LASERS to try to level off Pension Plans

A second attempt at leveling the now-disparate pension plans of law enforcement members who work for various state agencies is planned by officials with the state employees’ retirement system.

“We have multiple plans for hazardous-duty employees and they are all broken,” said Cindy Rougeou, executive director of the Louisiana State Employees’ retirement System, called LASERS. “We need a uniform, comprehensive plan.”

LASERS is the umbrella system for most state employees, including those employed by the State Police, Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, the enforcement division of Wildlife and Fisheries and some in the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, such as wardens, and probation and parole officers.

Even within those agencies, there are separate retirement plans for different groups of employees, Rougeou said. When one group gets the state to raise their retirement benefits, others want more too, she said.

“The state cannot afford that,” Rougeou said.

During the last legislative session, LASERS tried to pass a bill, called the “Haz-Plan,” to create one retirement plan for all its members involved in law enforcement.

The retirement benefit specifics have not changed in the plan, only which employees are included. The Haz-Plan would only involve new hires, so no unfunded costs to the state would be incurred, Rougeou said.

LASERS Seeks to Consolidate Law Enforcement Plans

The Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System wants to replace the seven plans covering law enforcement officers with a single blanket policy.

LASERS Executive Director Cindy Rougeou said several current plans pertain to different employee groups, including probation and parole officers, peace officers, bridge police, Alcohol and Tobacco Control agents, and Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents.

The proposed legislation, to be introduced in the next legislative session, is intended to bring all these “hazardous duty” employees under one comprehensive plan instead of continuing to address each agency with piecemeal policies, Rougeou said.

Department of Revenue Secretary Cynthia Bridges, a LASERS board member, oversees the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.

Bridges said the comprehensive plan would put all hazardous duty officers on the same level. No group is expected to lose any benefits under the new plan, she said.

Rougeou said it may take a couple legislative sessions to get the plan to pass, but, “Unless we start, then it will never happen.”

The proposed law would only apply to hazardous duty employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2009. LASERS also is working on a transition plan for those in current hazardous duty plans who want to transfer to the new plan.