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Read. Follow. Verify.Louisiana updates rules for Clerks' of Court retirement cost-of-living adjustments and employer contributions
Last action · May 22, 2026: Effective date: 05/22/2026.Sponsor: Tony Bacala
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What This Bill Does
Louisiana sets new criteria for the Clerks' of Court Retirement and Relief Fund to grant retiree s (COLAs) based on system funding ratios and consumer price index changes, and allows the board to manage employer contribution rates and surplus funds.
Retired court clerks and survivors face new financial benchmarks regarding when benefit increases can be issued, while employers face adjusted contribution rate guidelines determined by the retirement board.
Who It Affects
Groups the bill's text affects, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
retired members, beneficiaries, and survivors
Their eligibility and maximum limits for receiving cost-of-living adjustments are newly defined based on system funding ratios and consumer price index metrics.
employers contributing to the Clerks' of Court Retirement and Relief Fund
Their contribution rates may be maintained at previous levels or increased by up to three percent above standard calculations depending on board decisions.
Key Facts
- The board of trustees may grant a cost-of-living adjustment to retired members, beneficiaries, and survivors if benefits have been paid for at least one full calendar year.
- Granting a COLA requires the system's funded ratio to meet specific target ratios or tiered thresholds, and the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) must be at least three percent higher than in the fiscal year the last COLA was granted.
- Any COLA granted by the board shall not exceed the lesser of an increase of two and one-half percent per year for each full calendar year of retirement or forty dollars per month in any one year, with alternative structures capped by equivalent actuarial present value.
- The board may grant an additional cost-of-living adjustment of up to two percent of the current benefit to all eligible retirees, beneficiaries, and survivors who are sixty-five years of age or over.
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- The board may maintain employer contribution rates at previous levels during decreases or require rates up to three percent higher than those determined pursuant to R.S. 11:103.
- Surplus funds collected when the board exercises contribution authorities are credited to the system's funding deposit account.
- Funds in the funding deposit account may be used to reduce unfunded accrued liabilities, reduce future normal costs, pay future net direct employer contributions, or provide for cost-of-living adjustments.
- Several prior statutory provisions related to funding calculations and accounts, including R.S. 11:105(A)(2), 106(A)(2), 107(A)(2), 107.1(A)(2), 242(B)(2), 243(A)(2), and 246(A)(2), are repealed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible for a cost-of-living adjustment under this act?
What limits apply to the amount of a cost-of-living adjustment?
What happens to surplus funds collected through employer contributions?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Current status: Signed into law.
Procedural history
22 actions- May 22, 2026HouseEnrolledSigned by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 279.
- May 22, 2026HouseEffective date: 05/22/2026.
- May 19, 2026HouseReceived from the Senate without amendments.
- May 19, 2026HouseEnrolledEnrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- May 19, 2026SenateEnrolledSigned by the President of the Senate.
- May 19, 2026HouseSent to the Governor for executive approval.
Show 16 earlier actions
- May 18, 2026SenateFloorRules suspended. Read by title, passed by a vote of 32 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
- May 13, 2026SenateFloorReported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
- May 12, 2026SenateIntroducedRead by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- May 11, 2026SenateCommitteeReported favorably.
- Apr 14, 2026SenateIntroducedRead by title. Recommitted to the Committee on Finance.
- Apr 13, 2026SenateCommitteeReported favorably.
- Mar 31, 2026SenateCommitteeRead second time by title and referred to the Committee on Retirement.
- Mar 30, 2026SenateReceived in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- Mar 26, 2026HouseFloorRead third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 92, nays 1. The bill, having received two-thirds vote of the elected members, was finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
- Mar 25, 2026HouseScheduled for floor debate on 03/26/2026.
- Mar 24, 2026HouseFloorRead by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- Mar 23, 2026HouseReported with amendments (13-0).
- Mar 9, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Retirement.
- Jan 23, 2026HouseFirst appeared in the Interim Calendar on 1/23/2026.
- Jan 20, 2026HousePrefiled.
- Jan 20, 2026HouseCommitteeUnder the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Retirement.
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Restructuring of Retirement Fund Management
The act updates statutory rules governing cost-of-living adjustments by tying them strictly to variable funding ratios and CPI-U milestones while granting the board authority over employer contribution rates.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.la.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance50How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz10Current news / social attention level
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