Week 7 was a busy week behind the scenes although the retirement committee did not meet to consider retirement bills this week. On Monday, February 27, 2017, ATRS has three (3) bills up for consideration. It is reasonable to assume that ATRS will have between 2 and 4 bills up every week for consideration. The actuaries continue to work on cost studies on legislation.
ATRS continues to negotiate amendments and details on the remaining 15 ATRS package bills that remain in committee. At this time, 4 package bills are law and one package bill is in the Governor's office after having completed the legislative process. Extensive negotiation continues on the outsourcing bill, HB1287. ATRS is working hard to address the concerns of all interested parties. Other bills are also being explained with potential amendments on an "as needed" basis with the time allowed this week since no retirement committee meeting was scheduled.
Meetings and telephone calls with school officials, members of the General Assembly, ATRS members, and other school advocates are still occurring to discuss various issues with the 20 bill ATRS legislative package. ATRS is working on amendments to certain bills to reflect agreements and to further clarify language and intent. ATRS is always anxious to address concerns and improve legislation.
Below is the list of dedicated and hard working legislators who are carrying the 20 bill package of the ATRS Board on behalf of ATRS members. Some members have mistakenly thought that the bills were attacking ATRS. In reality, the bills are actually designed to help ATRS navigate any future stormy financial markets and actuarial changes with the ability to restore any adjustments.
Senator Ronald Caldwell
Representative Bruce Coleman
Senator Eddie Cheatham
Representative Gary Deffenbaugh
Senator John Cooper
Representative John Maddox
Senator Bart Hester
Representative Johnny Rye
Senator Jeremy Hutchinson
Senator Bill Sample
Senator Bruce Maloch
Remember the ATRS website allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now approximately 9,500 members have direct account access to individualized account information. Here is the link to the instructions to sign up: https://www.artrs.gov/welcome.
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 14,200 people have signed up to receive this executive director by direct email delivery. You can find the link to sign up for email delivery to these updates here: https://www.artrs.gov/login. 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:
2. Bill Summary