Outcome of the 2018 Legislative Session
Almost two dozen retirement bills were introduced in the 2018 Regular Legislative Session that would have impacted LASERS if passed. However, only nine measures passed after the regular session closed more than two weeks earlier than originally scheduled. See the detailed list below for complete information on the 2018 Regular Legislative Session.
Updated: 06.04.18
Nine bills passed:
BILLS PASSED |
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Bill | Author | Summary |
Act 45 HB 34 |
Pearson | Requires a state or statewide retirement system with investments in international markets to allocate a portion of their investments to a terror-free fund, rather than a terror-free index fund. |
Act 595 HB 37 |
Brown | Provides for a disability benefit equal to 100 percent of final average compensation for members of the Hazardous Duty, Corrections Primary, Corrections Secondary, Wildlife and Harbor Police plans who are totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty by an intentional act of violence. |
Act 113 HB 38 |
Hollis | Provides for the formula for the distribution of COLAs in instances where the legislature or the system does not specify the terms of the COLA. COLAs for LASERS members are provided for by law; therefore, this formula will not apply to LASERS system-generated COLAs. |
Act 59 HB 874 |
Henry | Supplemental appropriations – appropriates $3,676,833 to LASERS to be applied to the IUAL. |
Act 224 SB 3 |
Peacock | Provides for a 100 percent survivor benefit for Hazardous Duty Plan members killed by an intentional act of violence. |
Act 397 SB 4 |
Peacock | Provides relative to the employment of actuaries and prohibits an actuary from performing duties that require the exercise of supervision or discretionary control over the administration or management of a retirement system. |
Act 215 SB 10 |
Peacock | Adds firefighters in the Department of Agriculture and Forestry to the Hazardous Duty Plan. |
Act 399 SB 13 |
Peacock | Provides that the chair and vice chair of PRSAC shall rotate between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or his designee, and the President of the Senate, or his designee, biennially. |
Act 225 SB 17 |
Peacock | Updates certain provisions related to the purchase of military service to comply with federal law, including the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). |
Fourteen measures failed to pass:
MEASURES FAILED |
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Bill | Author | Summary |
HB 11 | Ivey | Makes the members of the Public Retirement Systems’ Actuarial Committee (PRSAC), or their designees, fiduciaries of the state and statewide retirement systems while acting in such capacity. |
HB 12 | Ivey | Requires PRSAC, upon approval of a system valuation, to submit the approved valuation to the legislature, along with all additional assumptions and valuations that were submitted. The legislative auditor shall submit a summary of the disparities between the various assumptions and valuations to the legislature and the House and Senate Committees on Retirement. |
HB 21 | Ivey | Adds four members to PRSAC – two members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House and two members of the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate. |
HB 22 | Ivey | Sets a minimum employer contribution rate of 20 percent if the system is less than 100 percent funded or if the system reaches 100 percent funded status and the funded ratio later drops below 90 percent, and creates a funding deposit account. |
HB 23 | Ivey | Provides that no system shall invest more than twenty-five percent of its total portfolio in alternative investments. |
HB 24 | Ivey | Requires actuaries for the systems and for the legislative auditor to use uniform reporting standards, as prescribed by PRSAC, in presenting discount rates and assumed rates of return to the Committee. |
HB 39 | Ivey | Creates a new hybrid retirement plan for new hires on or after July 1, 2020. |
HB 42 | Jones | Provides for the merger of the Registrars of Voters Employees’ Retirement System into the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System. |
HB 43 | Pearson | Provides for the merger of the Registrars of Voters Employees’ Retirement System into the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System. |
HB 376 | Leger | Transfers $12,261,996 of nonrecurring revenues out of the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 surplus to the unfunded accrued liability of LASERS and TRSL. See HB 874. |
HB 379 | Henry | Transfers $12,261,996 of nonrecurring revenues out of the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 surplus to the unfunded accrued liability of LASERS and TRSL. [This bill was amended in committee to remove LASERS and TRSL. See HB 874, which appropriates nonrecurring revenues to LASERS and TRSL.] |
HB 701 | Jackson | Makes public defenders members of LASERS. Membership includes public defenders employed by or under contract with the Louisiana Public Defender Board, public defenders employed by a district indigent defender program that does not participate in the Parochial Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana, and public defenders under contract with a district indigent defender program. |
HB 883 | Leger | Supplemental appropriations – appropriates $3,676,833 to LASERS to be applied to the IUAL. See HB 874. |
SB 14 | Peacock | Provides for a new retirement plan for rank-and-file members whose first employment making them eligible for membership in LASERS occurs on or after January 1, 2020. |