Finance Committee advances multiple bills on retirement funding, procurement and infrastructure; firefighter supplemental-pay bill deferred
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Summary
The Senate Finance Committee reported several measures favorable on March 30 — including SB 11 (state police COLA funding), SB 17 (registrars’ COLA funding), SB 300 (procurement cleanup), SB 315 (architect threshold), SB 324 (water sector updates) and SB 411 (lease authority). SB 153 (firefighter supplemental pay tied to EMR certification) was amended to push the effective date and deferred for further stakeholder work.
The Senate Finance Committee on March 30 moved a slate of administrative, procurement and retirement bills to the Senate floor and deferred one contentious fire‑service bill for further stakeholder outreach.
SB 11: Senator Price presented SB 11 to increase the direct funding rate for the Louisiana State Police Retirement System's COLA funding account from 2.5% to 3.5% so the system could grant COLAs more frequently. Margaret Michelle, director of the Louisiana State Police Retirement System, said the change would phase in when employer rates otherwise decline and is intended to bring the system’s COLA frequency closer to other state systems. Senator Boudreaux moved SB 11 favorable; the motion carried by voice vote.
SB 17: Senator Braceley presented SB 17 (on behalf of Clerk Talbot) to make the funding deposit account the only source of COLA funding for the Registrars of Voters Retirement System and to consolidate related statutes into the system’s chapter. Laura Gail Sullivan spoke for the registrars' system; the committee reported the bill favorable with no questions recorded.
SB 300: Senator Mizell described cleanup and refinements to last year’s procurement package, including allowing fiscal intermediary services in invitations to negotiate, removing local advertisement requirements for some bids, requiring public disclosure of auction techniques, and other clarifications. Technical amendments were adopted and the committee reported the bill favorable as amended.
SB 153: Senator Feiner sought to require that employees eligible for a state supplemental firefighter pay hold an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) license or higher. Fire‑service representatives were split: the Louisiana Fire Chiefs Association supported raising the baseline medical competency and said training (about 40 hours) is available free through the State Fire Training Academy; other fire representatives and some professional firefighters warned about statutory conflicts and burdens on rural departments and worried current recipients could lose supplements. The author accepted an amendment to delay the effective date to 01/01/2028 to allow implementation work; after further discussion the committee voted to defer the bill to next week for additional stakeholder outreach.
Other bills: Senator Reese reported SB 315 (raising the architect selection threshold from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000) and SB 324 (technical updates to the Water Sector Program, including emergency subfund eligibility and rescission authority); both were reported favorable. Senator Duplessis presented SB 411 to allow a lease extension consistent with neighboring stadium lease terms; the committee moved it favorable.
The committee adjourned after completing its business. Several members asked for supplemental actuarial or fiscal estimates on the teacher and retirement bills before final floor action.
