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Reminder about Year-end Closing Deadline
All salaries and contributions must be reported by 7/15/2015 and exceptions must be cleared by 7/24/2015. If you have any questions or need help with clearing exceptions, contact Kimberly Stewart at 225.925.4411, kstewart@lsers.net or Chenfei Zhou at 225.925.6492, czhou@lsers.net. _______________________________________________________
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Legislative Wrap-up
The 2015 Regular Legislative Session certainly came down to the wire, but at the strike of 6 PM on June 11th it was OVER. While most of the focus of this session was on the budget, LSERS was focused on all bills which would have impacted the system and its members (active and retirees).
There were four main bills which the LSERS Board and staff tracked closely during this session. In the end only one, the COLA bill, gained final passage in both houses of the legislature but was vetoed by the Governor.
- In its original form, House Bill 42 by Rep. Jones authorized a maximum 1.5% COLA for eligible retirees of the four state retirement systems to be paid out of the experience account. During its meeting on May 18, 2015, the Board passed a motion to request the COLA amount be adjusted to a maximum of 2% for LSERS if this COLA reaches final passage as LSERS has reached a level of funding allowing for a 2% COLA to be granted in 2016 based upon ACT 399 of 2014 and the funds to pay for such COLA had been placed into the experience account. An amendment allowing for up to a 2% COLA for eligible retirees of LSERS was adopted in the Senate Committee on Retirement. HB 42 gained final passage in the last minutes of the session. However, Governor Jindal Vetoed the bill on June 19, 2015.
Other instruments which didn’t quite make it through the legislative process this year included:
- Senate Bill 16 by Chairman Guillory would have provided clarification of administration and actuarial implications of the elements of ACT 399 of the 2014 Session (COLA reform). The Board voted to Support this bill.
- Senate Bill 14 by Chairman Guillory would have required payment of administrative expenses annually rather than amortization of such costs. The Board took a Neutral position on this bill.
- House Bill 11 by Rep. Price would have provided exceptions to the required payment of unfunded accrued liability resulting from privatization of positions.The Board took No Position on this bill.Instead, the Board instructed LSERS staff to work with the author on some language which may be acceptable. This bill was voluntarily deferred and evolved into House Concurrent Resolution 130 by Rep. Price which requests LSERS and the Louisiana School Boards Association to develop and implement an appeals process for audits of privatized positions.LSERS welcomes the opportunity to work with the School Boards Association to formalize an appeal process.
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Return-to-Work Retirees Online Enrollment and Form 15, Salary Reporting
As we announced a few months ago, employers will begin enrolling return-to-work retirees online through LSERSWeb effective July 1, 2015. This applies to both retiree groups (earnings limit and certified shortage of full-time bus drivers). The online enrollment will replace the paper Form 15N for both retiree groups. Also, the Form 15 used for monthly reporting of salary earned by those under earning limits will be replaced with online reporting. This change for reporting purposes will only affect the earnings limit retirees where their salaries are currently submitted by Form 15 on a monthly basis.
If you have questions about this new process, contact Chenfei Zhou at 225.925.6492 or czhou@lsers.net.
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Retirement Education Opportunities
Out with the old…In with the new! My how time flies! It’s that time again when new faces loom on the horizon and senior employees become more interested in their retirement benefits. We are here to offer retirement education at any level and would like to make ourselves available for your orientations, mandatory in-service meetings, or any other group event with lots of participants. If we cannot visit in person, perhaps we can assist through electronic media such as webinars or video conferencing.
If we have not already contacted you to offer our educational services, please feel free to contact our Education Specialist, Patty Traylor at ptraylor@lsers.net to discuss future dates and times for these education opportunities. Thanks and hope you have a terrific summer!
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Retirement Annual Salary (RET) File Due
August 15, 2015
In order to comply with LSERS requirements for reporting earnable compensation, each applicable employer must submit to LSERS an annual retirement salary file for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. The salary file should contain all individuals (not only LSERS’ members) paid by this employer. For bus drivers or other similarly situated employees do not include payments for reimbursement for operational expenses that are not subject to retirement contributions.
If you have any questions, contact Larisa Ellard, LSERS internal auditor, at 225.925.7492 or via email lellard@lsers.net.
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