§ 11:2260 — Administration

§2260. Administration
A. Board of trustees:
(1) The general administration and responsibility for the proper operation of the
retirement system and for making effective the provisions of this Chapter are hereby vested
in a board of trustees which shall be organized immediately after a majority of the trustees
provided for in this Section shall have qualified and taken the oath of office. The
administration of this system shall be domiciled in East Baton Rouge Parish except in such
case as there is provision for joint administration of this system with another state or
statewide retirement system.
(2) The board shall consist of thirteen trustees as follows:
(a) Two members of the Professional Fire Fighters Association who shall be
members of the system and who shall be elected by a majority of the officers of the
association as follows:
(i) One member shall be elected in December, 1988, to take office January 1, 1989,
to serve until January 1, 1992, and his successor shall be elected for a term of five years,
commencing on January 1, 1992.
(ii) One member shall be elected in December, 1988, to take office January 1, 1989,
to serve until January 1, 1993, and his successor shall be elected for a term of five years,
commencing on January 1, 1993.
(b) Three members of the Louisiana Fire Chiefs Association who are members of the
system and who shall be elected by a majority of the officers of the association for five-year
terms.
(c) Two mayors appointed by the Louisiana Municipal Association from
municipalities having fire departments participating in the system, to serve at the pleasure
of the Louisiana Municipal Association.
(d)(i) A member of the House Committee on Retirement appointed by the speaker,
or the member's designee.
(ii) The chairman of the Senate Committee on Retirement, or his designee.
(e) Two retirees of the system elected by a majority vote of the retired members and
beneficiaries of the system for a term of five years.
(f) The state treasurer or his designee.
(g) The commissioner of administration or his designee.
(3) If an active member dies while serving on the board, the vacancy shall be filled
for the unexpired term in the same manner as the office was previously filled. If an active
member's status changes such that he would no longer qualify for the position he holds on
the board of trustees, or if an active member retires or a member terminates employment after
participating in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan and retires, while serving on the board,
he shall continue to serve until his term expires. If any other vacancy occurs in the office of
a trustee, the vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as was
previously filled. Should the term of a board member expire during the period of
participation in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, he shall be eligible to seek reelection
to his position while participating in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan.
(4) The trustees shall receive for attendance at meetings of the board, not to exceed
fifteen meetings per annum, a per diem as provided in R.S. 11:182(A) and they shall be
reimbursed from the expense fund for all necessary expenses that they may incur through
service on the board.
(5) Each trustee shall, after his appointment or election, take an oath of office that,
so far as it devolves upon him, he shall diligently and honestly administer the affairs of the
said board, and that he shall not knowingly violate or willingly permit to be violated any of
the provisions of law applicable to the retirement system. Such oath shall be subscribed to
by the member making it, and certified by the officer before whom it is taken, and
immediately filed in the office of the secretary of state.
(6) Each trustee shall be entitled to one vote on the board. An affirmative vote by
at least seven members of the board of trustees shall be necessary for a decision by the
trustees at any meeting of the board. The phrase "affirmative vote" shall mean that the vote
shall be cast in favor of approving any motion.
(7) The board of trustees is authorized to use interest earnings on investments of the
system in excess of normal requirements, as determined by the actuary, to provide annual
supplemental monthly cost-of-living adjustments. The supplemental monthly cost-of-living
adjustments shall be computed on the current retirement or survivor's benefit. The annual
supplemental monthly cost-of-living adjustment shall not be more than three percent in any
year. Such benefits shall be paid only when funds are available from this source and
payments shall be made in such manner and in such amounts as may be determined by the
board of trustees, based on the funds available.
(8) A majority of the board of trustees shall elect from its membership a chairman.
A majority of the board shall also appoint a secretary to the board, define his duties, and set
his compensation. The board of trustees shall engage such actuarial and other services as
shall be required to transact the business of the retirement system. The compensation of all
persons engaged by the board of trustees, and all other expenses of the board necessary for
the operation of the retirement system shall be paid at such rates and in such amounts as the
board of trustees shall approve.
(9)(a) The board of trustees shall keep in convenient form such data as shall be
necessary for actuarial valuation of the various funds of the retirement system and for
checking the experience of the system.
(b)(i) In order to assure the continued accuracy of the data required to be kept by the
provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, the board of trustees may conduct an audit
of any participating employer, including but not limited to any such municipality or fire
protection district. The information that is made the subject of the audit shall include such
information as is necessary to accomplish any of the following audit objectives:
(aa) To authenticate the eligibility of a member or members to participate in the
system.
(bb) To verify compensation being earned by a member or members and the manner
and amount in which such compensation is reported to the retirement system.
(cc) To verify the years of covered employment and service credit accrued by a
member or members.
(dd) To determine the accuracy of benefits scheduled to be paid or already being paid
to any member or members.
(ii) The participating employer that is the subject of the audit shall provide, and the
auditor shall have, complete access to any books, records, documents, and accounts needed
to accomplish the audit, including but not limited to copies of any member's birth certificate,
death certificate, driver's license, marriage license, time sheets, leave forms, payroll records,
and contribution records. Original documents shall be provided if available.
(iii) The retirement system may request the legislative auditor to conduct the full
audit or any portion of an audit authorized by this Subparagraph.
(iv) Failure of any participating employer to comply with the provisions of this
Subparagraph shall subject the governing authority of such employer and the custodian of
records of such employer to the enforcement provisions of the public record laws set forth
in R.S. 44:35.
(v) If an employer fails to properly report employee compensation or pay the correct
retirement contribution on an employee's pay, the retirement system shall be entitled to
recover all actuarial costs associated with the transaction.
(10) The board of trustees shall keep a record of all of its proceedings which shall
be open to public inspection. It shall publish annually a report showing the fiscal
transactions of the retirement system for the preceding fiscal year, the amount of the
accumulated cash and securities of the system, and the last balance sheet showing the
financial condition of the system by means of an actuarial valuation of the assets and
liabilities of the retirement system.
(11)(a) The board of trustees may enter into an agreement with any municipality,
parish, or fire protection district for merging any existing retirement plan for firefighters, or
with the Metropolitan Council of the city of Baton Rouge and the parish of East Baton Rouge
for merging the firefighter members of the Baton Rouge City Parish Employees' Retirement
System with the Firefighters' Retirement System, subject to approval by three-fourths of the
members of such system who have not retired and subject to approval by three-fourths of the
retirees, beneficiaries, and survivors.
(b) Such merger agreement shall require payment of at least sixty percent of the
accrued liability for active members being transferred and of one hundred percent of the
accrued liability of the retirees, beneficiaries, and survivors being transferred, and such
merger shall not cause the contributions and other funding of the system to be less than the
amount needed to actuarially provide for the normal cost and the amortization of the
unfunded accrued liability of the system over a thirty-year period. However, the city of
Alexandria shall be authorized to merge its firefighters' retirement plan into the Firefighters'
Retirement System by paying sixty percent of the accrued liability for active members being
transferred and one hundred percent of the accrued liability of the retirees, beneficiaries, and
survivors being transferred. All payments by the city of Alexandria shall be based on those
liabilities as they existed on June 30, 1988, with the difference between the amount paid by
the city of Alexandria and the total actuarial accrued liability being assumed by the
Firefighters' Retirement System of Louisiana as of the date of the merger, being paid by the
state of Louisiana over the length of time and in the amounts as determined by the Public
Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee, provided that such merger is completed by June
30, 1993.
(c)(i) The approval of a merger by three-fourths of the individuals being transferred
is not required if the municipality, parish, or fire protection district shall guarantee to each
of the individuals that he and his beneficiaries together shall retain after the merger all
retirement and other eligibility rights, all benefit rights, and all other rights that they would
have had in the former plan had he continued under such plan.
(ii) This determination shall be made for each individual at least annually by the
municipality, parish, or fire protection district and shall be based on total benefits paid to date
to the individual and his beneficiaries by the Firefighters' Retirement System and this
guarantee in the period beginning with his transfer to the Firefighters' Retirement System and
ending on the date of determination.
(iii) This guarantee shall have no more or less force and effect than the benefit
guarantee of the former retirement plan and shall be accomplished by ordinance of the
municipality, parish, or fire protection district.
(d) Such merger shall be preceded by an actuarial investigation of the actuarial
assumptions conducted jointly by the actuaries for the municipality, parish, or fire protection
district, the Firefighters' Retirement System, and the legislative auditor, and must have the
prior approval of the Joint Legislative Retirement Committee together with the
recommendation of the actuary for the legislative auditor and any agreement entered into
between the Firefighters' Retirement System and the municipality, parish, or fire protection
district shall be binding on both parties.
(e) Should the municipality, parish, or fire protection district fail to make any
payments provided under such agreement, the board of trustees may proceed to collect such
amounts as provided in R.S. 11:2262(D)(2).
(f) Repealed by Acts 2003, No. 719, §2.
(g)(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the board of
trustees for this system is hereby authorized to enter into an agreement with the governing
authorities of the Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund for the city of Lafayette to merge that
system into the statewide Firefighters' Retirement System set forth in this Chapter, in
accordance with the provisions of Subparagraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) of this Paragraph,
except as provided in this Subparagraph.
(ii) The accumulated cost-of-living adjustments granted to any individual who has
merged with this system pursuant to this Subparagraph, which cost-of-living adjustments
have been granted by the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government by virtue of the
individual's previous membership in the Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund for the city of
Lafayette, shall not be diminished, reduced, or otherwise impaired by the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government should any cost-of-living adjustment be payable by this
system. However, if the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government has granted a cost-of-living adjustment to any such individual in any year in which this system has also granted
a cost-of-living adjustment, then nothing in this Item shall prevent the Lafayette City-Parish
Consolidated Government from reducing the amount of its cost-of-living adjustment for that
same year by an amount not to exceed two percent, provided the amount of this system's
cost-of-living adjustment is greater than two percent, and further provided that the amount
of the previous years' accumulated cost-of-living adjustments shall not be diminished,
reduced, or otherwise impaired.
(iii) Any unlawful diminution, reduction, or impairment of accumulated cost-of-living adjustments by the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government shall give rise to
a cause of action in a court of competent jurisdiction by the individual adversely affected or
his beneficiary or other appropriate successor in interest.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the board of trustees
for this system is hereby authorized to enter into an agreement with the consolidated
government of the city of Baton Rouge and parish of East Baton Rouge to merge less than
all of the firefighter members of the Baton Rouge City Parish Employees' Retirement System
meeting the definition of "employee" under the provisions of this Chapter. Such a partial
merger shall be undertaken subsequent to a one time, thirty day election period, to be
conducted by the consolidated government of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East
Baton Rouge. During this election each active firefighter member may elect either to:
maintain his individual membership in the Baton Rouge City Parish Employee's Retirement
System; or transfer his membership to this retirement system. Such election shall be
irrevocable. Any partial merger of these active firefighter employees into this system shall
be preceded by an actuarial investigation of the assets and liabilities in the system to the
credit of the employees being merged. To each employee electing to avail himself of the
provisions of this Subparagraph, the consolidated government shall guarantee by individual
guarantee of benefits contracts with each individual employee electing to merge additional
benefits not payable under the Firefighters' Retirement System. The municipality shall pay
to this system in one cash payment an amount equal to sixty percent of the accrued liability,
as determined or approved by the actuary for this system, for all members and service credit
merged, or at the option of the municipality, such payment may be made in annual payments
plus seven percent interest compounded annually over a period not exceeding thirty years.
Subsequent to such partial merger, all newly hired firefighter employees meeting the
definition of "employee" as contained in this Chapter shall be enrolled in this system as a
condition of employment. This Subparagraph shall be subject to the provisions of
Subparagraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) of this Paragraph.
B. Repealed by Acts 1988, No. 83, §2.
C. Actuary:
(1) The board of trustees shall designate an actuary who shall be the technical
advisor of the board of trustees on matters regarding the operation of the fund created by the
provisions of this Chapter, and shall perform such other duties as are required in connection
therewith.
(2) Immediately after the establishment of the retirement system, the actuary shall
make such investigation of the mortality, service, and compensation experience of the
members of the system as he shall recommend and the board of trustees shall authorize, and
on the basis of such investigation he shall recommend for adoption by the board of trustees
such tables and such rates as are required in R.S. 11:2260(C)(3)(a) and (b). The board of
trustees shall adopt tables and certify rates, and as soon as practicable thereafter the actuary
shall make a valuation based on such tables and rates of the assets and liabilities of the funds
created by this Chapter.
(3) In 1980, and at least once in each five-year period thereafter, the actuary shall
make an actuarial investigation into the mortality, service, and compensation experience of
the members and beneficiaries of the retirement system, and shall make a valuation of the
assets and liabilities of the funds of the system, and taking into account the result of such
investigation and valuation, the board of trustees shall:
(a) Adopt for the retirement system such mortality, service, and other tables as shall
be deemed necessary; and
(b) Certify the rates of contribution payable by the employer on account of the new
entrants.
(4) On the basis of such tables as the board of trustees shall adopt, the actuary shall
make an annual valuation of the assets and liabilities of the funds of the system created by
this Chapter.
D. The Firefighters' Retirement System and its board of trustees shall be domiciled
in the Parish of East Baton Rouge.
E. Repealed by Acts 1988, No. 974, §2, eff. July 27, 1988.
Acts 1979, No. 434, §1; Acts 1980, No. 178, §1; Acts 1982, No. 193, §1; Acts 1983,
No. 261, §1; Acts 1984, No. 472, §1; Acts 1985, No. 776, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1985; Acts 1987,
No. 147, §1; Acts 1987, No. 911, §2; Acts 1988, No. 83, §2; Acts 1988, No. 974, §§1, 2; eff.
July 27, 1988; Acts 1991, No. 67, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 33:2158 by Acts 1991, No.
74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1992, No. 952, §1, eff. July 1, 1992; Acts 1993, No. 755, §1;
Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 89, §1, eff. July 7, 1994; Acts 1995, No. 783, §1; Acts 1997,
No. 14, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1219, §1, eff. July 1, 1997; Acts 1999, No. 35, §1; Acts 1999,
No. 1320, §1, eff. July 12, 1999; Acts 1999, No. 1379, §1; Acts 2003, No. 305, §§1, 2, eff.
June 13, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 621, §1, eff. June 27, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 719, §§1, 2, eff.
June 27, 2003; Acts 2007, No. 51, §1, eff. June 18, 2007; Acts 2008, No. 220, §4, eff. June
14, 2008; Acts 2008, No. 258, §1, eff. June 16, 2008; Acts 2008, No. 817, §1, eff. July 8,
2008; Acts 2016, No. 621, §1, eff. June 17, 2016; Acts 2023, No. 134, §1; Acts 2023, No.
135, §1, eff. June 7, 2023; Acts 2024, No. 537, §1, eff. June 10, 2024; Acts 2024, No. 672,
§1; Acts 2025, No. 344, §1.
NOTE: SEE ACTS 1984, NO. 472, §§2, 3.
NOTE: SEE ACTS 1988, NO. 974, §3.
NOTE: See Acts 2003, No. 719, §2, relative to retroactive application to Jan.
31, 2002, payment of liabilities and benefits, and pending applications for
merger of individual service credit pursuant to R.S. 11:2260(A)(11)(f).
NOTE: See Acts 2003, No. 719, §3, relative to R.S. 11:2260(A)(6) as
amended by Act No. 719 superseding conflicting Acts.