Senate Retirement Committee, February 10, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:08:24

   What button are you?

2. 0:08:25

   Number four.

3. 0:08:28

   We're gonna have a word of prayer and then we'll let r- Senator McLaurin take up the offering.

4. 0:08:36

   Y'all pray with me please. Uh, heavenly Father, we just thank you for today, Lord. We thank you for loving us. We thank you for the gift of salvation. And Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to, to congregate here, Lord, and, and, and talk about, uh, the issues, uh, that we're gonna be looking at that affect, uh, the lives of our fellow Georgians. Lord, as we go about the process on this committee, Lord, we just ask that you give us wisdom and discernment so that we can make the, the best decisions that we can on behalf of the people we represent. Lord, again, we thank you for loving and we say thank you for all the blessings you have bestowed upon us, Lord.

5. 0:09:08

   In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

6. 0:09:10

   Amen.

7. 0:09:11

   Amen. Thank you.

8. 0:09:12

   You're welcome.

9. 0:09:14

   Here we go. All right, um,

10. 0:09:21

    Senator Albers' bill came off. Um, he's not here. Um, so give everybody time to-

11. 0:09:33

    Oh, man

12. 0:09:34

    ... we got people.

13. 0:09:36

    I want to hear that save yourself.

14. 0:09:37

    Nobody signed up.

15. 0:09:37

    Oh, nobody signed up.

16. 0:09:37

    Nobody signed up.

17. 0:09:38

    Nobody signed up.

18. 0:09:40

    Yeah.

19. 0:09:40

    Okay.

20. 0:09:45

    Yeah, Senator Albers' bill has been removed from our agenda. Thank y'all.

21. 0:09:53

    We'll start off with Senate Bill 157. Uh, this is my, my bill. Um-

22. 0:10:01

    Funeral bill.

23. 0:10:02

    Nope, not a funeral one.

24. 0:10:07

    No.

25. 0:10:07

    Y'all leap to conclusions, right, Mr. Chair?

26. 0:10:09

    This is for all the public servants of the State of Georgia. This, um, allows current and former members of the general assembly to become a member of the Georgia Legislative Retirement System and attain credible service. Some people that had, uh, served in legislature before did not, uh, sign up to be on the legislative retirement. This gives them an option to buy back into it and there's, um, the actuarial study came up with a zero.

27. 0:10:46

    Did it?

28. 0:10:46

    Has no effect.

29. 0:10:47

    Yeah.

30. 0:10:47

    We passed this one time, didn't we?

31. 0:10:49

    Yeah. We-

32. 0:10:49

    Yes, we did.

33. 0:10:50

    Yeah.

34. 0:10:50

    I thought I recognized it.

35. 0:10:51

    Yeah, we did. And, uh, we can belabor the point as, uh- ... one of my, uh, colleagues in the house would say, or we can just move right on, whatever you'd like to do.

36. 0:11:04

    Mr. Chairman, do we have the time?

37. 0:11:06

    Do you have a question?

38. 0:11:08

    I'm on number 10 here.

39. 0:11:09

    Okay. Yes, sir. Go right ahead.

40. 0:11:10

    So I, I'm trying to figure out if we've got, uh, people that aren't on the system and they get on the system, that's gonna draw money. How is that no fiscal impact? I'm not-

41. 0:11:20

    Well, it has-

42. 0:11:21

    ... following that

43. 0:11:21

    ... what they do in order to get back on the system, they have to buy back into it and they put money back into it.

44. 0:11:28

    Uh-huh.

45. 0:11:29

    Uh, so it still is a zero impact. And so it-

46. 0:11:33

    Well, if you're buying back into it and you're putting as much money in as it gonna cost, why would you even buy back into it?

47. 0:11:39

    I don't, I don't know. You know, that, you're one of my coach, uh, signers. I believe you ought to ...

48. 0:11:45

    I, I, I'm, I'm regretting doing that right now. I should've read the bill better.

49. 0:11:51

    This is, um ...

50. 0:11:56

    You want ... If y'all, we'll take a minute if you'd like, and we can, uh ...

51. 0:12:02

    No, I, I, I understand the bill. I just hadn't seen a fiscal note, and I was just surprised that there was-

52. 0:12:09

    Yeah, there's a fiscal note

53. 0:12:09

    ... that, u- until now I hadn't seen one, what I'm saying, and I was just surprised it was-

54. 0:12:13

    There is

55. 0:12:13

    ... that it would say no fiscal impact.

56. 0:12:14

    That is.

57. 0:12:17

    You know, I wasn't on this committee last year. You probably regret putting me on this year, but-

58. 0:12:21

    I didn't ask for you, but I can ask for you to be removed.

59. 0:12:29

    Well, this is a little comic relief that we needed.

60. 0:12:32

    Well, good. Yeah.

61. 0:12:33

    All right. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take a ch- a shot at this.

62. 0:12:35

    Okay. Go right ahead.

63. 0:12:36

    It's been, I think my last math course was in 2006. Uh, I think it's, it comes down to the definition of the actuarial cost.

64. 0:12:46

    Yeah.

65. 0:12:47

    So you're, you're paying in to cover an actuarial cost, and that involves predictions about who's gonna actually use benefits. It involves net present value discounts, where you're discounting future dollars. So there's my fuzzy math way of trying to explain how you can pay in and, uh, it still be worth it for you, but you cover the ... D- I see a couple nods. Is that basically right? Oh, I'm feeling good today. You guys made my day. Thank you. So, uh, so yeah, something about, uh, you know, paying insurance premiums and not always downloading.

66. 0:13:18

    You know, I think in the aggregate it sounds like it's a zero impact, but it may be worth it for the individual members who buy in.

67. 0:13:24

    Yeah, and this is something that you're not, um, drawing right then. This is something for down the road in the future.

68. 0:13:31

    Okay.

69. 0:13:31

    And, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm glad you, uh, cleared that up for us. Thank you. Uh, let's, let's see. Number 12. Yes, ma'am.

70. 0:13:43

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I think these, uh, retirees deserve this, and, uh, at the proper time, I, I'm willing to do that.

71. 0:13:52

    Okay. Well, I'll come back to you. I think we had another question. Senator Goodman, do you have a question?

72. 0:13:59

    I think I'll be-

73. 0:14:00

    Oh

74. 0:14:00

    ... uh, Senator Goodman this time.

75. 0:14:01

    Okay. All right. Excuse me, y'all.

76. 0:14:03

    Number five.

77. 0:14:04

    Yes.

78. 0:14:05

    I, I note with great interest that it says that you serve four years or two terms, and what, why is that, what's the difference between that and what I understood as requiring eight years of general ser- general assembly service, uh- To, uh, qualify. I had a conversation about that last night, quite ri- frankly.

79. 0:14:28

    Oh, okay.

80. 0:14:28

    And I noticed this says you only have to have four years.

81. 0:14:32

    Well, four years is where you would have served, but then you become a- it's not accredited. What's the word? After-

82. 0:14:42

    Vested

83. 0:14:42

    ... eight years. Vested. That's when you become vested, is after eight years of service.

84. 0:14:48

    So what's the difference?

85. 0:14:51

    Well, the four years is what they may have served and, and quit serving.

86. 0:15:00

    Okay.

87. 0:15:00

    They may have ran two terms and, and not signed up. Uh, but then they may have stayed out and then decided to get reelected, come back into the legislature, and then they're able to buy back in. Then after a total of eight years, they're vested.

88. 0:15:18

    Got it. I, I'll second it the proper time.

89. 0:15:22

    Okay. Any other questions or ...

90. 0:15:26

    Well, I just, Mr. Chair.

91. 0:15:29

    Yes, ma'am.

92. 0:15:29

    The, the, the, the, the, there's an interesting factoid that I'd call to the attention of our, our, our committee members, and that's the last, the last line in the third paragraph. This should be noted that 222 of the 236 active members of the General Assembly are currently members of the LRS. We're, uh, that, that's a,

93. 0:15:54

    a very significant number. That is-

94. 0:15:57

    Say that again, ma'am

95. 0:15:58

    ... right here. It should be noted, twen- 222 of the 236 active members of the General Assembly are currently members of the Legislative Retirement System.

96. 0:16:11

    But not necessarily vested.

97. 0:16:13

    Not, not what?

98. 0:16:14

    Not necessarily vested.

99. 0:16:15

    Vested.

100. 0:16:16

     No, not necessarily vested, no, no.

101. 0:16:18

     That's a common misperception.

102. 0:16:20

     Uh, yes, sir.

103. 0:16:21

     So, so if, if you were, say, in your eighth year of, current eight year of being in the legislature in both the House and the Senate, and you happen to be running for lieutenant governor, you could leave here this year knowing you were vested in the system. Is that correct?

104. 0:16:37

     That is correct.

105. 0:16:38

     Okay.

106. 0:16:38

     Yes, sir.

107. 0:16:38

     Just wanted to be sure.

108. 0:16:39

     Yes, sir. Thank you.

109. 0:16:41

     Leave no stone unturned.

110. 0:16:45

     He's asking for a friend.

111. 0:16:46

     Just, yeah, just, just for a friend.

112. 0:16:48

     Just for a friend.

113. 0:16:49

     Uh, Senator Davenport, um, at this time our chair will recognize you.

114. 0:16:56

     Oh, thank you.

115. 0:16:57

     If you'll pull your microphone. There you go. It sh- should be on.

116. 0:17:02

     It doesn't have a thing on it. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.

117. 0:17:04

     Oh, it's on.

118. 0:17:05

     I move that, uh, SB157, uh, do pass.

119. 0:17:12

     Okay. We're working off LC 560306.

120. 0:17:20

     Second, Mr. Chair.

121. 0:17:21

     Uh, LC 56. Yes.

122. 0:17:24

     Okay.

123. 0:17:24

     LC 56, oh.

124. 0:17:27

     03-

125. 0:17:28

     03

126. 0:17:28

     ... 06.

127. 0:17:29

     06.

128. 0:17:29

     Yes, ma'am. Okay. We have a motion by Senator Davenport. We have a second by Senator Mangham. Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

129. 0:17:41

     Aye.

130. 0:17:42

     Any opposed? So carried. Thank you, committee. Um, our next presenter is, uh, Senator Hatchett, and he had another

131. 0:17:58

     committee meeting going on, so we'll give him a few minutes to get here. We went over on the, uh, floor today, so it's got everything kind of behind schedule, so I apologize. But, uh,

132. 0:18:17

     anybody have anything they would wish to, uh, come address the Retirement Committee about? You're welcome to come up to the table. I'll recognize you.

133. 0:18:30

     Well,

134. 0:18:33

     I can't see behind the column.

135. 0:18:35

     Apparently not. Okay, good. Thank you.

136. 0:18:40

     I see that Hatchett's on the way.

137. 0:18:43

     Oh, oh, is that right? And that's Hatchett with-

138. 0:18:48

     Bo Hatchett

139. 0:18:48

     ... two Ts.

140. 0:18:49

     Sen- Senator Bo Hatchett.

141. 0:18:50

     Yes, with two Ts.

142. 0:19:01

     And his bill number's 452.

143. 0:19:04

     Yes, ma'am.

144. 0:19:04

     I can't hear.

145. 0:19:09

     We can go ahead and start to... Is anybody on the board familiar with this one that would, they would like to attempt to, uh-

146. 0:19:15

     I'm familiar

147. 0:19:16

     ... present it? Are you?

148. 0:19:17

     I'm familiar.

149. 0:19:17

     All right. I tell you what, uh, give me a moment. Let me reach out to him and see if he'll answer, then we'll let you present it.

150. 0:19:38

     He doesn't answer, but all right. Senator Hofsteter, you'll be recognized at this time.

151. 0:19:43

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The reason I'm familiar with it is because I did this bill, um, to bring it up to 9% a few years back when I was on retirement to, to bring... Kelly remembers those days. And, um, it had been, I think, 5%. Was that where it was before maximum?

152. 0:20:03

     Contributes at least 5%.

153. 0:20:04

     Con- con-

154. 0:20:05

     Yes

155. 0:20:05

     ... so if you look on, if you look on line 49 there, you'll see the 9%. That's what we raised it to, um, for our state employees, uh, with, with, uh, they had to have so many years of service, and they kept going up a half percent till eventually it would max out at 9%.

156. 0:20:25

     So what line is that?

157. 0:20:27

     Um, the, the l- line 49 talks about shall not exceed 9% of the member's compensation. That's the original language from my bill. Now, what the governor is doing and the governor's floor leader is doing is they're increasing this for the public safety members to, uh, if you go down to line 57, to 15% match. Um, and you know, we don't have the, uh, um, defined benefit from the old plan.

158. 0:20:59

     It's defined contribution, which, uh-

159. 0:21:03

     Right

160. 0:21:03

     ... the senator to the left of me in his business probably understands all that very well. So, uh, what the, what the governor is trying to do here for, uh, public safety is to increase the match of the 401up to 15%. I know, um, one of the things we did when we raised it to 9% was to try to retain our employees.

161. 0:21:26

     Mm-hmm.

162. 0:21:26

     Senator Hatchett, you can come on to the table.

163. 0:21:28

     Yeah.

164. 0:21:28

     Uh-

165. 0:21:29

     I've already explained your bill, so, uh-

166. 0:21:30

     We have Senator Hufstetler working on your bill-

167. 0:21:33

     That way

168. 0:21:33

     ... to explain it.

169. 0:21:35

     He, he, he, he has.

170. 0:21:36

     See, see if he agrees with my interpretation.

171. 0:21:36

     I think you, well, you may wanna go back out. I think you're doing a pretty good job.

172. 0:21:39

     I'm not passing. I'll, uh- ... I'll just sit down and be quiet. Thank you, and I, I appreciate you, uh, giving me the courtesy-

173. 0:21:47

     Yeah

174. 0:21:48

     ... of letting me know that you-

175. 0:21:48

     T- take, take, catch your breath. Senator Hufstetler was, uh, uh, going over it, and just catch your breath a moment. We're working off LC56-0504-EC, and he was just explaining to us. S- Senator Hufstetler, go ahead and-

176. 0:22:06

     Well, I was just explaining how a few years back, I had a bill that raised it to 9%, and now the governor's floor and the governor have to show me out by going up to 15% for public safety.

177. 0:22:18

     And it is a well-deserved 15%, for sure. Um, I'm not sure what all he's covered, but I'll kind of start from the top. I, I, I bring this bill on behalf of Governor Kemp. If you were at his, uh, State of the State, you would have heard how this year we're going to make a significant move for state law enforcement officers and their retirement. What this will do is it will improve recruitment and retention of state law enforcement officers while protecting the state's long-term financial position.

178. 0:22:57

     So it establishes a steeper defined contribution schedule to support officers through a higher employer match on their retirement contributions into their 401s. The model gradually increases the employer contribution rate based on years of service and is designed to reward longevity and retention while remaining fiscally sustainable. So state law enforcement officers would be, be eligible for the maximum 15% employer match after 10 years of service, which is three years ahead of and higher than the 9% max contribution under the current plan.

179. 0:23:36

     This approach enables Georgia to express support for our brave law enforcement who run towards danger, improve recruitment and retention, and protect taxpayers by avoiding putting the state at long-term financial risk. Some of you may be familiar that with, uh, in 2009, we had to do away with the state's pension during, the state pension for law enforcement officers during the Great Recession.

180. 0:24:04

     The state pension, or the cola?

181. 0:24:06

     The, the pension that they had before 2009.

182. 0:24:10

     Good Lord.

183. 0:24:11

     And since then, we-

184. 0:24:13

     Mm-hmm

185. 0:24:14

     ... we've been trying to do as much as we can with retirement. This is a significant step because after five year, after 10 years, they will put 5% in, and the state will match with 15%. So Georgia ranks 49th right now among states in la- uh, in retirement pay while being comparable to our neighboring states in salary. An internal survey conducted by the Georgia State Patrol in 2023 found that 41% of troopers would leave if a better retirement plan with another employer were available, and 63% believe their current retirement is very inadequate.

186. 0:24:57

     So hearing from the state patrol, hearing from our law enforcement officers, um, this is a significant step to help reward them for years of service, to help with recruiting, and to help with retention.

187. 0:25:13

     Okay. Let's see. See. Senator

188. 0:25:22

     Echols, I believe, is that you? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just curious, did you consult with your bodyguard over this bill?

189. 0:25:30

     I did.

190. 0:25:33

     Oh. Okay. Senator McLaren.

191. 0:25:37

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ooh. Hopefully not my doing. Sounds like it is. Um, I think it's a good bill. I was curious in terms of background, do we actually have stats from the last few months on how many state law enforcement officers or recruits we've lost to federal recruiting? I know the bonuses available at the federal level have played a factor for decision-making for some officers to go to the federal government and be an agent. I, I'm curious if you or if anybody here today has any statistics on how many people we've lost.

192. 0:26:11

     I don't have those statistics. Um, I can try to get them for you, though. I'm-

193. 0:26:16

     Genuinely curious-

194. 0:26:16

     Yeah

195. 0:26:16

     ... 'cause I think, I mean, it's interesting just to know. I, I think in general, I mean, I've made, been not shy about this in eight years, that if I think we're underfunding our state salaries, we're gonna be susceptible to either other governments or the private sector taking a lot of, uh, great talent away. And so I, you know, this is the kind of hard number statistic that I think would be useful for us in thinking about whether we're competitive enough with state salaries. I mean, particularly, it's almost like a, what social scientists would call a natural experiment to have the federal government drop these big bonuses all of a sudden and this huge hiring push.

196. 0:26:49

     Um, so I think it'd just be interesting to know how resilient our state workforce is to shocks like this. Anyway, I'm not planning on clipping this and putting it anywhere later. I'm just, I'm genuinely-

197. 0:27:00

     Yeah

198. 0:27:00

     ... I think this is a, you know-

199. 0:27:02

     And I'll, I'll, I'll see if I can get those stats for you.

200. 0:27:04

     Okay. Thank you.

201. 0:27:05

     Yeah.

202. 0:27:05

     I do know there's a about 650 retired state troopers over the state. I've heard from 649 of them, uh, about their COLAs, and that they have already retired and they're, have not gotten a COLA in about 18, 19 years. So this is something that we're trying to address and build up, and, uh, we have a bill in the committee that addresses the RS and trying to get that up, and I'm hoping that we can proceed working on that, make some, uh, movement on that, too.

203. 0:27:45

     But thank you, sir. See, Senator Orrock.

204. 0:27:48

     Well, uh, thank you, Mr., uh, uh, Chairman. And, uh, uh, this, I had this letter with me today from, uh, uh, one of the retired officers. That's why I brought up, uh, when you were presenting the, the loss of the COLAs, uh, for, uh, r- retirees. And, and I learned a startling fact in your presentation that we s- what, what did we do to the pension of the, of the officers, uh, in 20, uh, the two, in the Great Recession?

205. 0:28:21

     So my understanding is in 2009-

206. 0:28:24

     Uh-huh

207. 0:28:24

     ... there was a pension plan in place. After 2009, there is still a pension, but it's, m- I think it's 1.25% per year of service when you retire. So that's what you would qualify for.

208. 0:28:42

     I see. I see. I, I, I, so, so, so I heard from this, uh, uh, retired state law enforcement officer who had 30 years of service and, uh, who w- is willing to come down, as you said, Mr. Chair, to, uh, Mr. Chairman, to come, uh, a- and the, and that, that their numbers there are, are, uh, uh, 650 members. And, uh, they are, many of them wanna travel down here and testify and wear their service badges and hope that they can get a, a willing ear here in the Retirement Committee to address this, this lamentable reality, uh, of, of a, uh, a pension, a, a check that ha- i- it has shrunk beyond recognition by not having a COLA for s- you know, since 2009.

209. 0:29:34

     It's just astonishing. We got things to fix, and, and I'm happy to be on this committee that's got such a, paid so much attention to this.

210. 0:29:42

     Thank you.

211. 0:29:42

     Thank you, Mr. Chair.

212. 0:29:43

     Thank you.

213. 0:29:44

     Thank you, uh, Senator Hatchett.

214. 0:29:46

     All right. Any other questions by any members?

215. 0:29:50

     Just one more comment if I could in, in support of our governor's floor leader on this. You know, this does not mean ev- we go up 6% on everybody. You gotta have 10 years of service to get to there.

216. 0:30:02

     Uh-huh.

217. 0:30:03

     And if you get to there at 10 years, and one of the reasons we did it originally this way, and actually Senator Orrock was one of my top five signers on the old bill, I was looking back on it, but you save so much, particularly with public safety, in hiring new officers and s- sending them down for training and all like that. This is, this is a retention tool, and I hope it's successful that we keep our officers working-

218. 0:30:26

     Mm-hmm

219. 0:30:26

     ... in this. And so I, I fully support this bill.

220. 0:30:33

     Thank you. Anything else you wanted to add while you have the microphone?

221. 0:30:36

     I've probably talked enough for the day, and, and next meeting too, I guess.

222. 0:30:43

     So we have a motion and a second, don't we? Yeah.

223. 0:30:45

     Okay. Representative Goodman.

224. 0:30:48

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a motion to do pass on, uh, Senator Hatchett's, uh, SB 452.

225. 0:30:58

     LC 56-0504-EC. Okay.

226. 0:31:04

     Correct.

227. 0:31:05

     We have a motion.

228. 0:31:06

     Second.

229. 0:31:06

     Have a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

230. 0:31:11

     Aye.

231. 0:31:12

     Any opposed? So carried unanimous. Thank you, Senator.

232. 0:31:16

     Thank you.

233. 0:31:18

     Thank you. No other business before this committee. We'll stand adjourned. Thank y'all.

234. 0:31:23

     Thank you.