Changes to Louisiana state pension plan

The New Orleans Times Picayune reports:

Gov. Kathleen Blanco may soon have to decide between one of two bills aimed at trimming retirement benefits for new state employees.

Already on her desk is a bill by Rep. Pete Schneider, R-Slidell, that says state employees hired after July 1, 2006, would have to work for at least 10 years and wait until age 60 before they can collect normal pension benefits. Current employees can retire at age 55 with 25 years of service, even younger if they've been working for 30 years.

The House on Wednesday approved a similar bill by Sen. Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge, with the same retirement age provision as Schneider's. However, it would apply to employees hired after Jan. 1, 2006. And it includes other changes designed to make bigger cuts in future employees' benefits.

Schneider backs the Dardenne measure, which was approved by the House 58-42. It goes back to the Senate, however, for approval of House language changes, and the Senate may balk at final approval of the tougher bill

It is worth noting that the bills in question address only new rank-and-file members of the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System (LASERS), one of the Bayou State's four statewide public pension plans.

LASERS is the second-largest of Louisiana's public pension systems. The Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL) remains unaffected.

Also unaffected by the legislation scaling back benefits are the members of special benefits groups of LASERS. LASERS has several categories of membership whose members accrue benefits at a higher rate than the rank-and-file.

Corrections officers, for example, accrue benefits as high as 3.5 percent of annual salary, compared to 2.5 percent for regular members. There are many other special member groups for judges, law enforcement and, interestingly, state lawmakers. Not one of those groups is affected by the roll-back of benefits.

Also, see this piece in the Baton Rouge Advocate.