The 93rd General Assembly

Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Committee (JRC)

The Joint Retirement Committee (JRC) met on Monday, February 22nd. Representative Les Warren, Representative John Maddox, Representative Brian S. Evans, Representative Stu Smith, and I presented the bills in the ATRS Legislative Package. The next Joint Retirement Committee meeting will be held on Monday, March 1, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. Due to a minor timing issue regarding the engrossing of the amendment, HB1326 will be re-presented to the JRC.

HB1279 was passed out of the House and the Senate this week. It is on the Governor’s desk to sign. Thank you to Representative Stu Smith for presenting this bill on the House floor this week. Thank you to Senator Kim Hammer for presenting this bill on the Senate floor this week.

HB1319 and HB1320 were passed out of the House and the Senate this week. They are on the Governor’s desk to sign. Thank you to Representative John Maddox for presenting these bills on the House floor this week. Thank you to Senator Kim Hammer for presenting these bills on the Senate floor this week.

HB1339 and HB1340 were passed out of the House and the Senate this week. They are on the Governor’s desk to sign. Thank you to Representative Brian S. Evans for presenting these bills on the House floor this week. Thank you to Senator Lance Eads for presenting these bills on the Senate floor this week.

Senate Bill 174

It is possible that SB174, sponsored by Senator Larry Teague, will be presented at Monday’s JRC meeting. A Teacher Retirement member must have 28 years of service or have attained the age of 60 in order to receive full retirement benefits. This bill does not change those requirements. 

This bill has been amended. As amended it will still remove the one-month separation period while essentially maintaining the “status quo” in regard to members that have 38 years of service. The "Rule of 100" logic was dropped. Now the definition of “normal retirement age” will include members with 38 years of service who are at least age 60 and members that are age 65 or older. This amendment will help teachers that started teaching right out of college at age 22. For example, if they teach for 28 years and then do 10 years in T-DROP they would be age 60 and meet the requirements for the “normal retirement age”. A member that has attained the “normal retirement age” is able to draw full retirement benefits and remain employed without separating from employment. The system’s actuary found that the amended bill would have little or no cost effect on ATRS.

Monitoring Teacher Retirement Related Legislation

Now that the deadline for filing bills that directly impact one of the Arkansas public retirement plans has passed, ATRS is monitoring other bills as they are filed to determine if they could indirectly impact ATRS. As these bills are identified, we will add them to the ATRS Legislation page on the website. These bills will start in the “ATRS Monitoring” status. As more information is gathered about the purpose, intent, or actuarial cost of the bills, the status could change to “ATRS Opposes” or “ATRS Supports”.

As a reminder, the Joint Retirement Committee (JRC) meeting will be video streamed over the Internet each Monday morning during the session. 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.

Here is the link to the full procedures for public access to the committee meetings: Committee Procedures and Public Access for 2021 Regular Session

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 23,900 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 25,800 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