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2013 Legislative Session: Bills to Watch

LAE Government Relations Specialist Shane Riddle and the entire lobby team will be keeping a close eye on the bills listed below.

*Click on the bill number for more information and on the author's name for their contact information.

LAE 2013 Tracked Legislation – Education Bills

Bill No.	Author	Description	Status	LAE Position
				Support	Oppose	Neutral
HB 115	James, Ted(D)	Provides for parent petitions relative to the transfer of certain schools from the Recovery School District back to the local school system.	Senate Education Committee	X
HB 129 "LAE"	Pierre, Vincent(D)	Prohibits giving a teacher or administrator a performance rating until completion of his full evaluation.	Senate Education Committee	X
HB 160 "LAE"	Reynolds, Gene(D)	Delays implementation of certain requirements of the teacher evaluation program until the 2013-2014 school year and provides that such implementation is contingent upon the approval by the House and Senate education committees of the value-added assessment model to be used in the evaluations.	Senate Education Committee	X
HB 206	Reynolds, Gene(D)	Replaces requirement that the legislature create parish school boards with a requirement that the legislature create local public school boards and specify their geographic jurisdiction and requires voter approval of new school boards; provides that any local public school district is to be included in the MFP and has constitutionally granted authority to levy ad valorem taxes.	House floor; Subject to Call		X
HB 230	Pope, Rogers(R)	Provides relative to the definition of "eligible student" for participation in the Student Scholarship for Educational Excellence (voucher) Program.	Involuntarily Deferred by House Education Committee	X
HB 242	Carter, Steve(R)	Authorizes the state superintendent of education to make certain adjustments to the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program accountability system.	Senate Education Committee		X
HB 248	Talbot, Kirk(R)	Relative to the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence (voucher) Program, requires that scholarship recipients annually meet certain criteria for program certification.	Voluntarily Deferred	X
HB 249	Richard, Jerome(I)	Changes certain eligibility criteria for participation in the Course Choice Program.	House Education Committee	X
HB 343 "LAE"	Edwards, John Bel(D)	Prohibits certain public high school students from being administered tests pursuant to La. Education Assessment Program or the La. School and District Accountability System with certain exceptions.	Senate Education Committee	X
HB 346	Richard, Jerome(I)	Requires legislative approval of changes made to school performance score ranges.	Voluntarily Deferred	X
HB 457 "Act 2"	Hollis, Paul(R)	Reauthorizes the "parent trigger" so that a majority of parents can vote in favor of earlier state intervention in a D or F rated school.	House Education Committee		X
HB 466	Havard, Kenny - R Mills, Fred - R	Provides relative to the assignment of performance-based letter grades to public schools and school districts.	Senate Education Committee	X
HB 478 "Act 1"	Champagne, Simone(R)	Provides relative to school board reduction in force policies.	Voluntarily Deferred		X
HB 498	Landry - R	Prohibits persons engaged in the private correctional facility business and related persons from giving campaign contributions in support of or opposition to certain officials and candidates.	Voluntarily Deferred			X
HB 531	Havard, Kenny(R)	Constitutional Amendment to provide relative to increasing the financial burden of public school systems.	Involuntarily Deferred	X
HB 540	Jones, Sam(D)	Repeals provisions of law relative to teacher certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.	Senate Finance Committee	X
HB 541	Simon, Scott(R)	Provides relative to a students access to an effective teacher.	Voulntarily Deferred		X
HB 542	Whitney, Lenar(R)	Provides relative to charter schools.	House Education Committee		X
HB 552	Seabaugh, Alan - R Appel, Conrad - R	Provides relative to authorized payroll withholdings for public employees.	Involuntarily Deferred		X
HB 558 "Act 2"	Hollis, Paul(R)	Provides generally relative to the "Course Choice Program".	House Education Committee		X
HB 584 "LAE"	Smith, Patricia(D)	Provides relative to standards for virtual schools.	House Education Committee	X
HB 596 "Act 1"	Carter, Steve(R)	Provides relative to powers and duties of local school boards and superintendents.	Voluntarily Deferred		X
HB 597 "Act 2"	Seabaugh, Alan(R)	Provides for the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program.	House Education Committee		X
HB 598	Barrow, Regina(D)	Provides relative to performance-based scores and letter grades assigned to public schools and school districts.	Voluntarily Deferred	X
HB 613	Burns, Tim(R)	Requires the State Bd. of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop and adopt rules and regulations providing for parental choice relative to state standardized testing for public school students.	Senate Education Committee	X
HB 625 "LAE"	Gaines, Randal(D)	Provides relative to the process for discharging, demoting, or disciplining a permanent public school teacher.	House Education Committee	X
HB 644 "Act 1"	Whitney, Lenar(R)	Provides relative to salaries for teachers and other school and school system employees.	Voluntarily Deferred		X
HB 646 "LAE"	Smith, Patricia(D)	Provides relative to student discipline, including suspensions and expulsions, codes of conduct, and bullying.	House Floor; Subject to Call	X
SB 89 "Act 1"	Appel(R)	Provides relative to tenure for teachers and certain other school employees.	Senate Education Committee		X
SB 127 "LAE"	Smith(D)	Provides that a student with disabilities who is not pursuing a regular diploma shall not be administered the American College Test.	Set on House Orders	X
SB 206	LaFleur(D)	Provides for empowered community schools.	House Education Committee			X

SB 117

Appel(R)

Provides for the creation of the Outcomes-Based Funding Task Force.

Set on the Senate Orders

LAE 2013 Tracked Legislation – Retirement Bills

Bill No.	Author	Description	Status	LAE Position
				Support	Oppose	Neutral
HB 46	Price, Ed(D)	Authorizes a cost-of-living adjustment for certain retirees of the La. School Employees' Retirement System and their beneficiaries. LAE has members that participate in LSERS. HB 46 would provide our members who are retired under LSERS a COLA. HB 46 would authorize a COLA for LSERS retirees and their beneficiaries who meet the requirements of present law if the retiree retired prior to July 1, 2001, or entered the Deferred Retirement Option Plan prior to July 1, 2001, and retired prior to July 1, 2012. Present law provides for a COLA not to exceed the lesser of 3% or the Consumer Price Index (U.S. city average for all urban consumers (CPI-U)). Proposed law authorizes a COLA of up to 3.75% for those retirees and their beneficiaries who meet the requirements of proposed law.	House Retirement Committee	X
HB 53	Seabaugh - R	Removes employees of the Louisiana High School Athletic Associaiton from membership in TRSL. Provides that anyone who is an active member or "deferred vested" on the effective date shall receive a refund of employee contributions.	House Retirement Committee		X
HB 57	Pearson, Kevin(R)	HB 57 increases the TRSL employee contribution rate by a total of 2% over a two-year period beginning July 1, 2015. Amounts received from the increased employee contributions will be applied to the unfunded accured liability. There is also language in HB 57 that provides if the Act is ruled unconstitutional by a court as it relates to vested members, the Act will continue to apply to non-vested members. The effective date of the Act would be January 1, 2014 (Source: TRSL)	House Retirement Committee		X
HB 60	Talbot, Kirk(R)	Eliminates current return-to-work provisions for any member of TRSL retiring after July 1, 2013. Any member returning after July 1, 2013, who returns to employment in state or statewide retirement system-eligible employment shall have his/her benefit suspended during reemployment. Requires notification. No contributions made and no additional service accrued.	House Retirement Committee		X
HB 61	Badon, Austin(D)	Provides for a split benefit when a member's monthly earnings exceed average compensation for the previous 12 months by 30% or more. Some members will potentially have two or more service periods with "frozen" average compensation, rather than a single final average compensation. These members will have a reduced retirement benefit under these provisions compared to current provisions. (Source: Foster & Foster, Actuaries and Consultants)	House Retirement Committee		X
HB 68	Pearson, Kevin(R)	Proposes technical and substantive amendments to the cash balance plan, as enacted in Act 483 of the 2012 Legislative Session. If the cash balance plan is ruled unconstitutional by the Louisiana Supreme Court, this bill could be used a a shell to create a new cash balance plan model.			X
HB 643	Miller, Greg(R)	There are currently two sources of funding for charter schools: (1) the state-funded per pupil allocation the school disrict receives from the MFP and (2) certain local revenues generated for supporting education. HB 643 proposes to modify only the state-funded portion of charter school funds. HB 643 would remove "employer retirement costs" from the state-funded portion the charter school is entitled to receive per pupil.	House Education Committee	X
HB 666	Pearson, Kevin(R)	Requires BESE to remove certain IUAL payments from the MFP before such monies are distributed to school boards. TRSL will invoice the LADOE, the LADOE will transfer such amount to TRSL on behalf of all employers receiving MFP funds. The amount transferred by the LADOE shall be divided into 12 equal monthly payments.	House Retirement Committee	X
HCR 2	Harrison, Joe(R)	Suspends the cash balance plan. Suspension effective through the earlier of: 60 days after the latter of: (1) the date the division of administration receives IRS determination letter declaring Social Security equivalency and (2) the date LASERS receives tax qualification letter declaring qualified plan.	House Retirement Committee	X
SB 7	Peacock(R)	Provides a sixty-month final average compensation period for members of state and statewide retirement systems.	Senate Retirement Committee		X
SB 11	Guillory(D)	Provides relative to funding and eligibility for post-retirement benefit increases (PBIs) for TRSL, LASERS, LSERS and State Police retirees. Creates a structure for the payment of PBIs for TRSL and LASERS retirees. PBIs are categorized as follows: Employer-Funded Increases Benefit based exclusively on service on or before 6/30/13. Increase on 7/1/13 and each odd-numbered year thereafter. Employee-Funded Increases Benefit based exclusively on service on or after 7/1/13. Increase on 7/1/19 and each odd-numbered year thereafter. Additive Increases Benefit based partially on service on or before 6/30/13 and partially on service on or after 7/1/13. Increase on 7/1/19 and each odd-numbered year thereafter. Portion of increase considered employee-funded is determined by the ratio of years on or after 7/1/13 to total years of service. Criteria to receive a PBI: Separated from service 5 years, Age 65 Amount of PBI greater of: 1% OR lesser of 2% or the percent increase necessary to preserve 80% of “purchasing power” as of June 30, 2013 PBI payable on amount not to exceed $50,000 (increase based on amounts of increases granted to SS recipients). Provides for additional 3% increase in employee contributions Provides a 5 year FAC with transition provisions. Requires 50% of investment gains remaining after application of investment gains to the OAB and EAAB to be amortized over 10 year period from inception.	Senate Retirement Committee		X
SB 16	Long - R	Provides that the employer contribution rate for ORP members first employed on or after July, 2013 will be the same rate as applicable to member first employed on or before June 30, 2013. This effectively requires that the employer contribute the tier 1 normal cost rate rather than the Cash Balance Plan employer normal cost rate. Tier 1 normal cost rates exceed the Cash Balance Plan normal cost rate, so would increase the cost to employers. The increased contribution would directly benefit the member's ORP account and would have no impact on the TRSL trust. As such, the bill will result in an increased cost to the employer but is cost neutral as it pertains to the TRSL trust.	Reported Favorbly from Senate Retirement	X
SB 17	Guillory(D)	Creates the "State Retirement Fund" in the state treasury. Two percent of excess tax revenues in excess of FY 2011-2012 levels will be credited to the fund and allocated to each State Retirement System. TRSL will receive 56.7% of the total allocation. Eighty percent of the allocation is to be used as additional payments on the UAL. Twenty percent is to be credited to the experience account to fund future COLA's. The additional UAL payments will be used to pay off schedules early, as provided in the bill, until the System is fully funded. The bill will result in savings to the employers as each schedule is paid off. (source: Foster & Foster, Actuaries and Consultants)	Senate Retirement Committee	X
SCR 1	Cortez(R)	Suspends the cash balance plan. Suspension effective until July 1, 2014.	Senate Retirement Committee	X

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