MARCH 2024

knowledge that there is any applicable
prescriptive period for recovery of system
contributions. Here, the Louisiana
Supreme Court has thought otherwise,
providing, unequivocally, that contributions
to retirement plans are a form of
deferred compensation and are therefore
subject to a liberative prescription
of three years under La. C.C. Art.
3494 (see Fishbein v. TRSL, 2004-C-2482
(La. 4/12/05), 898 So.2d 1260 et al.)
• HB 42 would codify this clear judicial
finding, specifically providing
that claims by MPERS for past-due
contributions are subject to a 3-year
liberative prescription and are subject
to the provisions of the Louisiana
Governmental Claims Act
• To argue that a 3-year prescriptive
period is somehow unfair to MPERS
further demonstrates the system’s
failure to manage contributions
promptly and efficiently – if indeed
those are contributions owed
to the system from over a decade
ago, why has MPERS done nothing
to pursue those contributions until
now?
Employers who are alleged to owe
past-due contributions are entitled
to an accounting to show how MPERS
derived the represented sum, as opposed
to assumptions and estimates.
Current law does not incentivize such
transparent math, however, since it
empowers MPERS to force the State
Treasurer to withhold any state monies
that would otherwise be distributed
to a municipality based SOLELY
on MPERS’s representation that a certain
amount is owed. That process is
currently provided in La. R.S. 11:2227
requires NO judicial finding and NO
court order – a simple certification
from MPERS is sufficient to deprive
municipalities of capital outlay and
other critical state funding that legislators
fight so hard to obtain on behalf
of their constituents.
• HB 42 would remedy that grossly
disproportionate and patently unfair
provision, providing that such
enforcement authority with the
State Treasury may only occur upon
presentation of a final judgment
from a court of competent jurisdiction,
i.e., there must be due process
to deprive municipalities of state
funding which they are owed.
MPERS seeks to malign the addition of
municipal representatives to the Board
of Trustees, arguably deeming that two
employers on a 15-member board give
municipal employers sufficient voice.
This disregards the fact that it is those
employers who must use taxpayer dollars
to submit system contributions
(which, as noted above, will soon top
35%). With only two municipal employer
representatives, the MPERS
Board is disproportionately composed
of those who benefit from the system
to the detriment of those who mostly
fund the system (nine of 15 seats are
occupied by current and retired MPERS
members).
• HB 42 would address this inequity
by providing four more seats for
municipal mayors on the MPERS
Board of Trustees so that the employers
who fund the system would
have 6 of 19 seats on the Board (importantly,
beneficiaries of the system
would still have 9 of 19).
by Patrick
Cronin
General Manager,
RMI
Cronin leads Risk Management, Inc. (RMI)
- a subsidiary of LMA. He can be reached at
pcronin@rmila.com.
LDAF Accepting Grant Applications
The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and
Forestry (LDAF) is now accepting grant applications
for the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure
program (RFSI).
The LDAF will work in partnership with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) to award
$4.6 million for equipment and infrastructure
projects to Louisiana food and farm businesses,
as well as other eligible entities including
nonprofits, local government entities, tribal
governments, schools, and hospitals.
You can apply until April 15. For more information,
visit www.ldaf.la.gov.
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LMR | MARCH 2024