Regular Session News #7: House retirement committee moves return-to-work bills forward
Apr 13, 2018
The House retirement committee met this morning and passed the following bills affecting TRSL return-to-work retirees, which now head to the full House for consideration:- HB 13 (Rep. Miller) would add presenter of professional development 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 696 (Rep. Pearson) was originally a duplicate of HB 13 (see above). However, the bill was amended to instead add “tutor for any student in Pre-K 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.
- HB14 (Rep. Smith) would add interpreter, educational transliterator, or educator of the hearing impaired 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). One technical amendment changes the terminology relating to hearing impairment.” Other amendments adopted for the bill would allow for the following:
- Adds full- or part-time pre-K teachers to the list of “re-employment eligible critical shortage positions” allowing retirees to return to work (after the required waiting period and certification of shortage) without a reduction of benefits;
- Adds clerical office positions in K-12 schools to the list of “re-employment eligible positions” allowing retirees to return to work (after the required waiting period), subject to a 25% of annual benefit earnings limit; and
- Adds retirees who have been retired for at least five years to the definition of “re-employment eligible retiree” who can return to work (after the required waiting period) without a reduction of benefits. This would replace the current law’s ‘grandfather’ provision requiring “retirement on or before June 30, 2010.”
The Senate retirement committee is scheduled to meet on Monday, April 16 at 4 p.m. The following bills affecting TRSL are on the agenda:
- SB 530 (Sen. Milkovich) would require the TRSL Board of Trustees to review all investments and reduce the investment fees paid by half by June 30, 2025. The bill specifies that savings generated from the review and reduction of fees would be applied to pay down the UAL and to reduce employer contributions.
- HB 34 (Rep. Pearson) allows state and statewide retirement systems to allocate a portion of their investments to a terror-free fund rather than a terror-free index fund as currently required by law.
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.