The legislative season lasted four months with the regular legislative session sandwiched between two special sessions. TRSL monitored a number of bills affecting the retirement system and its members. Listed below are bills that passed which may be of particular interest to TRSL employers.:

• Act 94, formerly Senate Bill 5 (Peacock) adds non-investment related administrative costs into the employer contribution rate. Expenses will be included in the rate beginning in the first fiscal year in which their additon will not result in an increase in the projected employer contribution rate.
  

• Act 95, formerly Senate Bill 18 (Peacock) adds School Lunch Plans A and B in the sub-plan with K-12 and other non-higher education employers; sets requirements for re-amortizing past debt; and adjusts amortization periods from 30 to 20 years when TRSL is 70% funded.
  

• Act 176, formerly Senate Bill 372 (Peacock) requires the actuarial note (for any bill pre-filed at least 45 days prior to the regular legislative session) be completed and filed at least five days prior to the convening of that session.

Each month, employers can access their contributions exception report that identifies reporting and enrollment errors, as well as members who have not been terminated. The report is available for a specific month or a series of months.

1. Log in to the Employer/Membership Information Site (EMIS).
2. Under “Employers,” select “Employer Contribution Charges.” 
3. Enter the appropriate system (2, 3, or 4) and the fiscal year in “Query Record.” 
4. Click on “Error” next to the last month reported to retrieve the report. 

Common errors you’ll see on the report:                                                              

• Enrolled not reported indicates that a member was enrolled without a value of earnings submitted on the monthly salary contributions report.
• Reported not enrolled indicates that a member was reported on the monthly salary contributions report but was not enrolled.
• Contribution type invalid indicates that the contributions reported were the wrong type (sheltered-30 or unsheltered-10).
• Contributions unreasonable indicates that the contributions reported were not based on the appropriate contribution rate for that retirement plan.
• Actual earnings > full-time earnings indicates that the actual earnings reported are greater that the full-time earnings reported.
• Contribution amount must be zero indicates that a member has reached 100% accrual and should not make any more contributions to TRSL.

As errors are cleared, they are removed each time a new report is generated. You can check the date and time stamp in the upper-left hand corner to make sure you have latest exception report. 

Because Monthly Salary Contributions Reports are due to TRSL within 15 calendar days after the month covered by the report, it's a good practice to review and clear contribution exceptions on a monthly basis.