TRS Legislative Updates

 
 

The 69th Montana Legislature is scheduled to adjourn May 5, 2025.

Legislation that could affect TRS members, benefit recipients or employers is listed below.

— Page last updated April 25, 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 revises or clarifies 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 hours and wages for substitute teachers and part-time teachers' aides/paraprofessionals who elected not to become TRS members until it is mandatory (when they have worked 210 or more hours in a single fiscal year). This provision will allow TRS to track hours and activate membership automatically after these employees have reached or exceeded the 210-hour threshold. This change was requested by employers to help avoid costly compliance errors.
• 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 by Legislature and signed by Governor Gianforte

HB 51 – Increase University System Supplemental Contribution to TRS
This bill would have increased 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 and recommend rate adjustments to the Legislature. The committee passed this amendment but tabled the bill.

• 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 increases the time limit for reemployment under this provision from 3 years to 5 years in the retiree's lifetime and extends the sunset date from July 1, 2027 to July 1, 2029.

• Primary Sponsor:  Melissa Nikolakakos (R) HD 20
• Current Status:  Passed by Legislature and signed by Governor Gianforte
• TRS Position:  Informational

HB 349 – Revise TRS Laws Related to Reemployment
This bill expands 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 requires the member to have retired with at least 27 years of creditable service and limits their reemployment with OPI to 5 years during their lifetime.

• Primary Sponsor:  Melissa Nikolakakos (R) HD 20
• Current Status:   Passed by Legislature; awaiting Governor's signature
• TRS Position:  Informational

HB 359 – Revise TRS Laws on When Retired Teachers Can Return to Work
Under 19-20-734, MCA, recently retired members who have not yet completed their mandatory break in service are allowed to substitute teach for a regular classroom teacher for up to 45 days during their break-in-service period. This bill adds mentoring of a newly hired teacher to the existing exception.

• Primary Sponsor:  Jamie Isaly (D) HD 58
• Current Status:   Passed by Legislature; awaiting Governor's signature
• TRS Position:  Informational

SB 287 – Generally Revise State Finance Laws
This general funding bill included two provisions benefiting TRS. If the bill had passed, one provision (as amended) would have increased the supplemental contribution rate paid by TRS employers by 0.1% each year for 20 years beginning on July 1, 2027, helping to improve the funded ratio of the system. Another provision could have allowed 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. (These provisions also are included in HB 924, described below.)

• Primary Sponsor:  Wendy McKamey (R) SD 12
• Current Status:   Failed to pass the House
• TRS Position:  Proponent

HB 924 – Generally Revise State Finance Laws
This bill incorporates the same funding provisions as SB 287 and would provide the same benefit to TRS.

• Primary Sponsor:  Llew Jones (R) HD 18
• Current Status:  Passed by Senate; returned to House with amendments
• TRS Position:  Proponent

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, which was tabled in committee, would have applied a more conservative amortization period of 25 years. TRS currently amortizes in 21 years; however, if future economic conditions were to increase the amortization period beyond 25 years, this bill would have compelled the Legislature to address the funding shortfall to help ensure the State of Montana can 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

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TRS Legislative News Archives