LRTA Legislative Update #7: Another “Right” Turn on the Road to a COLA! SB 6 Passes House Retirement and Other Important Updates

The 2022 Regular Legislative Session has passed the mid-way mark and the legislature is ramping up on bills. On May 5, Senate Bill 6 by Senator Ed Price PASSED the House Retirement Committee. SB 6 would provide for a two percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to retirees age 60 and over and retired at least one year. This means we are almost to the last stop on our Road to a COLA! SB 6 will move on to the full House of Representatives.

Start mailing your letters of support to your representatives now! Download our Golden Letter template to write your letter on, or you may use regular notebook or copy paper if you prefer. In addition, you can download a Word Document sample letter here or a PDF sample letter here to use as a guide as you write your letter. To find your Representative’s contact information, click here.

Or, click here to ask your representative to SUPPORT SB 6. We will send another Action Alert when the House is close to voting on SB 6.

 

 

We had another great showing of members at the House Retirement Committee meeting. Thank you to our members who joined us at the Capitol. There is strength in numbers, and our members showing up to the Capitol is a physical reminder of this ideal.

House Bill 25 by Rep. Danny McCormick was also on the agenda for the House Retirement Committee. This bill, in its original form, would severely restrict state and statewide retirement systems’ abilities to invest in certain companies. LRTA OPPOSED this bill. Several amendments were made to the bill so that it would instead require the retirement systems to report on their investment portfolios once a year and would end in three years. Ultimately, Rep. McCormick voluntarily deferred the bill. Another huge success!

The legislature is also making progress on several other bills that could impact retired teachers or the retirement system. On May 4, the House and Governmental Affairs Committee heard House Bill 405 by Rep. Mark Wright, which called for a full constitutional convention (included Article X of the Louisiana Constitution, which contains the lifetime benefit guarantee for retirees). LRTA OPPOSED this bill. HB 405 failed in committee.