TRS Legislative Updates

 
 

The 69th Montana Legislature convened January 6, 2025.
Legislation that could affect TRS members, benefit recipients or employers is listed below.

— Page last updated March 18, 2025 —

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HB = House Bill; SB = Senate Bill; HJ = House Joint Resolution; SJ = Senate Joint Resolution.
MPERA is the Montana Public Employee Retirement Administration, PERS is the Public Employees' Retirement System, and MUS-RP is the Montana University System Retirement Program.

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Bills Introduced at the Request of the TRS Board

HB 67 – Generally Revise Laws Related to the Administration of TRS
This General Revisions ("housekeeping") bill, if passed into law, will revise or clarify certain TRS membership provisions effective July 1, 2025. Provisions of interest to members and employers are summarized below:

• Extra Duty Service that falls outside the school district's regular curricular, co-curricular or extracurricular programs, and that is not reportable to TRS on its own, would be reportable when assigned to a school district teacher, teacher's aide, paraprofessional or administrator for purposes of student supervision.
• The term educational services capacity will be defined and clarified by specifying the criteria applied by TRS in determining whether a position must be reported to TRS.
• TRS employers will be required to report all hours and wages for certain substitute teachers and part-time teachers' aides/paraprofessionals who have elected to defer membership until they work at least 210 hours in a fiscal year. This provision is designed to help TRS employers track these hours and avoid costly compliance errors for this subset of employees.
• The bill also incorporates recent IRS changes to Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) ages and makes several clarifications and technical fixes in existing TRS law.

• Primary Sponsor:  Marta Bertoglio (R) HD 75
• Current Status:  Passed House; in Senate State Administration committee

HB 51 – Increase University System Supplemental Contribution to TRS
This bill seeks to increase the employer supplemental contribution rate from 4.72% to 14.21% of all MUS-RP participant salaries to amortize, by 2033 (as required in 19-20-621, MCA), the unfunded liability created when TRS was closed to all University System new hires.

The House Education committee amended the bill to extend the required amortization date from July 1, 2033 to July 1, 2046; to increase the supplemental contribution rate for MUS-RP employers from 4.72% to 6.00%; and to remove the requirement for the TRS Board to periodically review this rate and recommend adjustments to the Legislature.

• Primary Sponsor:  Eric Matthews (D) HD 66
• Current Status:  Missed transmittal deadline

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Other Bills or Resolutions Potentially Affecting TRS

HB 158 – Revise Working Retiree Provisions Under TRS
Existing provisions in 19-20-732, MCA, temporarily allow certain school districts to fill vacant positions with TRS members who retired with 27 or more years of creditable service. Retirees reemployed under this provision are not subject to earnings limitations and their monthly retirement benefit is not reduced. HB 158, if passed, would increase the time limit for reemployment under this provision from 3 years to 5 years in the retiree's lifetime and would extend the sunset date of this provision from July 1, 2027 to July 1, 2029.

• Primary Sponsor:  Melissa Nikolakakos (R) HD 20
• Current Status:  Passed House; in Senate Education & Cultural Resources committee
• TRS Position:  Informational

HB 349 – Revise TRS Laws Related to Reemployment
This bill would expand provisions of 19-20-732, MCA, to allow the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) to fill a TRS-reportable position with a retired TRS member on a full-time basis with no loss or interruption of the retiree's benefit payments. Similar to HB 158, this bill would require the member to have retired with at least 27 years of creditable service and would limit their reemployment with OPI to 5 years during their lifetime.

• Primary Sponsor:  Melissa Nikolakakos (R) HD 20
• Current Status:   Passed House; in Senate State Administration committee
• TRS Position:  Informational

HB 359 – Revise TRS Laws on When Retired Teachers Can Return to Work
Under an existing exception to break-in-service requirements in 19-20-734, MCA, recently retired members may substitute teach for up to 45 days during their break in service. This bill, if passed, would allow recent retirees to work either as substitute teachers or as mentors for newly hired teachers for up to 45 days during their break in service.

• Primary Sponsor:  Jamie Isaly (D) HD 58
• Current Status:   Passed House; in Senate State Administration committee
• TRS Position:  Informational

HB 700 – Change Amortization Period for DB Retirement Systems to 25 Years
Current law requires Montana's defined benefit (DB) pensions to amortize in 30 years or less. This bill, if passed, would apply a more conservative amortization period of 25 years. The change would have no immediate impact on TRS, as the system's unfunded liabilities currently amortize in 21 years. However, if future economic conditions cause the amortization period to exceed 25 years, this bill would compel the Legislature to address the funding shortfall and ensure the State of Montana is able to fulfill its contractual obligation to pay benefits to all eligible retirees and survivors.

• Primary Sponsor:  Bill Mercer (R) HD 52
• Current Status:   Missed transmittal deadline
• TRS Position:  Proponent

SB 287 – Generally Revise State Finance Laws
This general funding bill includes two provisions that could benefit TRS. One such provision would increase the supplemental contribution rate paid by TRS employers by 0.2% each year for 10 years beginning on July 1, 2027, helping to improve the funded ratio of the system. Another provision would provide for a limited transfer of funds from a state special revenue account to TRS if a serious economic downturn were to threaten the future financial stability of the retirement system.

• Primary Sponsor:  Wendy McKamey (R) SD 12
• Current Status:   In Senate Finance and Claims committee
• TRS Position:  Proponent

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TRS Legislative News Archives