The Louisiana Senate unanimously approved a bill that finalizes changes in cost-of-living adjustments for participants in the state's four pension plans.
The bill, which establishes the COLA for the fiscal year beginning July 1, also changes many of the rules that will determine future COLAs for the four pension funds. Among those changes: tying the amount of the COLA to the funding ratio of the pension funds and stipulating that COLAs would only be granted every other year instead of annually until the systems are 85% funded.
The Senate on Monday voted, 37-0, for the bill that guarantees a COLA of 1.5% on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year, for retirees in the $16.4 Louisiana Teachers' Retirement System, $10.6 billion Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System, $1.7 billion Louisiana School Employees Retirement System, and $583 million Louisiana State Police Retirement System, all of Baton Rouge.
The bill already had passed the House; it now goes to Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Separately, the Senate also unanimously voted for a bill on May 13 that raises the retirement age to 62 from 60 for non-hazardous duty participants who are hired on or after July 1, 2015. This bill also already was passed by the House and is being sent to Mr. Jindal.