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Regular Session, 2010
SENATE BILL NO. 14
BY SENATOR APPEL
RETIREMENT BENEFITS. Provides relative to the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement
System (LASERS) and allows for a change in beneficiary for purposes of joint and survivor
annuities.(7/1/10)
AN ACT1
To amend and reenact R.S. 11:416(A)(3)(a) and to enact R.S. 11:446(G), relative to the2
Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System; to allow for a change in beneficiary3
in certain circumstances and in relation to certain supplemental benefits; to provide4
for an effective date; and to provide for related matters.5
Notice of intention to introduce this Act has been published.6
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:7
Section 1. R.S. 11:416(A)(3)(a) is hereby amended and reenacted and R.S.8
11:446(G) is hereby enacted to read as follows:9
§416. Employment of retirees10
A. Regardless of age, if a retiree of the system is engaged or hereafter11
engages in employment which otherwise would render him eligible for membership12
in the system, he shall choose one of the following irrevocable options:13
* * *14
(3)(a) Option 3. The retiree may request immediate suspension of his benefit15
and become a member of this system, effective on the first day of reemployment.16
Upon such regaining of membership, he shall contribute thereafter at the current17 SB NO. 14
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contribution rate as applicable to his position. Upon subsequent retirement, his1
suspended retirement allowance shall be restored to full force and effect. In addition,2
if he has worked and contributed for at least thirty-six months, his retirement3
allowance shall be increased by an amount attributable to his service and average4
compensation since reemployment based on the computation formula in effect at the5
time of subsequent retirement. If he has been reemployed for a period less than6
thirty-six months, upon termination of reemployment the contributions paid by the7
retiree since his reemployment shall, upon application, be refunded to the retiree. In8
no event shall the member receive duplicate credit for unused sick and annual leave9
that had been included in the computation of his original retirement allowance. Any10
supplemental benefit shall be based on reemployment service credit only and shall11
not include any other specific amount which may otherwise be provided in the12
regular retirement benefit computation formula. In the event of the member's death13
prior to subsequent retirement, payment of benefits to the designated beneficiary or14
survivor shall be in accordance with the option selected by the member at the time15
of his original retirement. No change in the option originally selected by the member16
shall be permitted except as provided in R.S. 11:446(C) and (G). In no event shall17
the supplemental benefit exceed an amount which, when combined with the original18
benefit, equals one hundred percent of the average compensation figure used to19
compute the supplemental benefit. Under no circumstances shall any person who has20
regained membership pursuant to the provisions of this Paragraph be allowed to21
purchase service credit for any period employed in the state service during which he22
continued to draw his retirement allowance.23
* * *24
§446. Mode of payment where option elected25
* * *26
G. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, if any27
reemployed retiree, upon his initial retirement, selected a former spouse as his28
beneficiary pursuant to Subsection A of this Section, such reemployed retiree29 SB NO. 14
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shall be permitted to name his current spouse as beneficiary for the purposes1
of any supplemental benefit accruing after the date of his reemployment, to the2
extent that any service credit upon which such supplemental benefit is based did3
not accrue during his marriage to his former spouse. Upon subsequent4
retirement, the retiree shall select an option under Subsection A of this Section5
to apply to the supplemental benefit.6
Section 2. The cost of this Act, if any, shall be funded with additional employer7
contributions in compliance with Article X, Section 29(E)(5)(b) of the Constitution of8
Louisiana.9
Section 3. This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2010; if vetoed by the governor10
and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become effective on July 1,11
2010, or on the day following such approval by the legislature, whichever is later.12
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Lauren B. Bailey.
DIGEST
Present law (R.S. 11:416) allows a retiree of the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement
System (LASERS) to be reemployed in a LASERS-covered position. Provides various
"options" for how the retiree's benefit is affected by the reemployment, from which the
retiree must make an irrevocable choice at the time he becomes reemployed. Present law
Option 3 allows the reemployed retiree to earn a supplemental benefit.
Present law provides that no change in the mode of payment originally selected by the
person pursuant to present law (R.S. 11:446) is permitted except in the case of correction of
an administrative error.
Present law (R.S. 11:446) generally provides for various modes of payment of retirement
benefits from which a LASERS member may choose when he applies for retirement.
Generally, a member may elect to receive the "maximum" benefit payable throughout his
life, or he may choose the actuarial equivalent of his benefit in a reduced allowance payable
throughout his life, with a named beneficiary to receive some amount after the retiree's
death. Present law provides various "options" to the member for choosing an allowance
amount to be paid to a beneficiary upon his death. Generally, no change in the option or the
designated beneficiary may be made once the application for retirement has been filed.
Proposed law allows a reemployed LASERS retiree who previously named a prior spouse
as beneficiary upon retiring initially to designate his current spouse as beneficiary for the
purposes of any supplemental benefits that accrued after his reemployment, but only to the
extent that such supplemental benefit did not accrue during his marriage to his previous
spouse. Proposed law requires such person to select the form of allowance pursuant to
present law for the purposes of such supplemental benefit.
Proposed law requires that any cost of proposed law shall be funded with additional
employer contributions in compliance with Art. X, §29(E)(5)(b) of the state constitution. SB NO. 14
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Effective July 1, 2010.
(Amends R.S. 11:416(A)(3)(a); adds R.S. 11:446(G))