January 19, 2023 - Executive Director Update: Legislative Session, Week 2

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

The first Public Retirement Committee meeting will be held on Monday, January 23, 2023. This meeting will be an organizational meeting which will include briefings by the retirement systems' directors and committee actuary. I will provide a summary of the financial status of ATRS at the January 23rd meeting. No bills affecting ATRS will be presented at the January 23rd meeting.

The Joint Retirement Committee will meet in Room A of the MAC building at 8:30 am each Monday morning. The Joint Retirement Committee agenda will be posted at least eighteen (18) hours prior to each meeting. The agenda will have bills listed in three categories.

(A) Regular Agenda – bills to be considered by the committee on the date of the agenda.
(B) Consent Agenda – bills on the committee agenda for which there is no known opposition or expected public testimony and that may be taken up at any time by the committee.
(C) Deferred Bills – bills for which committee consideration has been deferred either for failure of the sponsor to appear or at the request of the sponsor.

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 23rd 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 specific member account information. Now, approximately 31,000 members have direct account access to individualized account information. Here is the link to the instructions to sign up: www.artrs.gov/registration.

You can also sign up to obtain these executive director updates through your private email address. Updates are made throughout the year such as during retirement season and other times when information needs to be shared. Now, over 33,100 people have signed up to receive this executive director update by 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. 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 12, 2023 - Executive Director Update: Legislative Session, Week 1

The 94th General Assembly

On Monday, January 9, 2023, the 94th General Assembly of Arkansas began the Regular Session for 2023. 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.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is Representative Matthew Shepherd of El Dorado. The President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas Senate is Senator Bart Hester of Cave Springs. ATRS looks forward to the leadership and direction provided by these respected leaders of the 94th General Assembly.

ATRS looks forward to working with Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her staff on issues important to the members of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System.

Over the last year, the ATRS Board and staff have researched the ATRS laws and operations to ensure that ATRS was prepared to address any and all fiscal challenges that might arise. The ATRS Board approved recommendations by the ATRS Operations Committee for proposals for the 94th General Assembly to consider.

The deadline for filing retirement legislation is January 27, 2023. This early filing deadline is due to the complex nature of bills that affect the benefits and operations of retirement systems and each must have an actuarial evaluation. A quality actuarial report is vital to ensure retirement legislation is fully vetted and the impact is clearly understood. The early introduction process provides sufficient time for full actuarial review and thoughtful legislative action on retirement legislation.

Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Committee

Almost all legislation affecting Arkansas' public retirement systems is assigned to the Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Programs Committee, commonly referred to as the Joint Retirement Committee. The Committee has 20 total members with 10 from the Arkansas House of Representatives and 10 from the Arkansas State Senate. The House also has 10 alternates to the Joint Retirement Committee to serve if a House member is unavailable for the committee meeting.

The Joint Retirement Committee’s leadership includes a Senate Co-Chair and House Co-Chair and along with a Senate Co-Vice Chair and House Co-Vice Chair. The chairmanship of the committee alternates between the Senate and the House during the session. This committee has the difficult but important task of sorting through numerous actuarial reports, pages of financial data, complex formulas, and information to ensure that the public retirement systems operate fairly and efficiently for members, employers, the state, and the public.

On Monday, the Speaker of the House named Representative Les Warren, of Hot Springs, as the House Co-Chair of the Joint Retirement Committee. Representative Mark Perry, of Jacksonville, was named as House Co-Vice Chair. Senator John Payton, of Wilburn, is the Senate Co-Chair of the Joint Retirement Committee. Senator Greg Leding, of Fayetteville, is the Senate Co-Vice Chair. All four leaders of the committee provide the Joint Retirement Committee with quality leadership, experience, knowledge of retirement issues, and command of the legislative process.

Both the Senate and the House have named the members of the Joint Retirement Committee. The complete list of Senate members and House members who will serve on the Joint Retirement Committee are:

2023 Senate Members of Joint Retirement Committee

Senator John Payton, Co-Chair, Wilburn
*Senator Greg Leding, Co-Vice Chair, Fayettville
*Senator Linda Chesterfield, Little Rock
Senator Breanne Davis, Russellville
*Senator Kim Hammer, Benton
*Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr., Texarkana
Senator Mark Johnson, Little Rock
Senator Bryan King, Green Forest
Senator Reginald Murdock, Marianna
Senator Clarke Tucker, Little Rock

*Returning members from the 2021 session

2023 House Members of Joint Retirement Committee

*Representative Les Warren, Co-Chair, Hot Springs
*Representative Mark Perry, Co-Vice Chair, Jacksonville
Representative Wade Andrews, Camden
Representative Andrew Collins, Little Rock
Representative Charlene Fite, Van Buren
*Representative John Maddox, Mena
Representative Tippi McCullough, Little Rock
Representative Richard McGrew, Hot Springs
Representative Johnny Rye, Trumann
Representative Steven Walker, Horseshoe Bend

*Returning members from the 2021 session

For more information regarding the ATRS Bill Package and Bills that may Impact ATRS visit the Legislation page on our website.

On Monday, January 23rd at 8:30 a.m. 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. A summary of the financial status of ATRS will be presented at the January 23rd meeting. No bills affecting ATRS will be presented at the January 23rd meeting. Next week, I will provide more information regarding the upcoming Joint Retirement Committee meetings.

Stay in Touch with ATRS and View YOUR Account Information

The ATRS website allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now, approximately 27,000 members have direct account access to individualized account information. Here is the link to the instructions to sign up: www.artrs.gov/registration.

You can also sign up to obtain these executive director updates through your private email address. Updates are made throughout the year such as during retirement season and other times when information needs to be shared. Now, over 33,150 people have signed up to receive this executive director update by 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. 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