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An Act
ENROLLED HOUSE
BILL NO. 2288 By: Hilbert, Hays, Boles,
Pittman, Archer, Ranson,
Moore, Townley, and West
(Josh) of the House
and
Frix, Burns, Stewart,
Hicks, Green, Reinhardt,
Kern, Murdock, Coleman,
Sacchieri, Hines, and
Pederson of the Senate
An Act relating to the Teachers' Retirement System of
Oklahoma; amending 62 O.S. 2021, Section 3103, as
last amended by Section 127, Chapter 452, O.S.L. 2024
(62 O.S. Supp. 2025, Section 3103), which relates to
the Oklahoma Pension Actuarial Analysis Act;
modifying definitions; amending 70 O.S. 2021, Section
17-116.10, as amended by Section 9, Chapter 300,
O.S.L. 2024 (70 O.S. Supp. 2025, Section 17-116.10),
which relates to postretirement employment; modifying
provisions related to earning limitations; providing
that a retired member may receive earnings without a
reduction in retirement benefits; providing effective
dates; providing for contingent effective dates based
on outcome of approval of the emergency clause; and
declaring an emergency.
SUBJECT: Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 62 O.S. 2021, Section 3103, as
last amended by Section 127, Chapter 452, O.S.L. 2024 (62 O.S. Supp.
2025, Section 3103), is amended to read as follows:
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Section 3103. As used in the Oklahoma Pension Legislation
Actuarial Analysis Act:
1. "Amendment" means any amendment including a substitute bill,
made to a retirement bill by any committee of the House or Senate,
any conference committee of the House or Senate or by the House or
Senate;
2. "RB number" means that number preceded by the letters "RB"
assigned to a retirement bill by the respective staffs of the
Oklahoma State Senate and the Oklahoma House of Representatives when
the respective staff office prepares a retirement bill for a member
of the Legislature;
3. "Legislative Actuary" means the firm or entity that enters
into a contract with the Legislative Service Bureau pursuant to
Section 452.15 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes to provide the
actuarial services and other duties provided for in the Oklahoma
Pension Legislation Actuarial Analysis Act;
4. "Nonfiscal amendment" means an amendment to a retirement
bill having a fiscal impact, which amendment does not change any
factor of an actuarial investigation specified in subsection A of
Section 3109 of this title;
5. "Nonfiscal retirement bill" means a retirement bill:
a. which does not affect the cost or funding factors of a
retirement system,
b. which affects such factors only in a manner which does
not:
(1) grant a benefit increase under the retirement
system affected by the bill,
(2) create an actuarial accrued liability for or
increase the actuarial accrued liability of the
retirement system affected by the bill, or
(3) increase the normal cost of the retirement system
affected by the bill,
c. which authorizes the purchase by an active member of
the retirement system, at the actuarial cost for the
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ENR. H. B. NO. 2288 Page 3
purchase as computed pursuant to the statute in effect
on the effective date of the measure allowing such
purchase, of years of service for purposes of reaching
a normal retirement date in the applicable retirement
system, but which cannot be used in order to compute
the number of years of service for purposes of
computing the retirement benefit for the member,
d. which provides for the computation of a service-
connected disability retirement benefit for members of
the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System
pursuant to Section 2-305 of Title 47 of the Oklahoma
Statutes if the members were unable to complete twenty
(20) years of service as a result of the disability,
e. which requires membership in the defined benefit plan
authorized by Section 901 et seq. of Title 74 of the
Oklahoma Statutes for persons whose first elected or
appointed service occurs on or after November 1, 2018,
if such persons had any prior service in the Oklahoma
Public Employees Retirement System prior to November
1, 2015,
f. which provides for a one-time increase in retirement
benefits if the increase in retirement benefits is not
a permanent increase in the gross annual retirement
benefit payable to a member or beneficiary, occurs
only once pursuant to a single statutory authorization
and does not exceed:
(1) the lesser of two percent (2%) of the gross
annual retirement benefit of the member or One
Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) and requires that
the benefit may only be provided if the funded
ratio of the affected retirement system would not
be less than sixty percent (60%) but not greater
than eighty percent (80%) after the benefit
increase is paid,
(2) the lesser of two percent (2%) of the gross
annual retirement benefit of the member or One
Thousand Two Hundred Dollars ($1,200.00) and
requires that the benefit may only be provided if
the funded ratio of the affected retirement
system would be greater than eighty percent (80%)
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but not greater than one hundred percent (100%)
after the benefit increase is paid,
(3) the lesser of two percent (2%) of the gross
annual retirement benefit of the member or One
Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($1,400.00) and
requires that the benefit may only be provided if
the funded ratio of the affected retirement
system would be greater than one hundred percent
(100%) after the benefit increase is paid, or
(4) the greater of two percent (2%) of the gross
annual retirement benefit of the volunteer
firefighter or One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for
persons who retired from the Oklahoma
Firefighters Pension and Retirement System as
volunteer firefighters and who did not retire
from the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and
Retirement System as a paid firefighter.
As used in this subparagraph, "funded ratio" means the
figure derived by dividing the actuarial value of
assets of the applicable retirement system by the
actuarial accrued liability of the applicable
retirement system,
g. which modifies the disability pension standard for
police officers who are members of the Oklahoma Police
Pension and Retirement System as provided by Section
50-115 of Title 11 of the Oklahoma Statutes,
h. which provides a cost-of-living benefit increase
pursuant to the provisions of:
(1) Section 49-143.7 of Title 11 of the Oklahoma
Statutes,
(2) Section 50-136.9 of Title 11 of the Oklahoma
Statutes,
(3) Section 1104K of Title 20 of the Oklahoma
Statutes,
(4) Section 2-305.12 of Title 47 of the Oklahoma
Statutes,
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(5) Section 17-116.22 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma
Statutes, or
(6) Section 930.11 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma
Statutes,
i. which provides for the reinstatement of retirement
benefits for members of the Oklahoma Law Enforcement
Retirement System pursuant to Section 2-305 of Title
47 of the Oklahoma Statutes for those who were hired
on or after November 1, 2012, or May 24, 2013,
j. which authorizes the purchase of military service
credit as provided in Section 50-128 of Title 11,
Section 1102.2 of Title 20, Section 2-307.4 of Title
47, and Section 913.8 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma
Statutes,
k. which restores benefits pursuant to Sections 49-100.1,
49-101, 49-101.2, 49-106.1, 49-108, 49-117.1, and 49-
135 of Title 11 of the Oklahoma Statutes,
l. which modifies the computation of the line-of-duty
disability benefit pursuant to the provisions of this
act Sections 50-101 and 50-115 of Title 11 of the
Oklahoma Statutes, and
m. which modifies postretirement earning limitations
pursuant to the provisions of this act.
A nonfiscal retirement bill shall include any retirement bill that
has as its sole purpose the appropriation or distribution or
redistribution of monies in some manner to a retirement system for
purposes of reducing the unfunded liability of such system or the
earmarking of a portion of the revenue from a tax to a retirement
system or increasing the percentage of the revenue earmarked from a
tax to a retirement system;
6. "Reduction-in-cost amendment" means an amendment to a
retirement bill having a fiscal impact which reduces the cost of the
bill as such cost is determined by the actuarial investigation for
the bill prepared pursuant to Section 3109 of this title;
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7. "Retirement bill" means any bill or joint resolution
introduced or any bill or joint resolution amended by a member of
the Oklahoma Legislature which creates or amends any law directly
affecting a retirement system. A retirement bill shall not mean a
bill or resolution that impacts the revenue of any state tax in
which a portion of the revenue generated from such tax is earmarked
for the benefit of a retirement system;
8. "Retirement bill having a fiscal impact" means any
retirement bill creating or establishing a retirement system and any
other retirement bill other than a nonfiscal retirement bill; and
9. "Retirement system" means the Teachers' Retirement System of
Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, the
Uniform Retirement System for Justices and Judges, the Oklahoma
Firefighters Pension and Retirement System, the Oklahoma Police
Pension and Retirement System, the Oklahoma Law Enforcement
Retirement System, or a retirement system established after January
1, 2006.
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 17-116.10,
as amended by Section 9, Chapter 300, O.S.L. 2024 (70 O.S. Supp.
2025, Section 17-116.10), is amended to read as follows:
Section 17-116.10. A. Subject to the requirements of Section
6-101.2 of this title and any other applicable requirements of law,
a member may enter into postretirement employment with a public
school of Oklahoma and still receive monthly retirement benefits
subject to the following limitations:
1. A retired member is not eligible to be employed by the
public schools of Oklahoma, in any capacity, for sixty (60) calendar
days six (6) months between the retiree's last day of preretirement
public education employment and any postretirement public education
employment. For purposes of this section, the term "last day of
preretirement employment" shall mean the last day the employee is
required to be physically present on the job to complete the terms
of the employment contract or agreement or the member's effective
retirement date, whichever is later. An employee on paid leave is
still considered to be employed for purposes of this section.
Employment under any conditions during this time, volunteer services
for the purpose of obtaining a paid position at a later date, or
payment at a later time for services performed during this time
period shall cause the forfeiture of all retirement benefits
received during the period;
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2. For thirty-six (36) months following a member's effective
retirement date, the retired member shall be subject to earnings
limitations on allowable earnings. Earnings limits are determined
annually based on a calendar year. For retired members under the
age of sixty-two (62) years, allowed earnings from the public
schools of Oklahoma for employment for the performance of duties
ordinarily performed by classified or nonclassified optional
personnel shall be limited to one-half (1/2) of the member's final
average salary used in computing retirement benefits or the earnings
limit allowed by the Social Security Administration for those under
Social Security's normal retirement age, whichever is less. For
retired members sixty-two (62) years of age or older, allowed
earnings from the public schools of Oklahoma for the performance of
duties ordinarily performed by classified or nonclassified personnel
shall be limited to Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000.00) or one-half
(1/2) of the member's final average salary used in computing
retirement benefits, whichever is less. For purposes of this
paragraph, the following shall apply:
a. earnings shall mean regular annual compensation as
defined in paragraph 23 of Section 17-101 of this
title, and shall include any payment by a public
school for services rendered by a retired member who
is employed for any purpose whatsoever. Supplemental
retirement payments paid by a former public school
employer pursuant to subsection N of Section 17-105 of
this title or other state law shall not be considered
as earnings,
b. the earnings limit for the calendar year in which a
member retires shall be one-twelfth (1/12) of the
annual limit multiplied by the number of months the
member is eligible to work and receive payments from
the public schools of Oklahoma, and
c. earnings in excess of the maximum limit on allowed
earnings from public schools of Oklahoma shall result
in a loss of retirement benefits of One Dollar ($1.00)
for each One Dollar ($1.00) earned over the maximum
allowed earnings amount;
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 of this subsection, for a period
of three (3) years beginning July 1, 2017, members who have retired
as of July 1, 2017, as active classroom teachers, who have been
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ENR. H. B. NO. 2288 Page 8
retired and receiving a benefit for at least one (1) year, and who
have not been employed by any public school during that one-year
period, shall be eligible to be reemployed as an active classroom
teacher in common or career tech school districts, with no
limitations on earnings. For a period of three (3) years beginning
July 1, 2021, members who have retired as of July 1, 2020, who have
been retired and receiving a benefit for at least one (1) year, and
who have not been employed by any public school during that one-year
period, shall be eligible to be reemployed as an active classroom
teacher in common or career tech school districts, with no
limitations on earnings. The one-year period starts with the
retiree's last day of preretirement public education employment.
Members returning under this section shall not be subject to any
earnings limitations following the end of the three-year periods
described in this paragraph. Members returning under this section
shall only be employed pursuant to a temporary contract A retired
classified or nonclassified member who is employed by a public
school to perform duties ordinarily performed by classified or
nonclassified personnel shall be able to receive annualized earnings
from the public school with no reduction in retirement benefits
regardless of the amount of annualized earnings; and
4. 3. A member shall be considered to be employed by a school
district to perform the duties ordinarily performed by classified or
nonclassified optional personnel if the member is hired by the
school district in the member's individual capacity to perform the
duties or if the member performs the duties through employment with
a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability
company or partnership, or any other business structure that has
agreed or contracted to provide the services to the school district.
B. A public school district that employs a retired member shall
be required to make contributions to the System for the retired
member in an amount as required in Section 17-108.1 and in paragraph
3 of subsection B of Section 17-116.2 of this title.
C. For purposes of this section, postretirement employment of
less than one thousand (1,000) hours per year with the Governor, the
Oklahoma State Senate, the Oklahoma House of Representatives or the
Legislative Service Bureau shall not be considered as postretirement
employment with a public school of Oklahoma.
D. The Board of Trustees of the Teachers' Retirement System of
Oklahoma shall promulgate such rules as are necessary to implement
the provisions of this section.
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E. A member who has entered into postretirement employment with
a participating employer of the Teachers' Retirement System of
Oklahoma must fully comply with all the provisions of the rules
promulgated by the Board of Trustees pursuant to this section in
order to continue receiving the member's monthly retirement benefit.
SECTION 3. If the emergency clause is not approved pursuant to
the requirements of the Oklahoma Constitution as part of this
measure, the effective date of Section 1 of this act shall be
October 1, 2026.
SECTION 4. If the emergency clause is not approved pursuant to
the requirements of the Oklahoma Constitution as part of this
measure, the effective date of Section 2 of this act shall be
November 1, 2026.
SECTION 5. Except as otherwise provided by Section 3 of this
act, Section 1 of this act shall become effective immediately upon
signature by the Governor or as otherwise provided by Section 58 of
Article V of the Oklahoma Constitution.
SECTION 6. Except as otherwise provided by Section 4 of this
act, Section 2 of this act shall become effective July 1, 2026.
SECTION 7. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
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ENR. H. B. NO. 2288 Page 10
Passed the House of Representatives the 28th day of April, 2026.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
Passed the Senate the 23rd day of April, 2026.
Presiding Officer of the Senate
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Received by the Office of the Governor this ____________________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________
Approved by the Governor of the State of Oklahoma this _________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
_________________________________
Governor of the State of Oklahoma
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Received by the Office of the Secretary of State this __________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________
THOMAS E. CUMMINS CONSULTING ACTUARY, INC.
2512 E. 71st Street , Suite D ∙ Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136
(918) 492-9658 ∙ (918) 492- 9659
January 14, 2025
Representative Hilbert
Room 401S
Re: RBH No. 11638
RBH No. 11638 would allow retired teachers to return to work as a
teacher with earnings limitations.
If age is between 55 and 59.5 limitation lesser of $30,000 and 50%
of Final Average Earnings
If age is at least 59,5 no limitation until 7/01/2028
After 7/01/2028 if age les than 62 limitation is the lesser $15,000
and 50% of Final Average Earnings.
RBH No. 11638 is a non fiscal bill as defined by OPLAAA.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the
Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actuaries to
render the actuarial opinion herein.
Thomas E. Cummins
Thomas E. Cummins, MAAA
THOMAS E. CUMMINS CONSULTING ACTUARY, INC.
2512 E. 71st Street , Suite D ∙ Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136
(918) 492-9658 ∙ (918) 492- 9659
February 13, 2025
Representative Hilbert
Room 401S
Re: Proposed Policy Substitute for Committee Substitute for House
Bill No. 2288
Proposed Policy Substitute for Committee Substitute for House Bill
No. 2288 removes all earnings limitations for retired teachers who
return to covered employment.
Proposed Policy Substitute for Committee Substitute for House Bill
No. 2288 is a fiscal bill as defined by OPLAAA.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the
Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actuaries to
render the actuarial opinion herein.
Thomas E. Cummins
Thomas E. Cummins, MAAA
THOMAS E. CUMMINS CONSULTING ACTUARY, INC.
2512 E. 71st Street , Suite D ∙ Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136
(918) 492-9658 ∙ (918) 492- 9659
March 3, 2025
Representative Hilbert
Room 401S
Re: Proposed Oversight Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 2288
Proposed Oversight Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 2288
removes all earnings limitations for retired teachers who return to
covered employment.
Proposed Oversight Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 2288 also
amends OPLAAA to make the above non fiscal.
Proposed Oversight Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 2288 is a
non fiscal bill as defined by OPLAAA.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the
Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actuaries to
render the actuarial opinion herein.
Thomas E. Cummins
Thomas E. Cummins, MAAA