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SB 1 by Sen. Price was signed by the Governor and is now Act 46, which became effective June 30, 2024. The Act specifies, that for transfers between systems, “employer contributions” are defined as only those employer contributions that are actuarially required. The MPERS Board supported this bill.
HB 963 by Rep. DeWitt was signed by the Governor and is now Act 462, which becomes effective on August 1, 2024. The MPERS Board supported this bill. The Act will help MPERS retirees who want to return to work for a municipality full or part-time in a non-police role or in a part-time police role.
Currently, if a retiree returns to work either as a part-time employee, contract employee, or a full-time employee not covered under MPERS, his retirement benefit will be suspended during any employment that occurs within 12 months of the retiree's retirement. There are two exceptions to the suspension provision. One is for a police officer employed for not more than 50 hours per month. The other applies to employment as an elected official other than a police chief.
Act 462, beginning August 1, 2024, reduces the period during which benefits are suspended from 12 months to 90 days of the retiree's retirement.
HB 15 by Rep. Fontenot was signed by the Governor and is now Act 536, which became effective on June 10, 2024. The MPERS Board supported this bill.
If you're an MPERS retiree thinking about returning to work full-time, these changes may be helpful. In fact, MPERS retiree Tim Henderson spoke with WAFB about them recently.
Present law, generally applicable to full-time reemployment, provides that if a retiree becomes an employee, payment of retirement benefits is suspended, and the employee and employer contribute to the system toward creditable service. Upon termination of post-retirement employment, the retiree shall receive an additional retirement benefit based on his additional service.
Act 536 provides that the following two groups of retirees will not have their retirement benefits suspended, provided that they are first employed as a full-time employee no sooner than 90 days following their date of retirement and file with MPERS, within 30 days after the effective date of their employment, a written irrevocable election to not receive additional service credit or accrue any additional MPERS benefit:
- MPERS retirees who retire as a police officer during the period beginning July 1, 2024 and ending June 30, 2026; and
- MPERS retirees who retired on or before January 1, 2024 and who first subsequently become a full-time employee on or after June 10, 2024 and before July 1, 2028, if they retired with at least 25 years of service credit OR retired with between 20 and 25 years of service credit AND have attained the age of 55.
During such employment, the retiree and his employer must make contributions to MPERS. Upon termination of employment, employee contributions paid since reemployment shall, upon application, be refunded without interest, to the retiree. The retirement system shall retain the employer contributions and interest on the contributions.
The Act also provides that an elected chief of police who is prohibited from continuing employment as a chief with the same employer due to term limits may retire with seven years or more of service, at age 62 or older, if he is not otherwise eligible for retirement. Any chief retiring under this provision shall provide sufficient documentation to the retirement system proving that he meets these requirements and shall irrevocably elect not to receive additional service credit or accrue any additional retirement benefit in the retirement system if he subsequently becomes reemployed. Such election shall be in writing and filed with the board of trustees before the effective date of the retiree's retirement. During any subsequent employment, the retiree and his employer shall make contributions to MPERS. Upon termination of subsequent employment, employee contributions paid since reemployment shall, upon application, be refunded, without interest, to the retiree. MPERS shall retain the employer contributions and interest of the contributions.
The Act also essentially codifies La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 21-0062 regarding employees required to be enrolled in MPERS. In addition to police officers, any employee (1) who is employed full-time in the police services of a municipality, (2) who is under the direction of a chief of police, (3) who is paid from the budget of the applicable police department, and (4) whose duties call for services to be rendered by one person must be enrolled in MPERS. Individuals meeting these criteria are eligible for membership in MPERS without regard to whether their positions fall within the classified or unclassified service.
Beginning July 1, 2024, the Act eliminates the requirement to be paid from the police department budget and requires that employees meeting this specific definition of employee (and no other) must be enrolled in MPERS and not any other retirement system. Those who were not a full-time police officer and who on June 30, 2024, met this definition of employee only and was enrolled in another municipal retirement system is not an employee. All other must be enrolled in MPERS immediately.
The Act contains certain exceptions for Baton Rouge "law enforcement employees."
Finally, the Act also includes provisions that allow certain elected officials who are enrolled in MPERS and are eligible, for the same employment, for membership in another statewide retirement system to terminate membership in MPERS upon enrollment in the other system. These officials may retire from MPERS if they are eligible to do so.
HB 43 by Rep. Bacala was signed by the Governor and is now Act 673, which becomes effective on July 1, 2024. The MPERS Board supported this bill.
The provision that you may be interested in the most is the extension of the DROP participation period from a maximum of 36 months to a maximum of 60 months (from 3 years to 5 years). This applies to all members who enter into DROP on or after July 1, 2024.
The Act provides that qualifying survivor's benefits are payable upon application therefor and become effective as of the day following the death of the member if the fully completed application is received by the system by the later of September 20, 2024, or one hundred and twenty days after the date of death. If the system does not receive a fully completed application by this deadline, the benefits become effective on the date the fully completed application is received and become payable not later than the first month following thirty days from the date that the system receives the fully completed application for benefits.
The Act also clarifies language regarding eligibility for retirement under MPERS' subplans.
With regard to employers, the Act contains a number of changes.
First, for each member that they employ, they are required to submit a fully completed membership enrollment form, a copy of the birth certificate and Social Security card for each member and his beneficiaries, and a fully completed physical examination form by the later of ninety days after the member became eligible for membership or October 1, 2024. And, if a member submits an affidavit pursuant to R.S. 11:157 opting out of membership, such affidavit shall not be effective until the date that all of these documents pertaining to the member are provided to MPERS.
Also, the Act makes some changes to employer reporting. Any municipality that, within the previous five fiscal years, employed any police officer or chief of police, regardless of whether such person met the definition of employee, is a "mandatory reporter" who must electronically submit to MPERS a contributions report no later than the 15th of each month. A mandatory reporter that employed no police department employee during the previous and current fiscal year shall only be required to electronically submit an annual contributions report to the retirement system and certify that it employed no employee in the current fiscal year no later than the fifteenth day of July of the following fiscal year. This process is literally as simple as checking a box on a website.
Further, the Act provides that if a mandatory reporter submits a contributions report that is in error as to the earnable compensation of any member, such an error results in an overpayment of benefits by the system, and the system is unable to recover through reduction of the member's benefits, the mandatory reporter is liable to the system for the amount of overpayment and shall reimburse the system for the full amount of all such overpayments within thirty days after notification of the discovery of the error or overpayment.
The Act also contains certain changes to the law regarding payment of the unfunded accrued liability by employers who either dissolve or partially dissolve their police departments, including requiring payments to be made electronically.
Finally, the Act includes provisions allowing elected board members to continue to serve for the remainder of their term (if less than two years) as long as they remain a MPERS member or retiree.
HB 42 by Rep. Firment was vetoed by the Governor.
Visit the Louisiana State Legislature website at legis.la.gov for details of all legislation.
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