HLS 20RS-195 REENGROSSED 2020 Regular Session HOUSE BILL NO. 15 BY REPRESENTATIVE COUSSAN RETIREMENT/LOCAL: Provides for membership of certain new hires of the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government in the Parochial Employees' Retirement System of Louisiana 1 AN ACT 2To amend and reenact R.S. 11:1753(C) and 1923(C), relative to the Municipal Employees' 3 Retirement System of Louisiana and the Parochial Employees' Retirement System 4 of Louisiana; to provide with respect to membership of certain employees in 5 Lafayette; and to provide for related matters. 6 Notice of intention to introduce this Act has been published 7 as provided by Article III, Section 13 and Article X, Section 8 29(C) of the Constitution of Louisiana. 9Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana: 10 Section 1. R.S. 11:1753(C) and 1923(C) are hereby amended and reenacted to read 11as follows: 12 §1753. Membership of employees after consolidation; Terrebonne Parish; Lafayette 13 Parish 14 * * * 15 C.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, including 16 Subsection A of this Section, any employee first employed on or after November 1, 17 2010, and prior to November 1, 2020, by any department created by the Home Rule 18 Charter for the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, other than Page 1 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 20RS-195 REENGROSSED HB NO. 15 1 employees first employed by the police and fire departments who are enrolled in the 2 Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System or the Firefighters' Retirement 3 System, and any employee first employed on or after November 1, 2010, by the City 4 Court of Lafayette, inclusive of the office of marshal, but exclusive of the judges of 5 the city court, shall, as a condition of employment, become members of the 6 Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Louisiana if they otherwise satisfy the 7 membership eligibility requirements therefor. 8 (2)(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any 9 employee first employed on or after November 1, 2020, by any department created 10 by the Home Rule Charter for the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, 11 other than employees first employed by the police and fire departments who are 12 enrolled in the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System or the Firefighters' 13 Retirement System, and any employee first employed on or after November 1, 2020, 14 by the City Court of Lafayette, inclusive of the office of marshal but exclusive of the 15 judges of the city court, shall, as a condition of employment, become a member of 16 the Parochial Employees' Retirement System of Louisiana if he otherwise satisfies 17 the membership eligibility requirements therefor. 18 (b) If any position with the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government 19 covered by this system on June 30, 2020 is eliminated from system coverage after 20 October 31, 2020, then the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government shall 21 remit that portion of the unfunded accrued liability existing on June thirtieth 22 immediately prior to the date of elimination which is attributable to the eliminated 23 position. 24 (c) The amount due shall be determined by the actuary employed by the 25 system using the entry age normal funding method and shall be paid in a lump sum 26 or amortized over ten years in equal monthly payments with interest at the system's 27 actuarial valuation rate in the same manner as regular payroll payments to the 28 system, at the option of the employer. The cost of this calculation shall be paid by 29 the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government. Page 2 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 20RS-195 REENGROSSED HB NO. 15 1 (d) Should the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government fail to make 2 a payment timely, the amount due shall be collected in the same manner as 3 authorized by Subsection E of this Section and R.S. 11:1864. 4 * * * 5 §1923. Membership of employees after consolidation; Terrebonne Parish; Lafayette 6 Parish 7 * * * 8 C.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, including 9 Subsection A of this Section, any employee first employed on or after November 1, 10 2010, and prior to November 1, 2020, by any department created by the Home Rule 11 Charter for the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, other than 12 employees hired by the police and fire departments who are enrolled in the 13 Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System or the Firefighters' Retirement 14 System, and any employee first employed on or after November 1, 2010, by the City 15 Court of Lafayette, inclusive of the office of marshal, but exclusive of the judges of 16 the city court, shall, as a condition of employment, become members of the 17 Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Louisiana if they otherwise satisfy the 18 membership eligibility requirements therefor. 19 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any 20 employee first employed on or after November 1, 2020, by any department created 21 by the Home Rule Charter for the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, 22 other than employees hired by the police and fire departments who are enrolled in 23 the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System or the Firefighters' Retirement 24 System, and any employee first employed on or after November 1, 2020, by the City 25 Court of Lafayette, inclusive of the office of marshal but exclusive of the judges of 26 the city court, shall, as a condition of employment, become a member of the 27 Parochial Employees' Retirement System of Louisiana if he otherwise satisfies the 28 membership eligibility requirements therefor. Page 3 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 20RS-195 REENGROSSED HB NO. 15 DIGEST The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)] HB 15 Reengrossed 2020 Regular Session Coussan Abstract: Relative to the Municipal Employees' Retirement System (MERS) and the Parochial Employees' Retirement System (PERS), provides that certain employees of the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government (LCG), first employed on or after Nov. 1, 2020, shall no longer be members of MERS but shall instead be members of PERS. Present law, relative to MERS, provides that employees of participating incorporated cities, towns, or villages in La. shall be members of MERS. Present law, relative to PERS, provides that any permanent employee of a parish shall be a member of PERS. Present law, relative to both MERS and PERS, provides that if the governing authorities of a municipality and a parish consolidate into one government, those members who were members of MERS at the time of consolidation shall remain members of MERS. Those people employed after such consolidation shall become members of PERS. Present law provides that notwithstanding present law, any employee of the LCG first employed on or after Nov. 1, 2010, who is in a department created by the LCG Home Rule Charter, except for police and firefighters, shall become a member of PERS. Present law also includes certain employees of the city court. Proposed law, applicable to the same groups of Lafayette employees, provides that those hired on or after Nov. 1, 2020, shall become members of PERS instead of MERS. Proposed law requires the LCG to remit payments to cover the unfunded accrued liability for each position covered by MERS on June 30, 2020, that is eliminated from system coverage after Oct. 30, 2020. (Amends R.S. 11:1753(C) and 1923(C)) Summary of Amendments Adopted by House The House Floor Amendments to the engrossed bill: 1. Require the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government to remit payments to cover the unfunded accrued liability associated with each position covered by MERS that is eliminated from system coverage after Oct. 30, 2020. Page 4 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions.