The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Louisiana House Bill 24 allows retired teachers to return as independent contractors without earnings caps
Last action · April 20, 2026: Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Retirement.Sponsor: Charles Owen
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Proposed
Louisiana House Bill 24 permits retired educators belonging to the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana to work as ors for local school boards starting July 1, 2026. Under the measure, these contracted retirees are exempt from earnings limitations and benefit reductions, while school boards must remit full employer retirement contributions and report aggregate compensation anonymously to the retirement system.
Retired teachers can take short-term instructional or administrative roles up to one without losing their retirement benefits or hitting earnings caps, while local school boards gain a mechanism to staff classrooms through s backed by anonymous reporting requirements.
- The Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana administers retirement and benefit programs for public education employees across the state. context
- State retirement systems in Louisiana are subject to constitutional provisions governing funding and actuarial soundness under Article X of the Louisiana Constitution. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Retired teachers
Eligible retirees may contract with school boards as independent instructors or administrators without earnings caps or benefit reductions, while foregoing new retirement accruals and employee benefits.
School boards
Local school boards may contract with retired educators, must remit employer contributions to the retirement system, and must report aggregate contract data and Department of Education notifications.
Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana
The retirement system receives employer contributions and anonymous gross compensation reports from school boards without managing individual contractor member records.
Key Facts
- House Bill 24 authorizes school boards to enter into independent contracts with certified or permitted retired teachers for up to one fiscal year.
- Independent contractors are classified as non-employees, receive compensation via IRS Form 1099-NEC, and are ineligible for health insurance, sick leave, tenure, or employee benefits.
- School boards must remit the full employer retirement contribution to the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana for each independent contractor.
- Independent contractors do not make personal contributions to the retirement system during their contract term and accrue no additional service credit or benefits.
Show all 10 facts
- Retirees returning to active service within twelve months of retirement have their benefits suspended for the duration of that service or until the twelve months lapse.
- School boards are prohibited from reporting the name, Social Security number, or personally identifiable information of independent contractors to the retirement system.
- School boards must report only total gross compensation and total employer contributions remitted to the retirement system.
- Independent contractors are exempt from any benefit increase, suspension, or reduction resulting from reemployment and face no earnings limitations.
- School boards must notify the Department of Education within thirty days of executing a contract, providing the contract count and subject areas or grade levels filled.
- The provisions of the act terminate on June 30, 2029, though active contracts in effect on that date may be completed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a retired teacher working as an independent contractor accrue additional retirement benefits?
Are school boards required to report a retiree's name to the retirement system?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · passed the House · in Senate committee.
Procedural history
10 actions- Apr 20, 2026SenateCommitteeRead second time by title and referred to the Committee on Retirement.
- Apr 15, 2026HouseFloorRead third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 98, nays 0. The bill, having received two-thirds vote of the elected members, was finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
- Apr 15, 2026SenateReceived in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- Apr 14, 2026HouseScheduled for floor debate on 04/15/2026.
- Apr 13, 2026HouseFloorRead by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- Apr 9, 2026HouseCommitteeReported favorably (11-0).
Show 4 earlier actions
- 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.
Anonymous Reporting of Contracted Retirees
The bill establishes an explicit exemption from reporting individual identifying information like names and Social Security numbers for retirees working under independent contracts.
Sunset Clause
All provisions of the act terminate on June 30, 2029, though contracts active on that date may run to completion.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.la.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 65)
- Controversy30Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools