Legislative Session Update for April 1

The Senate Retirement Committee met Monday, March 31 and four bills were on the agenda that would impact LASERS if passed:

·   SB 13, by Senator Peacock, advanced favorably. The LASERS Board of Trustees requested the change in the System's actuarial funding method from projected unit credit to entry age normal promoted through this bill. The legislation would also make changes regarding excess earnings to be applied to the Unfunded Accrued Liability (UAL) and the Experience Account; and regarding the payment of cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs).

·      SB 26, sponsored by Senator Guillory, advanced favorably. This bill would provide for the assessment of employer contributions to fund projected non-investment related administrative expenses for each of the state retirement systems. The LASERS Board of Trustees is neutral on this bill.

·        SB 27 was voluntarily deferred by Senator Walsworth. SB 27, which is supported by the LASERS Board of Trustees, would provide a supplemental benefit increase (amount is to be determined) payable from the Experience Account. 

·   SCR 5, sponsored by Senator Guillory, advanced favorably. This legislation would memorialize Congress to reduce or eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

The Senate Finance Committee met Monday, March 31 and voted to advance SB 18. This bill, supported by the LASERS Board of Trustees, would provide a 1.5 percent COLA for eligible retirees, survivors, and beneficiaries.

Please note that meeting schedules are subject to change. Check the LASERS website daily for updates and for detailed information about proposed retirement legislation.

New Video Explains Social Security Offsets

If you are interested in learning about the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or the Government Pension Offset (GPO), please watch our new video in the educational outreach series. This video explains how these federal offsets can affect your Social Security benefit if you receive a LASERS benefit. 

If you wish to be notified each time LASERS uploads a new video, we encourage you to subscribe to our channel by clicking the "subscribe" button located on the LASERS YouTube page.

Social Security - State Govt. Employee Information

The Social Security Administration has a web page dedicated to matters affecting state government employees.

Bear in mind that employees of the State of Louisiana are not covered by Social Security.

However, some provisions of Social Security law, such as the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) can affect Louisiana public pension system members or their spouses who have paid into Social Security in other careers, or who might receive survivor benefits from Social Security. The GPO and WEP can reduce the benefit you receive from Social Security.

Click here to visit the SSA "State and Local Government Employment" page.

House panel studies bill to save public-employee benefits

The House Ways and Means Committee considered legislation Wednesday that could reform 30-year-old Social Security laws some say are unfair to public workers.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, has about 336 supporters - three-quarters of the U.S. House.

"The people who need this bill made their Social Security payments for as long as they were required to. But they don't receive full benefits in return. Why? Because they also worked as public servants," Berman said after the hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee.

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) originally were designed to prevent those earning government pensions and Social Security spousal or survival benefits from "double-dipping" - or obtaining the
maximum benefits under both systems.

But the practical effect has been that retirees in California and 14 other states have their Social Security benefits chopped by about two-thirds if they take up a second career in the public sector after retiring from private employment.

Rep. Michael McNulty, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee on Social Security who convened the hearing, agreed that the rules are no longer working the way they were intended.

Berman called the laws "a classic case of the law of unintended consequences hard at work," and said he is hopeful Congress will repeal the provisions.

WEP/GPO hearing scheduled in Subcommittee on Social Security

The US House of Representatives will hold a public hearing on Social Security’s Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) on Wednesday January 16, 2008.

The WEP and GPO are provisions of federal law that reduce the Social Security benefits of recipients who also receive public pension benefits.

In announcing the hearing, Chairman McNulty stated “Hardworking public servants, widows, people with disabilities, and low-income workers and their families may face hurdles in achieving financial security in retirement, or in case of disability. Congress needs to consider the unique circumstances and vulnerabilities of these and other groups as we look to ensure that Social Security meets the needs of American families today and for generations to come.”

The Subcommittee will examine the needs and concerns of low-income workers, people with disabilities, public servants and other at-risk groups, as well as proposals to improve their economic security, and the costs of such proposals. The hearing will also consider the history and policy rationales for the GPO, the WEP, and exempting some public employees from Social Security coverage.

Anyone wishing to submit comments to the Subcommittee on Social Security regarding this topic can do so by clicking this link.

Social Security - State Govt. Employee Information

The Social Security Administration has a web page dedicated to matters affecting state government employees.

Bear in mind that employees of the State of Louisiana are not covered by Social Security. However, some provisions of Social Security law, such as the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) can affect Louisiana public pension system members or their spouses who have paid into Social Security in other careers, or who might receive survivor benefits from Social Security. The GPO and WEP can reduce the benefit you receive from Social Security.

Click here to visit the SSA "State and Local Government Employment" page.

Senate Committee Looks at Provisions of Social Security Law that Pinch Pensions

The Senate Finance subcommittee conducted hearings yesterday regarding provisions of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Both reduce the Social Security benefits of retirees who also receive a government pension that is not part of the Social Security system.

About a fourth of public employees do not pay into Social Security because they are in government-sponsored pension plans. That category includes federal employees hired before 1984, when Congress created a new federal retirement system and made Social Security part of it.

Many public sector retirees think they are unfairly penalized by the WEP and GPO, and a half-dozen bills have been introduced in Congress to repeal or modify the two provisions. One introduced by Sens. Susan Collins and Dianne Feinstein came up at the hearing yesterday.

The GPO "is most harsh for those who can least afford the loss, and that is lower-income women," Collins testified yesterday. The offset reduces benefits by more than $3,600 a year for more than 200,000 retirees, "an amount that can make the difference between a comfortable retirement and poverty," Collins said.

Efforts to repeal the two provisions have stalled, in large part because of the cost -- billions of dollars over the next decade. Some proposals would extend Social Security coverage to all state and local government employees, but that transition might be difficult to pull off, since many public pension funds rely on stock market investments for income.