Several of the ATRS package bills have had action taken this week. After nine weeks of the legislative session, the nine ATRS bills (the ATRS appropriation bill and the eight ATRS Board package bills) are well along in the legislative process. Seven of the nine bills are now Acts and completely through the process. All seven new Acts also had an emergency clause and the emergency clause on all seven bills also passed. The two remaining bills have all passed at least one chamber of the General Assembly.
Of the 2 ATRS package bills that are not Acts, SB171, is a bill to clarify ATRS law on military service and is expected to have no opposition in the House after its unanimous passage in the Senate this week. ATRS expects SB171 should be heard in the House next week. The last bill, HB1132 on recycling tax credit, is involved in a broader review of recycling tax credits by both the General Assembly and Governor Hutchinson. HB1132 has passed the House but is held in the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee as the best approach on the way recycling tax credits are blended into the state revenue stream are considered.
ATRS continues to monitor legislation that could impact ATRS but has nothing new to report this week. ATRS will continue to provide weekly updates on the ATRS package bills and any other bills that have an impact on ATRS. After the session wraps up, ATRS will provide a final broader update that explains the impact of all the legislation that is ultimately become Acts in the 2015 session of the General Assembly.
Remember that ATRS has a new website that allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now 4,000 members have direct account access to 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 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 8,000 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 10,000 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, and beneficiaries. 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 at http://www.facebook.com/arkansasteacherretirementsystem under the name of Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. Over 2,300 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 follow events at ATRS and issues of interest by finding the Twitter ID of ATRS or find George Hopkins in the Twitter directory. The link is https://twitter.com/atrs. ATRS is here to serve you!
Respectfully,
George Hopkins
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