Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Committee (JRC)
The Joint Public Retirement Committee (JRC) has concluded all of its business for this legislative session. There are no scheduled meetings at this time.
The 2019 Legislative Session is almost complete. All of the bills in the ATRS sponsored package are now law.
A special thank you is due to all members of the Joint Retirement Committee for the time and patience spent working with ATRS staff and the ATRS Board of Trustees to keep our system strong while protecting the benefits of Arkansas educators. Here is the list of the committee members and alternates by chamber:
2019 Senate Members of Retirement Committee
| *Senator Bill Sample, Chair | Hot Springs | |
| Senator Keith Ingram, Vice Chair | West Memphis | |
| Senator Cecile Bledsoe | Rogers | |
| *Senator Eddie Cheatham | Crossett | |
| *Senator Joyce Elliott | Little Rock | |
| Senator Kim Hammer | Benton | |
| *Senator Blake Johnson | Corning | |
| Senator Greg Leding | Fayetteville | |
| *Senator Jason Rapert | Conway | |
| *Senator Larry Teague | Nashville |
*Returning members
2019 House Members of Retirement Committee
| *Representative Les Warren, Chair | Hot Springs | |
| *Representative Gary Deffenbaugh, Vice Chair | Van Buren | |
| *Representative Bruce Coleman | Mountainburg | |
| Representative Michelle Gray | Melbourne | |
| Representative Grant Hodges | Rogers | |
| Representative Monte Hodges | Blytheville | |
| *Representative Douglas House | North Little Rock | |
| Representative John Maddox | Mena | |
| Representative Mark Perry | Jacksonville | |
| Representative Stu Smith | Batesville |
*Returning members
House Alternates
| Representative Sonia Eubanks Barker | Smackover | |
| Representative Harlan Breaux | Holiday Island | |
| Representative Andrew Collins | Little Rock | |
| Representative Bruce Cozart | Hot Springs | |
| Representative Brian S. Evans | Cabot | |
| Representative Lanny Fite | Benton | |
| Representative Julie Mayberry | Hensley | |
| Representative Tippi McCullough | Little Rock | |
| Representative Jamie Scott | North Little Rock |
The ATRS Board is grateful for all the assistance and advocacy by member organizations. Your voices and concerns about issues affecting ATRS have been heard by the JRC. The cooperation from Governor Hutchinson's office and others is also recognized and appreciated.
This executive director update concludes the weekly updates from the regular session.
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 17,000 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 at retirement season and other times when information needs to be shared. Now, over 20,000 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.
You can also get helpful ATRS information on the ATRS Facebook page under the name of Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. Over 5,100 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 970 others by following events at ATRS and issues of interest on the ATRS Twitter page.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call ATRS locally at (501) 588-4374 or toll free (800) 666-2877.
Best regards,
Clint Rhoden
Executive Director ATRS
(501) 291-1623 Mobile
(501) 588-4367 Office
clintr@artrs.gov