for any meeting in progress that you’d like to view. Archived broadcasts are available here.