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LouisianaHB 452026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

RETIREMENT/MUNICIPAL POL: Provides relative to benefits of participating employees in the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System (EN INCREASE APV)

Sponsored By: Tony Bacala (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Retirement

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

10 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 6 mixed.

Back benefits for fallen officers’ survivors

Eligible survivors can apply by June 30, 2027, for Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System benefits, even if employers failed to enroll officers. This covers municipal officers killed in the line of duty from July 1, 2010, through February 28, 2026. The officer must have met membership requirements at death, and the survivor must qualify for survivor benefits. Approved back benefits must be paid within three months after eligibility is decided. Additional employer contributions must cover the calculated pension cost.

Higher pension rates for municipal officers

Beginning January 1, 2027, municipal police pension benefits grow faster for new service. Subplan A earns 3% of average final pay per service year before that date, and 3⅓% afterward. Members retiring with at least 30 years of creditable service receive 3⅓% for every year of Subplan A service. Subplan B earns 2.5% per year before January 1, 2027, and 3% afterward. Both subplans cap the total benefit at 100% of average final pay.

Qualifying officers move into police pensions

Beginning January 1, 2027, qualifying workers become members of the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System. This covers workers who previously elected under R.S. 11:160 to stay in the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System. They must hold a job that otherwise qualifies for police-system membership on December 31, 2026. Their state-system service transfers under R.S. 11:143(C). It counts toward pension amounts and eligibility once the required transfer money is received.

Extra police pension funding supports retirees

For fiscal years ending through June 30, 2028, extra employer contributions reduce the oldest pension debt schedules or fund additional benefits. Beginning with fiscal years starting July 1, 2028, contributions above the rate calculated under R.S. 11:103 must enter the Funding Deposit Account. That money can only pay additional benefits to retirees, survivors, and beneficiaries. The law does not set an individual benefit amount.

Officer bonuses lose pension value

Pension pay excludes overtime; beginning July 1, 2026, it also excludes one-time recruitment, hiring, signing and retention bonuses, clothing allowances, and awards. Payments from January 1 through July 1, 2026, count only if both employer and employee contributions reach the system by June 30, 2026. Employers must return employee contributions they withheld but did not send; no refund is due if employees paid nothing. The law bars reimbursement claims for covered amounts deducted, paid, or owed on or before the act’s effective date. To the extent allowed by law, the system, employers, and municipalities are protected from suits or financial liability for paying these awards without required deductions.

Officers can buy higher pension rates

Beginning in 2027, members can pay to raise pension rates for past municipal police service. Subplan A service credited at 3% can be raised to 3⅓%; Subplan B service credited at 2.5% can reach 3%. Members must pay the full cost of the added pension benefit, calculated using the system’s current pension assumptions and methods. Neither the employer nor the retirement system can pay any part, directly or indirectly. The higher rate takes effect only after full payment.

Officers can buy past service credit

Members can buy credit for qualifying prior service with another Louisiana law-enforcement agency or political subdivision that cannot count in a Louisiana public pension. Federal or out-of-state law-enforcement service requires at least six months of police-system credit and cannot count in any public pension plan. Those applicants must provide employment dates, retirement-plan names and addresses, and official proof that the credit is not duplicated. Members pay the full calculated pension cost themselves, in one payment or installments lasting up to 60 months, with interest at the system’s assumed investment return. Any balance is due at least 30 days before retirement or the first system benefit, whichever comes first.

Police retirement accounts gain options, waivers

For Deferred Retirement Option Plan participation starting on or after July 1, 2026, the board can allow system-held investments and voluntary transfers from outside accounts. Board rules under the Administrative Procedure Act govern crediting, transfers, values, fees, and payment methods. After participation ends, retained or transferred amounts earn annual interest at the portfolio’s actuarial return, certified in the annual valuation, minus 0.5 percentage point. If rules are not ready when participation ends, the account transfers under existing law. Choosing participation starting on or after July 1, 2026, waives Louisiana constitutional rights or claims over account benefits, guaranteed returns, and investment or interest methods, including amounts credited during or after participation, whether retained or transferred.

Some officers can trade pension payments

A special payment option covers officers who entered the Deferred Retirement Option Plan with at least 28 years of service. They must have elected three-year participation before July 1, 2024, and later returned to active, contributing membership. At later retirement, they can choose an initial benefit worth up to 24 months of the benefit deposited when prior participation ended. They can receive a lump sum or hold it in an investment account, without cost-of-living increases. Their ongoing additional monthly pension is reduced by a calculated equivalent amount to offset the initial benefit.

Police pension funding rates change

The board can set net direct employer contribution rates within statutory ceilings for July 1, 2023–June 30, 2028. Beginning July 1, 2028, it can set the rate at the R.S. 11:103 base rate plus an applicable benefit rate. The Funding Deposit Account rate is 0.85 percentage point beginning July 1, 2027; from fiscal years starting July 1, 2028, it permanently rises by half of any base-rate decrease, capped at 2.50 percentage points. If the base rate plus deposit-account rate totals 29.35% or less, the applicable benefit rate equals the deposit-account rate. Above 29.35%, the applicable benefit rate is the greater of 0.85 percentage point or that combined rate minus the base rate.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Tony Bacala

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

  • Aimee Adatto Freeman

    Democratic • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 234 • No: 4

House vote • 5/29/2026

Read by title, roll called, yeas 95, nays 0. The Senate amendments, having received two-thirds vote of the elected members, were concurred in.

Yes: 95 • No: 0

Senate vote • 5/26/2026

Rules suspended. The amended bill was read by title, passed by a vote of 35 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

Yes: 35 • No: 0

House vote • 4/15/2026

Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 93, nays 4. The bill, having received two-thirds vote of the elected members, was finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

Yes: 93 • No: 4

House vote • 4/9/2026

Reported with amendments

Yes: 11 • No: 0

Actions Timeline

  1. Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 609.

    6/2/2026House

  2. Effective date: 06/02/2026.

    6/2/2026House

  3. Signed by the President of the Senate.

    6/1/2026Senate

  4. Sent to the Governor for executive approval.

    6/1/2026House

  5. Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.

    5/31/2026House

  6. Read by title, roll called, yeas 95, nays 0. The Senate amendments, having received two-thirds vote of the elected members, were concurred in.

    5/29/2026House

  7. Scheduled for concurrence on 05/29/2026.

    5/27/2026House

  8. Rules suspended. The amended bill was read by title, passed by a vote of 35 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

    5/26/2026Senate

  9. Received from the Senate with amendments.

    5/26/2026House

  10. Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.

    5/21/2026Senate

  11. Rules suspended. Recalled from Committee.

    5/20/2026Senate

  12. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

    5/20/2026Senate

  13. Senate Committee amendments read and adopted.

    5/6/2026Senate

  14. Read by title. Recommitted to the Committee on Finance.

    5/6/2026Senate

  15. Reported with amendments.

    5/5/2026Senate

  16. Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Retirement.

    4/21/2026Senate

  17. Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.

    4/20/2026Senate

  18. Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 93, nays 4. The bill, having received two-thirds vote of the elected members, was finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

    4/15/2026House

  19. Scheduled for floor debate on 04/15/2026.

    4/14/2026House

  20. Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.

    4/13/2026House

  21. Reported with amendments (11-0).

    4/9/2026House

  22. Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Retirement.

    3/9/2026House

  23. Prefiled.

    1/23/2026House

  24. Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Retirement.

    1/23/2026House

  25. First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 1/23/2026.

    1/23/2026House

Bill Text

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