HLS 24RS-1500 ORIGINAL
2024 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 169
BY REPRESENTATIVE BACALA
RETIREMENT/TEACHERS: Creates a task force to study the Optional Retirement Plan
within the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana
1 A RESOLUTION
2To establish a task force to study the Optional Retirement Plan within the Teachers'
3 Retirement System of Louisiana in relation to the unclassified staff and faculty
4 recruitment and retention crisis faced by Louisiana's public postsecondary education
5 institutions and to report its findings to the House Committee on Retirement not later
6 than ninety days prior to the convening of the 2025 Regular Session of the
7 Legislature.
8 WHEREAS, higher education is facing a recruitment and retention crisis, and state
9public higher education officials have informed the legislature that current retirement options
10are limited and do not provide a flexible choice for unclassified staff and faculty and that a
11more flexible retirement option is needed to make Louisiana's public higher education
12institutions more competitive with other states, especially when seeking to retain or recruit
13individuals from among the limited pool within certain highly specialized disciplines; and
14 WHEREAS, the Legislature of Louisiana appreciates the leadership role of Louisiana
15public higher education institutions in accommodating Louisiana workforce needs through
16their programs and recognizes that because those programs often rely on
17industry-experienced faculty and staff, these higher education institutions are more likely
18to be affected by this lack of retirement option flexibility in their recruitment efforts to the
19detriment of the Louisiana workforce; and
20 WHEREAS, Louisiana public higher education institutions, which employ a majority
21of research faculty and staff, are also more likely to be affected by this lack of retirement
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HR NO. 169
1option flexibility in their respective retention and recruitment efforts for research personnel;
2and
3 WHEREAS, the Legislature created the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP), a defined
4contribution plan within the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL); the
5traditional TRSL plan is a defined benefit plan with a guaranteed pension, but the ORP is
6a defined contribution plan without a guaranteed pension, making the ORP unique among
7the plans available to public employees in Louisiana; and
8 WHEREAS, a participant in the defined contribution plan assumes all risk associated
9with the investment of his or her contributions and is not guaranteed a pension upon
10retirement or upon termination of employment prior to retirement, but rather, their individual
11retirement benefits are based on the value of the account at the time of the individual's
12retirement and solvency of the carrier; and
13 WHEREAS, in certain cases, public postsecondary education unclassified staff and
14faculty begin their careers with temporary appointments and are ineligible to enroll in the
15TRSL defined benefit plan; therefore they choose to enroll in the ORP; later when they have
16worked beyond two years and one day, which would otherwise make them eligible for the
17TRSL defined benefit plan, they cannot transfer because their ORP enrollment is
18irrevocable; and
19 WHEREAS, TRSL participants have a lifetime benefit guaranteed by the state of
20Louisiana; ORP participants have no lifetime guarantee; eligible TRSL participants receive
21disability and survivor benefits; ORP participants do not receive disability or survivor
22benefits other than the value of their ORP account at the time of disability or death; and
23 WHEREAS, ORP participants are subject to fluctuations in employer contribution
24rates because employer contribution rates are determined in part by TRSL's unfunded
25accrued liability burden even though ORP participants do not contribute to the system's
26accrued liability; and
27 WHEREAS, equitable employer contributions have not been made consistently on
28behalf of ORP participants; employer contributions have been less than Social Security
29contribution rates for a period of ten years; and
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HR NO. 169
1 WHEREAS, the ORP is within the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana, which
2has a board to represent interests of TRSL members; there is neither a board to represent
3interests of ORP participants nor a seat dedicated to ORP participants on the TRSL board;
4and
5 WHEREAS, although ORP participants do not receive a defined retirement pension,
6they are nevertheless subject to a reduction or elimination of any earned Social Security
7benefits through the Windfall Elimination Provisions and the Government Pension Offset;
8and
9 WHEREAS, the House of Representatives needs comprehensive, objective
10information on these and other aspects of the ORP to make informed decisions about
11possible adjustments to the laws providing for it.
12 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
13Legislature of Louisiana does hereby establish a task force to study the Optional Retirement
14Plan within the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana in relation to the unclassified staff
15and faculty recruitment and retention crisis faced by Louisiana's public postsecondary
16education institutions and to report its findings to the House Committee on Retirement not
17later than ninety days prior to the convening of the 2025 Regular Session of the Legislature.
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force hereby established shall examine
19aspects of the ORP program, including but not limited to:
20 (1) The requirement for ORP participants to contribute toward the unfunded accrued
21liability of the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana.
22 (2) How nonpension retirement plans are managed in other states.
23 (3) Advantages and disadvantages associated with selection of the ORP.
24 (4) Information about what other states offer to their respective public postsecondary
25employees.
26 (5) The feasibility of allowing a participant in ORP to change their decision to
27participate in the ORP.
28 (6) Options for a blended plan, including the possibility of different retirement plan
29options being available at various stages of a career, and the pros and cons of each such
30option identified.
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1 (7) Differences, if any, in the definitions of "higher education" and "postsecondary
2education" as these terms are used in laws establishing institutions and interpreted by TRSL
3in the administration of retirement plans.
4 (8) Other issues the task force believes the legislature should be aware of.
5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall be comprised of fifteen
6members appointed as follows:
7 (1) The Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System shall appoint
8three members, at least two of whom shall be Optional Retirement Plan participants and one
9of those shall be a faculty member in a hard-to-recruit research, scientific, or medical
10discipline.
11 (2) The Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and
12Mechanical College shall appoint three members, at least two of whom shall be Optional
13Retirement Plan participants and one of those shall be a faculty member in a hard-to-recruit
14research, scientific, or medical discipline.
15 (3) The Board of Supervisors of Southern University and Agricultural and
16Mechanical College shall appoint three members, at least two of whom shall be Optional
17Retirement Plan participants and one of those shall be a faculty member in a hard-to-recruit
18research, scientific, or medical discipline.
19 (4) The Board of Supervisors of Community and Technical Colleges shall appoint
20two members, at least one of whom shall be an Optional Retirement Plan participant.
21 (5) The Board of Regents shall appoint two members, at least one of whom shall be
22an Optional Retirement Plan participant.
23 (6) The board of trustees of the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana shall
24appoint two members, at least one of whom shall be an Optional Retirement Plan participant.
25 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the appointing authorities shall submit the names
26and contact information for their appointees, no later than July 1, 2024, to the commissioner
27of higher education, who shall call the first meeting of the task force no later than August 1,
282024.
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HR NO. 169
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that at the first meeting, the members of the task
2force shall elect a chair and such other officers as it deems necessary; the chair shall call
3subsequent meetings.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Board of Regents shall provide staff for the task
5force, and task force members shall serve without compensation and without reimbursement
6of expenses associated with participation or travel except that which they are entitled to from
7their employers.
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)]
HR 169 Original 2024 Regular Session Bacala
Establishes a task force to study the Optional Retirement Plan within the Teachers'
Retirement System of La. and to report its findings to the House Committee on Retirement
not later than 90 days prior to the 2025 R.S.
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