The House Committee on Ways and Means advanced House Bill 473 on April 28, a single-issue measure intended to make a large one-time payment to the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL).

Chair Emerson said the bill is a focused re-presentation of a portion of the prior Article VII rewrite and clarified the proposal would make a roughly $2 billion payment to TRSL's unfunded accrued liability. "We are making a $2,000,000,000 ' actually a little over $2,000,000,000 debt payment, to the unfunded accrued liability of TRSL," Chair Emerson said when introducing the bill.

Supporters from education and child-advocacy groups spoke to the bill. Sadie Becknell of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children asked lawmakers to protect Education Excellence and block grant funds that support early childhood seats for about 2,000 four-year-olds, and warned that shifting trust-fund money could reduce pre-K capacity if not addressed. Larry Carter, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and School Employees, said LFT supports HB 473 but asked for statutory guarantees that educators actually receive the resulting pay increases and highlighted implementation timing concerns: the constitutional amendment would not take effect until after the 2026 school year unless companion statutory language guarantees pay.

Secretary Nelson (Department of the Treasury/Finance), who answered committee questions, explained the fiscal mechanics that proponents cited: paying down principal reduces future interest, which in turn reduces required contributions. Nelson estimated the state-level savings could be "about, I think $80,000,000 or so" and that the pool of funds that flow from the trust funds to education-related sub-funds could be roughly $50,000,000; testimony said tens of millions in net savings would remain after satisfying current commitments. Nelson also told the committee staff that the likely range of local shortfalls the state would need to top off (to ensure all school districts could implement a uniform stipend) ran from about $70,000 on a low-end scenario to roughly $6,000,000 in a high-end scenario; charter schools that do not participate in TRSL were estimated to need roughly $15,000,000 in top-off funding in one scenario.

Committee action: Representative Echols placed a motion to move HB 473 forward favorably; the chair asked for objections and none were recorded. The measure will proceed to later committee/action steps.

Context and next steps: Committee members asked whether Education Excellence Fund (EF) and other trust funds would be protected; witnesses and the author said they expect to honor current commitments but acknowledged those funds (EF, AG Block Grant, Millennium Trust sub-funds) currently receive interest earnings when balances are held in trust. Witnesses emphasized that the committee's action to advance the constitutional item does not itself enact the pay raises; that requires companion statutory language (Representative Carlson's companion legislation in House Education was referenced) to direct permanent pay increases. Several speakers asked for statutory guarantees so educators would not face a pay gap between the current stipends and any future constitutional change that takes effect after a school year begins.

Provenance: the committee read HB 473 into the record (staff reading at the start of the item) and later moved it forward with no objection. The transcript records multiple public witnesses and specific figures attributed to Secretary Nelson.

Outcome: HB 473 was moved forward by the committee with no recorded objections.