Senate retirement panel ranks pension bills for actuarial study, places cost-of-living adjustments first

The Senate Retirement Committee on an indicated date prioritized a slate of retirement-related bills for actuarial study and agreed to coordinate with the House to avoid duplicating costs.

The committee placed Senate Bill 339 — a measure by Senator O'Rourke proposing semiannual post‑retirement benefit adjustments for all beneficiaries of the Employees Retirement System of Georgia — as its top priority for an actuarial study. Senator Josh McLaren, a member of the committee, proposed prioritizing that bill and said, "I would respectfully submit that SB 339 be one of the prioritized bills that the chairman's looking for." The committee chairman then led a show-of-hands agreement; the chairman said, "That's unanimous, thank you, good move." The committee used raises of hands rather than a roll-call vote to record the priorities.

Why it matters: Committee members said actuarial studies will provide the cost estimates needed to assess the fiscal impact of proposed changes to retirement systems — including changes to cost‑of‑living adjustments, eligibility, and benefit multipliers. Members stressed they want to avoid paying twice for the same analysis and asked the House to indicate its priorities so the two chambers can coordinate.

What the committee did: Members discussed and then ranked roughly 10 bills for actuarial study. Where two bills address the same fund, the committee asked legislative council and auditors whether a single actuarial submission could cover supplemental information so both measures would be evaluated without duplicating work. For one pair of bills affecting the legislative retirement fund (SB 157 and SB 198), members agreed to submit them together as a single request (the committee described this informally as a "BOGO," or buy‑one‑get‑one, approach).

Votes at a glance

- SB 339 (Employees Retirement System — semiannual post‑retirement benefit adjustments) — Priority 1. Motion proposed by Senator Josh McLaren; approved by unanimous show of hands; no roll call recorded.

- SB 261 (Magistrates Retirement Fund — early retirement benefit) — Priority 2. Committee conducted a show-of-hands; one speaker counted "1, 2, 3" in favor and reported no opposition.

- SB 150 (permit public school systems to employ certain beneficiaries of the Teachers Retirement System) — Priority 3. Added to the prioritized list after a motion and second; approved by show of hands (count not specified).

- SB 157 (allow former members of the General Assembly to buy into the legislative retirement system) and SB 198 (increase benefit multipliers for Legislative Retirement System members) — Slot 4 (submitted together). Committee agreed to submit supplemental information because both bills pertain to the same fund; members described the pairing as a single submission to legislative council/audits.

- SB 11 (creditable service for certain military service) — Priority 5. Added by motion and approved by show of hands (count not specified).

- SB 209 (Teachers Retirement System / irrevocable election for some public school employees) — Priority 6. Motioned and approved by show of hands (count not specified).

- SB 342 (increase percentage of 9‑1‑1 charges remitted to the Peace Officers Annuity and Benefit fund) — Priority 7. Motioned and approved by show of hands (count not specified).

- SB 216 (Georgia Judicial Retirement System membership for an employee of the Prosecuting Attorney's Qualifications Commission) — Priority 8. Motioned and approved by show of hands (count not specified).

- SB 143 (Georgia Firefighters Pension Fund — certain members to retire at age 50) — Priority 9. Motioned and approved by show of hands (count not specified).

The committee said it ultimately would submit the full set of bills for actuarial study and asked the House to share its priorities to avoid duplicative fiscal work.

Discussion highlights and clarifications

- Coordination with the House: The chairman opened the meeting noting the committee had "passed out about 10 bills to get actuarial studies" and asked members to rank them so the Senate and House would not both commission the same study. Members repeatedly emphasized cost stewardship and coordination.

- Pairing similar bills: Committee members asked legislative council and auditors whether a single actuarial submission could accommodate supplemental material when multiple bills affected the same retirement fund. The committee recorded an informal agreement to pair SB 157 and SB 198 for that reason.

- Member concerns: Several senators thanked colleagues for particular bills affecting retirees. One senator noted long gaps since prior cost‑of‑living increases for some retirees and said the actuarial study is necessary to determine the fiscal implications.

Next steps: Committee members said they will forward the prioritized list and the request(s) for actuarial study to legislative council and auditors, and will check with House members to coordinate priorities. The committee adjourned after confirming the ranked list.