January 20, 2017 - Executive Director Update: ATRS Legislative Package and Week 2 of the General Assembly

Despite that this is just the conclusion of the second week, the news in this update is material, positive, and likely sets the tone for the entire session on ATRS, its legislative package, and on ATRS retirement legislation generally. On Wednesday, I met with the 4 leaders of the Joint Retirement Committee along with Governor Hutchinson's staff office. The meeting was very positive and focused on protecting the members of ATRS and protecting the financial strength of ATRS. 

The Joint Retirement Committee's leadership is Representative Douglas House, House Co-chair; Senator Bart Hester, Senate Co-chair; Representative Gary Deffenbaugh, House Vice chair; and Senator Blake Johnson, Senate Vice chair. During the meeting, two important themes should be highlighted right now. First, the leadership would not support any effort to merge or consolidate ATRS or any other Arkansas public retirement system and has no expectation that such a proposal will be introduced in this session. That is great news for ATRS members! 

The second theme is that the leadership is focused on maintaining the financial strength of ATRS and agrees that ATRS should have the tools and mechanisms necessary to react to downturns in the financial markets or changes in actuarial standards to pay all earned and lawful benefits. This meeting theme aligns with the legislative package of the ATRS Board. 

The meeting was meaningful and productive. ATRS is grateful to the committee leadership and Governor Hutchinson's staff for having this important meeting with ATRS. The committee leadership and governor's staff dedicated a long period  of time on a very busy day to fully discuss the issues on ATRS and retirement. The meeting set the tone for the approach of the leadership and ATRS for the session. ATRS executive staff is very appreciative for their time and candid discussion.

At this point, two (2) of the 20 ATRS package bills have been introduced. Hopefully, the remaining 18 package bills will be introduced by the end of next week. Members of the General Assembly have committed to sponsoring bills for ATRS and will do so next week. The deadline to file retirement bills is January 27th. By the time you receive the executive director update next week,  a clearer picture of all the bills in the Joint Retirement Committee will be known.

This week, Senator John Cooper of Jonesboro introduced the first 2 ATRS package bills. SB141 is a bill that gives the ATRS Board authority to modify the formula that prevents unfair manipulation of salary in the final average calculation. SB142 is a bill that helps ensure the independence of the ATRS internal auditor by placing the employee performance evaluation with the ATRS audit committee. Thank you, Senator Cooper for assisting ATRS on these important bills. 

This update has an attachment that is a session update and an attachment that summarizes the 20 ATRS legislative package bills plus a summary of the one additional bill that impacts ATRS. Next week should have much more activity both on ATRS package bills and potentially other bills.

Remember that ATRS has a new website that allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now approximately 9,200 members have direct account access to individualized account information. Here is the link to the instructions to sign up: https://www.artrs.gov/general/director-updates/716-08-15-2014-executive-director-update-the-new-atrs-website.

You can also sign up to obtain these executive director updates through your private email address. Updates are made throughout the year such as at retirement season and other times when information needs to be shared. Now, over 9,500 people have signed up to receive this executive director by listserve email. You can find the link to sign up for listserve delivery to these updates here: https://www.artrs.gov/login.

In addition, over 13,000 people have access to the ATRS executive director updates via direct email delivery. It is always a great pleasure for ATRS staff to learn of more ways to provide information to ATRS members, employers, beneficiaries, government officials, and the public. The ATRS Board is committed to providing a system that is member friendly and transparent.

You can also get helpful ATRS information on the ATRS Facebook page under the name of Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. Over 3,100 Facebook users get updates via the ATRS Facebook page. Go to the Facebook page and "like" ATRS to get daily updates.  I try to go to the Facebook page every day to post information and answer member questions about ATRS. In addition, if you use Twitter, you can join over 800 others by following events at ATRS and issues of interest on the ATRS Twitter page. Remember that ATRS is here to serve you! If you have questions, email me or call.

Respectfully,

George Hopkins

(501) 682-1820 Office
(501) 318-5998 Cell
georgeh@artrs.gov

 

Click on the following document for more information:

1. Session Update

2. Bill Summary

January 13, 2017 - Executive Director Update: ATRS Legislative Package and Week 1 of the General Assembly

On Monday, January 9, 2017, the 91st General Assembly of Arkansas began the General Session for 2017.  In a general session, laws affecting any and all issues can be introduced as compared to the fiscal session in even numbered years that is essentially limited to fiscal issues and appropriations. This update has two attachments, an update and a bill summary.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is Representative Jeremy Gilliam of Judsonia. The President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas Senate is Senator Jonathan Dismang of Beebe.  ATRS looks forward to the leadership and direction provided by these two hard-working and respected leaders of the 91st General Assembly. 

ATRS is working closely with Governor Hutchinson and his staff on legislative issues already during this session.  Governor Hutchinson always provides leadership and important input on retirement proposals and other issues that affect all Arkansans.  ATRS appreciates Governor Hutchinson's input and advice on legislation.

The Joint Retirement Committee and its leadership are now known. Representative Douglas House was named the House Co-Chair.  Representative Gary Deffenbaugh was named as House Co-Vice Chair of Joint Retirement. Senator Bart Hester is Senate Co-Chair.  Senator Blake Johnson is Senate Co-Vice Chair. Of the 20 committee members, 11 have prior service on the committee.

2017 Senate Members of Retirement Committee

Senator Bart Hester, Chair	Cave Springs
Senator Blake Johnson, Vice Chair	Corning
Senator Larry Teague	Nashville
Senator Joyce Elliott	Little Rock
Senator Jason Rapert	Conway
Senator Bill Sample	Hot Springs
Senator Jeremy Hutchinson	Little Rock
Senator Eddie Cheatham	Crossett
Senator Linda Chesterfield	Little Rock
Senator Jane English	North Little Rock

 

2017 House Members of Retirement Committee

Representative Douglas House, Chair	North Little Rock
Representative Gary Deffenbaugh, Vice Chair	Van Buren
Representative David Meeks, Chair	Conway
Representative Fred Allen	Little Rock
Representative Ron McNair	Alpena
Representative Bob Johnson	Jacksonville
Representative Bruce Coleman	Mountainburg
Representative Clint Penzo	Springdale
Representative Johnny Rye	Trumann
Representative Les Warren	Hot Springs

 

HOUSE ALTERNATES

Representative Lane Jean	Magnolia
Representative Les Eaves	Searcy
Representative Monte Hodges	Blytheville
Representative Greg Leding	Fayetteville
Representative Richard Womack	Arkadelphia
Representative Charlie Collins	Fayetteville
Representative Bruce Cozart	Hot Springs
Representative Charlene Fite	Van Buren
Representative Michael John Gray	Augusta
Representative Rebecca Petty	Rogers

 

The ATRS Board of Trustees has unanimously voted to support a nineteen (19) bill package for the 2017 legislative session. With the approval of the ATRS Board Chair, Jeff Stubblefield, one additional bill has been added for a total of 20 ATRS package bills. ATRS will also closely follow all bills that could impact ATRS during session. Every week, the new executive director update will detail new bills, amendments, and the status of all ATRS package bills and other bills affecting ATRS.

This update has an attachment that is session update and an attachment that summarizes the 20 ATRS legislative package bills plus a summary of one additional bill that impacts ATRS.  Little activity on the retirement front happened this week other than the Joint Retirement Committee membership being set for the session. Next week should have much more activity.

Remember that ATRS has a new website that allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now approximately 9,200 members have direct account access to individualized account information. Here is the link to the instructions to sign up: https://www.artrs.gov/general/director-updates/716-08-15-2014-executive-director-update-the-new-atrs-website.

You can also sign up to obtain these executive director updates through your private email address. Updates are made throughout the year such as at retirement season and other times when information needs to be shared. Now, over 9,500 people have signed up to receive this executive director by listserve email. You can find the link to sign up for listserve delivery to these updates here: https://www.artrs.gov/login.

In addition, over 13,000 people have access to the ATRS executive director updates via direct email delivery. It is always a great pleasure for ATRS staff to learn of more ways to provide information to ATRS members, employers, beneficiaries, government officials, and the public. The ATRS Board is committed to providing a system that is member friendly and transparent.

You can also get helpful ATRS information on the ATRS Facebook page under the name of Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. Over 3,100 Facebook users get updates via the ATRS Facebook page. Go to the Facebook page and "like" ATRS to get daily updates. I try to go to the Facebook page every day to post information and answer member questions about ATRS. In addition, if you use Twitter, you can join over 800 others by following events at ATRS and issues of interest on the ATRS Twitter page. Remember that ATRS is here to serve you! If you have questions, email me or call.

Respectfully,

George Hopkins

(501) 682-1820 Office
(501) 318-5998 Cell
georgeh@artrs.gov

 

Click on the following document for more information:

1. Legislative Update

2. Legislative Package