[StBernard] State lawmakers can join retirement system through loophole

[Westley Annis]

>and $37,230.72 from the Teachers Retirement System.

>An online profile says he was a school teacher from 1965 to 1966.


Re:  Alrio:  Can that be right that he's getting 37k for one year of
teaching?  65 to 66?





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	State lawmakers can join retirement system through loophole
	
	BATON ROUGE - While a constitutional amendment adopted in 1996 bans
	Louisiana legislators from joining the Louisiana State Employees
Retirement
	System, there's a way around even the constitution.
	
	Some state legislators remain in the system through a "grandfather
clause,"
	and some new lawmakers are taking advantage of a loophole in the
ban.
	
	Public outcry over legislators receiving retirement pay for what was
	considered a part-time job and lawmakers accruing benefits at a
faster rate
	than regular state employees led to passage of the 1996
constitutional
	amendment that prohibits future legislators from participating in
the
	retirement system.
	
	However, a loophole allows any legislator who had been paying into
another
	government retirement system to transfer those years to LASERS. And
even if
	there was no retirement system, the years of service on any
governmental
	body - even a non-paid commission - could be applied by paying a
lump sum to
	LASERS that equals the amount of wages that would have been deducted
toward
	retirement during those years.
	
	For example, former Gov. Mike Foster bought time in LASERS and
boosted his
	retirement benefit by paying for the years he served on the West St.
Mary
	Parish Port Commission, an unpaid position.
	
	As written, the constitutional ban that became effective Jan. 1,
1997,
	allows legislators who have previous governmental service to join
LASERS.
	
	That includes, according to Article 10, Section 29.1 of the
constitution,
	"Any legislator or any member of a school board, levee board, police
jury,
	or parish council "> Any member of a city council, city-parish
council, or
	town council or any alderman or any constable "> Any member of a
board or
	commission established by the state of Louisiana or any
instrumentality or
	political subdivision thereof unless authorized by law enacted by
two-thirds
	of the elected members of each house "> (and) Any person holding or
serving
	in any other elected or appointed position or office defined to be
part-time
	public service by law enacted by two-thirds of the elected members
of each
	house."
	
	However, LASERS Assistant Director Maris LeBlanc points out, it
doesn't
	include mayors or parish government presidents unless they first
served as a
	council member and joined a local retirement system.
	
	"If a member receives a higher salary during the last 36 months of
their
	service, the retirement benefit is increased," LeBlanc said. "The
total
	amount of increase will depend on the date of retirement."