Serving those who serve Georgia E RSGA Employees' Retirement System of Georgia For the Week of: February 22 - 26, 2021 Legislative Days: 20 - 24 Employees' Retirement System of Georgia Legislative Update February 26, 2021 Inside This Update 1-3 Legislative Log For More Information on Legislation, please visit: www.ers.ga.gov Contact Us Jim Potvin Executive Director, ERSGA 404-603-5602 jim.potvin@ers.ga.gov Kelly L. Moody Director, Legislative Affairs Division, ERSGA 404-603-5646 kelly.moody@ers.ga.gov Ashley Waller Legal and Policy Research Analyst, ERSGA 404-603-5694 ashley.waller@ers.ga.gov Page 1 Legislative Log Monday, February 22, 2021 SR 129 Senate Retirement Security for Georgians Study Committee; create This bill creates the Senate Study Committee on Retirement Security for Georgians to study retirement security options that would promote greater retirement security for all Georgians. The Committee shall be composed of seven (7) members, one of which is the director of the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia or his designee. The other six (6) members are as follows: Senate Finance Committee Chairperson; Senate Retirement Committee Chairperson; State Auditor (or his designee); An economist or actuary knowledgeable of various aspects surrounding the state of retirement security in Georgia; and Two members of the Senate appointed by the Minority Leader. The Committee will stand abolished on December 1, 2021. SR 129 was assigned to the Senate Rules Committee. Tuesday, February 23, 2021 No retirement bills were considered February 26, 2021 Page 2 Wednesday, February 24, 2021 HB 612 Employees' Retirement System; certain sworn law enforcement officers to be eligible for regular retirement benefits at the age of 55 years; allow This bill expands the current retirement eligibility and benefits applying to certain law enforcement personnel who are ERS members so as to include officers, deputy commissioners, and commissioners of the Motor Carrier Compliance Division and the Capitol Police Division of the Department of Public Safety. Under this legislation, which would become effective July 1, 2022, such groups of ERS members would be eligible to retire with normal benefits at the age of 55, provided they had at least 10 years of creditable service, and would also be eligible for Injury in the Line of Duty provisions as well as purchase of applicable, local creditable service. HB 612 was assigned to the House Retirement Committee. Thursday, February 25, 2021 SB 250 Georgia Legislative Retirement System; retirement allowance; increase This bill increases Legislative Retirement System (LRS) member's monthly benefit payable at retirement by increasing the multiplier from $36 to $50. Retired members will also get the $50 multiplier increase included in their retirement benefit calculation. These increases will be effective 7/1/22. SB 250 was assigned to the Senate Retirement Committee. SB 251 Georgia Legislative Retirement System; define certain terms; provisions This bill increases Legislative Retirement System (LRS) member's monthly benefit payable at retirement by increasing the multiplier from $36 to $50. LRS member contributions will also increase to 9.5% of monthly salary. Retired members will also get the $50 multiplier increase included in their retirement benefit calculation. These increases will be effective 7/1/22. This legislation also defines "Average Monthly Salary" to mean the average of the monthly salary of a member during the 24 consecutive months of membership service producing the highest such average. Additionally, "Monthly Salary" is defined to mean the full rate of the total combined regular monthly salary, not including any per diems, allowances, or expense reimbursements payable to a member, plus any additional regular monthly salary payable to the member pursuant to resolution adopted by the General Assembly. "Term of office" is also defined in this bill as the period of time beginning when an individual receives his or her commission as a member of the General Assembly from the Secretary of State, which commission is issued in accordance to law until the second Monday in January of the next off-numbered year. February 26, 2021 Page 3 Active members on or after 7/1/22 will receive the greater of $50 multiplied by the number of years of creditable service or a monthly service retirement allowance equal to 38% of the member's average monthly salary. If any person who is a contributing member on 7/1/22 does not remain a contributing member until at least 12/31/22, the retirement allowance will be equal to $50 multiplied by the number of years of creditable service. This 38% is more impactful for members such as the Speaker of the House, Senate Pro Tempore, and House Pro Tempore. SB 251 was assigned to the Senate Retirement Committee. Friday, February 26, 2021 No retirement bills were considered