LASERS-Did you know?

If a member selects the Maximum Plan as a retirement option, he/she will receive the basic benefit, paid monthly for the lifetime of the member.It does not pay a monthly benefit to your spouse, or other dependents.

Should you die before your member contribution account is depleted, your beneficiary receives a lump sum payment of your remaining member contributions.

Some states turning to furloughs during tough economic times

A growing number of states have turned to squeezing their workforce for savings in light of a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year,

Although state jobs are usually among the most stable, more than 728,500 state employees in at least 21 states have already or will be furloughed, and several other states are also considering furloughs for their workers.

The furloughs translate to pay cuts for workers, ranging from 0.5 percent in North Carolina to 13.8 percent in Hawaii. Employees whose jobs are deemed essential to public health and safety, such as police officers and veterans’ homes employees, aren’t furloughed.

By comparison, at least 54,000 state workers have been laid off so far, according to tallies by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“People were saying, ‘well if things are so bad, why aren’t people getting laid off?’ The answer to that is that in a lot of places, they’re choosing furloughs,” said AFSCME’s Kerri Korpi

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Governor signs bill to give retirees pay boost

Governor Bobby Jindal has signed into law a bill that would give some state employee and teacher retirees living at the poverty level a boost in their pension checks

The retirees could receive up to a $300 a month increase beginning July 1 under House Bill 586.

The legislation would affect about 1,300 retirees, their beneficiaries and survivors who receive pensions through the Louisiana State Employee Retirement System and the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana.

In order to qualify for the minimum benefit, the retiree would have to have at least 30 years of service credit, be retired for at least 15 years, and be at least age 60.

Bill will restructure pension debt

A bill that cleared the Louisiana Legislature last week is expected to lower what state officials call the “largest direct debt of any state entity.”

Senate Bill 296, which has been sent to the governor for his signature into law, is aimed at making those future payments less dramatic and to save taxpayers about $557 million, said state Sen. Butch Gautreaux, the Morgan City Democrat who chairs the Senate Retirement Committee.

The legislation basically would refinance some of the debt after making a large extra payment and create a new payment structure.

The state employees and teachers retirement systems have a combined debt of about $11 billion.

LA Swift extended through June 30, 2010

LA Swift, the service that provides coach bus rides between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, will be extended through June 30, 2010. Service will continue to operate seven days a week, and fare will remain $5 per one-way trip.

The extension of service will be completely funded with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds in the amount of $2.3 million through the end of the 2010 fiscal year.

The LA Swift Service began on Oct. 31, 2005, as a post-Katrina recovery effort, providing transportation for workers and citizens between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Over the past three-and-a-half years, the service has been very successful, providing more than 615,000 passenger trips.

Early Retirement Plan Receives Final Approval – by Robyn Ekings

In an 87-0 vote on Tuesday (June 23rd), the Louisiana House agreed to Senate made changes to a bill that seeks to reduce the state workforce through early retirement.

HB 513 by Representative Dee Richard provides for early retirement for members of the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) with an actuarial reduction of benefit. Members would be allowed to retire at age 50 with at least 10 years of service credit.

Positions vacated under the program would be abolished and a member taking the option would not be eligible for reemployment. The plan would go into effect on July 1, 2009.

States Turning to Last Resorts in Budget Crisis

With state revenues in a free fall and the economy choked by the worst recession in 60 years, governors and legislatures are approving program cuts and, to a smaller degree, tax increases that were previously unthinkable.

All but four states must have new budgets in place less than two weeks from now — by July 1, the start of their fiscal year. But most are already predicting shortfalls as tax collections shrink, unemployment rises and the stock market remains in turmoil.

“Legislators have never dealt with a recession as precipitous and rapid as this one,” said Susan K. Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States. “They’re faced with some of the toughest decisions legislators ever have to make, for both political and economic reasons, so it’s not surprising that the environment has become very tense.”

In all, states will face a $121 billion budget gap in the coming fiscal year, according to a recent report by the National Conference of State Legislatures, compared with $102.4 billion for this fiscal year.