LASERS Active Members Invited to Attend RSEA Meetings for Legislative Update

The annual Retired State Employees Association (RSEA) chapter tour begins February 28 and will meet in the cities of Shreveport, West Monroe, Pineville, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Scott, Houma, Covington, and Metairie. Active LASERS members are encouraged to attend the chapter meetings. LASERS Executive Director Cindy Rougeou and Deputy Director Maris LeBlanc will provide a complete update on the 2012 Legislative Session proposals impacting members of the retirement system. Presenters will be available to take questions at the conclusion of each meeting. Active state employees are also eligible to join RSEA. Visit http://www.rseala.com/ for more information. 2012 RSEA Annual Chapter Meeting Schedule: Shreveport Chapter Tuesday, February 28 at 10:00 a.m. North West LA Technical College 2011 North Market Street, Building E Shreveport, LA Monroe Chapter Wednesday, February 29 at 9:30 a.m. West Monroe Convention Center 901 Ridge Avenue West Monroe, LA Alexandria Chapter        Thursday, March 1 at 9:30 a.m. Main Street Community Center 708 Main Street Pineville, LA Baton Rouge Chapter Wednesday, March 7 at 9:30 a.m. Lod Cook Alumni Center (LSU Campus) 3838 West Lakeshore Drive Baton Rouge, LA Lake Charles Chapter Thursday, March 8 at 10:00 a.m. Lake Charles Civic Center (Contraband Room) 900 Lakeshore Drive Lake Charles, LA Acadiana/Lafayette Chapter Friday, March 9 at 9:30 a.m. Fezzo’s III 100 Lions Club Road Scott, LA Coastal Chapter Tuesday, March 13 at 9:30 a.m. Quality Hotel 210 South Hollywood Road Houma, LA North Shore Chapter Wednesday, March 14 at 10:00 a.m. Greater Covington Center (Bogue Falaya Hall) 317 North Jefferson Covington, LA New Orleans Chapter Thursday, March 15 at 10:00 a.m. Landmark Hotel 2601 Severn Avenue Metairie, LA

Resolution of the Board of Trustees of LASERS

At its January 27, 2012 meeting, the LASERS Board of Trustees approved the following resolution directing LASERS Executive staff to intensify its efforts addressing critical issues facing the System and its members:

The Board of Trustees of the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS), is empowered, in accordance with both Article X, Section 29 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 and Title 11 of the Revised Statutes, to act with broad authority relative to the establishment and maintenance of said retirement system; and

The Board of Trustees of LASERS is at all times cognizant of its fiduciary responsibility to discharge its duties with respect to the system in the exclusive interest of the members and beneficiaries thereof; and

The Board of Trustees of LASERS has determined that fulfillment of this duty may from time to time include recognition of significant board issues as well as urging that action be taken thereon;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees of LASERS does hereby express that the following matters have reached such a critical state of importance to system members so as to elevate them to the status of significant board issues:

1. Identification and implementation of a legislatively enacted mechanism for the funding and granting of an annual cost-of-living adjustment for eligible system retirees in a reliable and dependable manner;
2. Preservation of the defined benefit plan for current and future LASERS members; 

3. Preservation of Board autonomy as well as its primary composition of elected active and retired system members; and

4. While continuing to oppose mandatory social security participation, seek the reduction or elimination of the federal offsets, the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset.

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT The Board of Trustees of LASERS does hereby direct its executive staff to actively and diligently pursue the furtherance of said significant board issues through various means, including but not limited to the conveyance of this resolution to system members, as well as to all appropriate entities including the provision of substantive information and testimony before said entities where possible, as well as working in conjunction with other retirement systems.

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT The executive director of LASERS shall report quarterly to the Board of Trustees on all LASERS activities conducted in furtherance of this resolution.

Said resolution having been adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System this 27th day of January 2012.

Connie Carlton
Chair of the Board

LASERS Board Members Take Oath of Office

Four newly elected members took the oath of office to serve on the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System (LASERS) Board of Trustees which met on January 27, 2012.

Thomas Bickham, Department of Public Safety and Corrections, and Shannon Templet, State Department of Civil Service, were sworn in for four-year terms chosen by active members of LASERS. Connie Carlton, retired from LASERS, and Barbara McManus, retired from the Department of Social Services, were sworn in for four-year terms as members chosen by retirees.

Thomas Bickham is an active member Trustee who is currently the Undersecretary for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections with over 18 years of experience as a state employee. Mr. Bickham began his career with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, serving as Undersecretary from 1999 to 2004 and from 2006 to 2008. He has a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from Mississippi State University.

Connie Carlton is a retired member Trustee who was re-elected to serve on the LASERS Board of Trustees. During her tenure on the Board, Ms. Carlton served as Board Chair for three terms and Investment Committee Chairman for five terms. She is the Immediate Past-President of the Retired State Employees Association (RSEA), and was the first active state employee elected to serve on the Board of RSEA. Ms. Carlton is retired from LASERS with 28 years of state service. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Masters of Library and Information Science.

Barbara McManus is a retired member Trustee who was also re-elected to serve on the LASERS Board. During her 35-year tenure on the Board, Ms. McManus served as Board Chair eight times, both as an active and retiree, and Chair of the Investment Committee three times. She has served on the board of RSEA and the Eagle Credit Union Board. She was recently appointed to serve on the Board of Commissioners for the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District. Ms. McManus is retired from the Department of Children and Family Services with over 30 years of state service.

Shannon Templet is an active member Trustee who currently serves as Director of the State Department of Civil Service. She has over 21 years of state service in human resources management. Prior to her current position, Ms. Templet served as Human Resources Director for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Ms. Templet has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Louisiana State University.

Senator Elbert Guillory, Chair of the Senate Committee on Retirement, joined the LASERS Board as an ex officio member, replacing retiring Senator D.A. "Butch" Gautreaux. Representative Kevin Pearson, Chair of the House Committee on Retirement and Treasurer John Kennedy also serve as ex officio members.

The Trustees re-elected Connie Carlton as the 2012 Board Chair and Barbara McManus as 2012 Vice Chair.

Sheryl Ranatza, recently retired from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, was re-elected to her active seat on the Board without opposition. However, Ms. Ranatza announced her resignation as an active member Trustee prior to the January Board meeting, creating an open slot. The LASERS Board will appoint a replacement to serve a two-year term until the next LASERS election is held in 2013. The LASERS Board of Trustees election takes place every odd-numbered year. LASERS Trustees serve staggered four-year terms.

The 12-member policy-making Board has fiduciary oversight over LASERS.

Federal Tax Documents Have Been Mailed

Federal 1099-R tax documents for 2011 have been mailed to retirees and beneficiaries.

Retirees that have not received theirs by February 7, or that need a duplicate copy, can download it by accessing retiree self-service under the retiree tab at the top of the LASERS website at www.lasersonline.org. Beneficiaries that don’t have access to retiree self-service, and that have not received theirs by February 7, please contact LASERS for a duplicate copy.

If you have questions or need to report an error, please call LASERS at 225.922.0600 or 1.800.256.3000.

Should you have questions regarding the information on your 1099-R, we suggest that you contact your tax advisor.

LASERS Responds to Governor's Pension Reform Plan

The Governor announced his pension reform plan to the Rotary Club in Baton Rouge on January 25 and LASERS Executive Director Cindy Rougeou had the following response:

Addressing public pension debt in a meaningful and constitutional manner is important and has been supported by LASERS.

An example of meaningful reform is Act 992 of 2010 which addressed all four state plans, including teachers and hazardous duty members.

Singling out rank and file members, as is being proposed, raises serious questions of fairness and focuses the proposal on only a small portion of the UAL.

Promises to current employees must be kept. Changing the rules in the middle of the game for mid-career employees is not a promise kept.

Louisiana has been refining its defined benefit (DB) plans for state employees since 2005. Other states are just now implementing many of the reforms Louisiana has already put in place.

Appropriating surplus funds is another effort that has a meaningful impact on system debt. LASERS recommendation of reform to change the actuarial cost method will free up funds that can be used to reduce system debt.
A cash balance plan for new hires, depending on how it is structured, can be a viable option. But it would not reduce the debt. And of course, portability does nothing to retain a stable work force.

Because states last in perpetuity, any comparison of our state to Kodak is curious at best. Numerous studies (including a 2005 PAR report) have concluded that a defined benefit (DB) plan is the best fit for Louisiana.

Policy Experts: Public Pensions Should Be Strengthened, Not Eliminated

Traditional pensions are still the most efficient way of guaranteeing retirement security for workers. The economy benefits too, as pensions are a highly efficient source of financing that ultimately provides income and jobs for others. If states go the route of replacing them with 401(k)-style plans, it will end up costing them more in the long run. There’s also an adverse impact to society when Americans, after a career of working hard to provide for their families, become vulnerable and angry because they could not retire with dignity.

These are the conclusions shared by a panel of state leaders and policy experts at a press briefing yesterday at the National Press Club. Participants took turns separating fact from fiction on budget and policy proposals regarding defined benefit pensions.

Leading the panel was New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli who called Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to create a new pension system – including an optional 401(k)-style account for newly hired workers – “unacceptable.”

“I am a firm believer that defined contribution systems are simply not adequate,” he said. “In times of fiscal distress, we should be focusing on ways to strengthen public pension plans, not take them away.” He reminded everyone that “New York has one of the strongest pension funds in the country because it has been managed and funded responsibly over the years.”

North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell decried the fearmongering and the tendency by some states “to react with broad, drastic changes that could negatively impact defined benefit systems that are working well.” She called for “thoughtful, fact-based conversations on a state by state basis to determine what the best plan is for public workers.”

“The existing public pension system has provided retirement security for tens of millions of workers,” added Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “There is no reason that it cannot continue to do so for decades into the future.”

Hank Kim, executive director of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, pointed out that the public pension model is “a key pillar for retirement security” and can be extended to the private sector.

Lending an eloquent voice to those who don’t have retirement security was Dolores Bresette, a retired Rhode Island state worker and a member of AFSCME Retiree Chapter 94.

“I contributed 9 percent of my salary to my pension fund during the 37 years I worked for the state,” she said. “Now, after years of saving and preparing for my retirement, so much of what I and thousands of other public workers were promised by the state is being taken away. I am angry – angry that something like this could happen when I played by the rules all of my life.”

Rhode Island cut the cost of living adjustments to state workers’ pensions. To Bresette, that adds up to approximately $70 a month.

National Public Pension Coalition of which AFSCME is a leading member. The Coalition engages in state-based activities in support of public employee defined benefit pension systems.


by Jon Melegrito | January 20, 2012

Special Prestige License Plate for Retired State Employees

During the 2010 Regular Legislative Session, HB 96 by Thibodaux Representative Dee Richard was passed by the Louisiana Legislature and became law (Act 89) upon signature of the Governor. The law authorizes the creation of a special prestige license plate for retired state employees, known as the “State Employee Retired” plate.


The law further provides that there must be a minimum of one thousand (1,000) applicants for such plates before the plates are put into production. The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) has generously allowed the Retired State Employees Association (RSEA) to collect the names of applicants who must be retired members of the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System and receiving retirement benefits payments from LASERS.


RSEA is gathering names of retirees who are interested in purchasing the special prestige plate. The cost of the plate includes an initial (one-time) fee of $25, a $3.50 handling fee and a renewal fee, which is the same as renewal for a regular license plate. The $25 one-time (initial) fee will be disbursed by OMV to LASERS to be used for the sole purpose of paying down a portion of the state’s unfunded liability obligation.


If you are interested in the “State Employee Retired” special prestige license plate, please contact the office of the Retired State Employees Association (RSEA) toll free at 866.938.0961 or local number 225.930.0961 and provide your name and contact information. Your expression of interest does not require any submission of funds at this time or obligation to purchase the license plate in the future. RSEA will compile the data and when one thousand retiree names have been obtained, we will notify OMV to proceed with design and production of the plates.


*Editorial Note: RSEA wishes to thank OMV retiree, Mr. Cecil Melancon of the RSEA Coastal Chapter,for his dedication and hard work on the prestige plate project.