House Bills Voluntarily Deferred

The House Retirement Committee met yesterday to consider five bills sponsored by Rep. Barry Ivey which would have an impact on LASERS if passed.

The following bills were opposed by the LASERS Board:

• HB 52 in its original form would have added four new members to the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee (PRSAC). Before discussing the bill, the author amended it to only add two members. After lengthy discussion about the role of PRSAC, the motion to report the bill favorably failed by a vote of 3 to 6. The author then voluntarily deferred the measure.

• HB 1092 would have required state retirement systems to use a uniform inflation assumption adopted by PRSAC in their annual actuarial valuations. Three actuaries representing the various state and statewide retirement systems explained the complicated process of setting the many assumptions used by the systems. The author voluntarily deferred the bill.

• HB 48 would have added five citizen members to the LASERS Board of Trustees. The author voluntarily deferred this bill without discussion.

• HB 917 would have removed the authority of the Board of Trustees to invest system assets, establish asset allocations, and set actuarial assumed rates of return. It would have created a Consolidated State Investment Committee. This bill was also voluntarily deferred without discussion.

HB 62 would have set a minimum employer contribution rate and created a funding deposit account for each state retirement system. The LASERS Board was neutral on this bill. The author indicated his intention to present this bill at a future meeting.