The week of the retirement bill filing deadline is the first frantically paced week of a general session of the legislature. As of the filing deadline for retirement bills, the 20 ATRS package bills were filed and two (2) ATRS sponsored shell bills were filed. A total of 93 retirement bills were filed by the deadline. Several of the bills were for other retirement systems. Of the non-ATRS package bills that involve ATRS, 4 were substantive bills that would impact ATRS, 6 shell bills were ATRS specific shell bills that could be amended at any time to impact ATRS, and 5 were generic retirement bills that could be amended to potentially impact ATRS. This update has 2 attachments. The first attachment is a Session Update with some analysis. The second attachment is a Bill Summary that lists all the retirement bills and summarizes the 20 ATRS legislative package bills plus all the additional bills that impact ATRS.
Without legislative sponsors of the ATRS package proposed by the ATRS Board, ATRS could not have a legislative package. Sponsoring legislation is time consuming and often difficult. Retirement bills are among the most difficult bills every session. ATRS is grateful and appreciative for the members of the General Assembly that reviewed the ATRS package bills and agreed to sponsor bills in the 20 bill package. A special thank you goes to the sponsors. Senator Bart Hester is sponsoring four (4) of the 20 bills in the ATRS package, Representative Gary Deffenbaugh is sponsoring two (2) bills, Senator John Cooper is sponsoring two (2) of the bills, Representative Johnny Rye is sponsoring two (2) bills, Senator Eddie Cheatham is sponsoring three (3) bills, Representative John Maddox is sponsoring two (2) bills, Senator Bill Sample is sponsoring two (2) bills, Representative Bruce Coleman is sponsoring a package bill, Senator Jeremy Hutchinson is sponsoring a package bill, and Senator Ronald Caldwell is sponsoring a package bill.
From this point forward, as you read these weekly executive director updates and do not have time to read the entire update, you may want to open the attachments and look for any part of the update that is written in red. You may find red wording on both the Session Update attachment and on the Bill Summary attachment. Red wording indicates that ATRS staff believes the information is important to know or of concern. Due to the nature of having 25-30 substantive bills that affect ATRS and its members in this session's updates, the update will tend to be very long. This update is about 40 pages long! Each bill will have an explanation and a status update. To the extent your time is limited, the red wording will attempt to highlight what ATRS staff thinks may be of greatest interest or concern for ATRS employers and members to focus upon. ATRS also understands that some members will be focused on specific bills that may be of major interest but not highlighted. It is understood that the 20 bill package of ATRS is closely watched since it is designed to allow ATRS to react to market changes and new financial standards.
At this time, four (4) additional bills have been filed (not part of the ATRS package) with substantive language that would change laws affecting ATRS and its members. Numerous shell bills have been filed that could become substantive within a day. If a major concern arrives during the week, ATRS may send out a special executive director update at any time to inform members and employers about a major issue of concern.
Remember that ATRS has a new website that allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now approximately 9,400 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 10,300 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 14,000 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:
2. Bill Summary