February 2, 2023 - Executive Director Update: Legislative Session, Week 4

The 94th General Assembly - Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Committee

The Joint Retirement Committee (JRC) met on Monday, January 30th. Representative Les Warren and David Clark, LOPFI Executive Director, presented a couple of bills for the Arkansas Local Police & Fire Retirement System (LOPFI). Representative Les Warren and Robyn Smith, ASHERS Executive Secretary, presented a bill for the Arkansas State Highway Employees Retirement System (ASHERS). None of the bills presented have any impact on ATRS. 

The next JRC meeting will be held on Monday, February 6, 2023 where Senator Kim Hammer, Representative Les Warren, Representative John Maddox, Representative Mark Perry, and I will present some of the bills in the ATRS Legislative Package. The bills in the ATRS Legislative Package do NOT reduce any benefits for any ATRS member or beneficiary.

SB115, sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, will add fairness to the process that ATRS uses in administering the survivor benefits in the event an active member dies.

HB1183, sponsored by Rep. John Maddox, will clarify and codify the current process for collecting the surcharges on outsourced services used by school districts.

HB1184, sponsored by Rep. John Maddox, will ensure equal treatment of full-time school employees regardless of their date of hire within the year.

HB1199, sponsored by Rep. Mark Perry, will codify the existing practice for refunding payments for purchased service, at the member’s request, if the purchased service credit is not used.

HB1200, sponsored by Rep. Mark Perry, will clarify and codify the current process of allowing the purchase of service and free military service, regardless of current ATRS active member status.

HB1202, sponsored by Rep. Les Warren, will codify the existing practice of applying a lower multiplier for members with less than 10 years of ATRS service credit.

The actuaries found none of the above bills to have a significant cost effect on ATRS. They are all essentially bills to add efficiency and fairness to the ATRS procedures.

Now that the deadline for filing bills that directly impact one of the Arkansas public retirement plans has passed, ATRS is monitoring other bills as they are filed to determine if there could be an indirect impact to ATRS. As these bills are identified, we will add them to the ATRS Legislation page on the website. These bills will start in the “ATRS Monitoring” status. As more information is gathered about the purpose, intent, or actuarial cost of the bills, the status could change to “ATRS Opposes” or “ATRS Supports”.

As a reminder, the Joint Retirement Committee (JRC) meeting will be video streamed over the Internet each Monday morning during the session. Just visit the Arkansas Legislative Meetings and Events web page on Monday at 8:30 a.m. Look for the item “PUBLIC RETIREMENT & SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAMS-JOINT” and click on the “VIDEO” icon. The agenda for the meeting will be posted here at least 18 hours before the start of the meeting.

ATRS will try to keep its members informed about the bills that impact ATRS, its members and employers. For more information regarding the ATRS Bill Package and Bills that may impact ATRS visit the Legislation page on our website.

Stay in Touch with ATRS and View YOUR Account Information

The ATRS website allows members to have direct access to their account information and sign up to receive our executive director updates. Member account information can be accessed 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Executive director updates are emailed periodically throughout the year to help keep members up-to-date on issues from retirement, to legislative updates that may affect ATRS, and any other time when information needs to be shared.

Join over 30,000 ATRS members who have registered for account access and updates by visiting us at: www.artrs.gov/registration. There you can join the mailing list for executive director updates and register to gain access to your member information.

ATRS is always striving to keep its members, employers, beneficiaries, government officials, and the public informed. It is always a great pleasure for ATRS to learn of more ways to provide information to ATRS members. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve our communication you may e-mail them to info@artrs.gov for consideration.

As always, ATRS and its board are committed to providing a system that is member friendly and transparent. Remember that ATRS is here to serve you.

Best regards,

Clint Rhoden
Executive Director ATRS
Office: 501-588-4367
Mobile: 501-291-1623
clintr@artrs.gov

January 26, 2023 - Executive Director Update: Legislative Session, Week 3

The 94th General Assembly - Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Committee

The first Joint Retirement Committee (JRC) meeting was held on Monday, January 23rd. The committee heard briefings by the retirement systems' directors and legislative actuary. The next JRC meeting will be held on Monday, January 30, 2023. No bills affecting ATRS will be presented at the January 30th meeting.

ATRS has a package of twelve (12) bills that will add to the clarity and fairness of the Teacher Retirement laws. ATRS is grateful and appreciative for the members of the General Assembly that agreed to sponsor ATRS package bills. A special thank you goes out to our sponsors: Senator Kim Hammer, Representative Les Warren, Representative John Maddox, Representative Mark Perry, and Representative Andrew Collins. ATRS would also like to thank Senator John Payton and Representative Les Warren for their leadership and hard work in service as the Co-Chairs for the Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Committee.

For complete information regarding the ATRS Bill Package I encourage you to visit the Legislation page on our website. The web page will be regularly updated with the status of bills that affect the Teacher Retirement System. 

All of the ATRS Package Bills contain the phrase “AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY” in the title. There have been questions regarding what this means. This is nothing to be alarmed about. This simply means that at the end of the bill you will find an “Emergency Clause”. This emergency clause allows the bill to be effective on July 1, 2023 so that the effectiveness aligns with start of the fiscal year that also begins July 1.

The Joint Retirement Committee (JRC) meeting will be video streamed over the Internet. Just visit the Arkansas Legislative Meetings and Events web page on Monday at 8:30 a.m. Look for the item “PUBLIC RETIREMENT & SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAMS-JOINT” and click on the “VIDEO” icon. The agenda for the meeting will be posted here at least 18 hours before the start of the meeting. No bills affecting ATRS will be presented at the January 30th meeting.

ATRS will try to keep its members informed about the bills that impact ATRS, its members and employers. For more information regarding the ATRS Bill Package and Bills that may Impact ATRS visit the Legislation page on our website.

Stay in Touch with ATRS and View YOUR Account Information

The ATRS website allows members to have direct access to their account information and sign up to receive our executive director updates. Member account information can be accessed 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Executive director updates are emailed periodically throughout the year to help keep members up-to-date on issues from retirement, to legislative updates that may affect ATRS, and any other time when information needs to be shared.

Join over 30,000 ATRS members who have registered for account access and updates by visiting us at: www.artrs.gov/registration. There you can join the mailing list for executive director updates and register to gain access to your member information.

ATRS is always striving to keep its members, employers, beneficiaries, government officials, and the public informed. It is always a great pleasure for ATRS to learn of more ways to provide information to ATRS members. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve our communication you may e-mail them to info@artrs.gov for consideration.

As always, ATRS and its board are committed to providing a system that is member friendly and transparent. Remember that ATRS is here to serve you.

Best regards,

Clint Rhoden
Executive Director ATRS
Office: 501-588-4367
Mobile: 501-291-1623
clintr@artrs.gov