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Legislative Updates

Legislative Update No. 50, Session 81
By Tim Lee, Executive DirectorPrinter Friendly ||| Print as PDF

May 28, 2009

Supplemental Payment for TRS Retirees Almost Lost

Legislators Respond and Work to Keep it Alive, BUT TIME IS SHORT

A supplemental payment for TRS retirees was as good as dead just 24 hours ago. Thanks to the immediate response of Representatives Vicki Truitt, Jim Pitts, Craig Eiland, John Otto, Ruth Jones McClendon, and Richard Raymond the issue is alive again, but still faces several more hurdles before it is completely resolved.

What Can I do to Help?
(Please note, this section was moved to the top of this update for your immediate action, and is repeated below for additional information)

TRTA members need to call their elected officials and ask them to support Representative Vicki Truitt to keep the retiree supplemental payment alive.

WE ARE FACING END OF SESSION DEADLINES THAT ARE GOING TO MAKE THESE EFFORTS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT THE URGENT ACTION OF OUR TEXAS LEGISLATORS!

The TRTA Message is: “Please support Representative Vicki Truitt in adding supplemental payment language to HB 3347!”

There are still many steps in this process and the time is short! We need your help. TRTA needs the help of every person who is able to make a phone call to THEIR Senator AND Representative. We need to provide as much support as we can for Representative Truitt. This should help speed up this process and meet the end of session deadlines we are under.

I know that some of you have negative opinions about the $500 cap, but please know that more than 200,000 retired education professionals will be eligible for this benefit increase and MANY of them have contacted TRTA saying how badly they could use this money. We need to work together and help all our members and fellow retirees. Please call NOW!

TRTA Call Your Legislator Hotline (M-F, 8 AM-5 PM)
1.888.674.3788

TRTA Email Campaign Available Soon!


Why Such a Dire Circumstance?

The issue stems from a requirement that the Texas Legislature authorize retirees to receive a benefit increase out of the Texas TRS pension trust fund. Though the proposed supplemental payment is NOT coming out of the pension trust fund, the budget writers included language in the budget that requires “...legislation authorizing the payment.”

The proposed vehicle bill for this required authorization, SB 2567, died in the House earlier this week.

This forced TRTA to find a new vehicle bill that could be used for this required language. This is hardly an easy task as the rules governing such things can be tricky to navigate, and quite simply there are so few bills available for this to occur.

A Breakthrough

Many of the options TRTA explored yesterday seemed to have one flaw or another. TRTA met with House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts who expressed a strong desire to find a way to help. Chairman Pitts had already been in discussions about this issue with House Speaker Pro Temp Craig Eiland who also wanted to be sure a way could be made to get this authorization language added to some vehicle bill.

About 3:00 PM yesterday, a potential vehicle bill was identified and as fortune would have it, the identified vehicle bill is authored by Representative Vicki Truitt, Chairwoman of the House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services Committee. 

Representative Truitt worked with TRTA to set the process in motion to add the language necessary to her bill, HB 3347.

Long-time TRTA supporters John Otto, Ruth Jones McClendon, and Richard Raymond also met with TRTA to help in these efforts and to ensure that the authroization language would be adopted.

Why Does all this Matter So Much?

Though TRTA disagrees with how the language was drafted in the budget authorization, the important issue was to find a way to pass the required authorization. If the authorization is not adopted, it is possible that retired education professionals would not receive their $500 check if the Attorney General approves it.

What Can I do to Help?

TRTA members need to call their elected officials and ask them to support Representative Vicki Truitt to keep the retiree supplemental payment alive.

WE ARE FACING END OF SESSION DEADLINES THAT ARE GOING TO MAKE THESE EFFORTS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT THE URGENT ACTION OF OUR TEXAS LEGISLATORS!

The TRTA Message is: “Please support Representative Vicki Truitt in adding supplemental payment language to HB 3347!”

There are still many steps in this process and the time is short! We need your help. TRTA needs the help of every person who is able to make a phone call to THEIR Senator AND Representative. We need to provide as much support as we can for Representative Truitt. This should help speed up this process and meet the end of session deadlines we are under.

I know that some of you have negative opinions about the $500 cap, but please know that more than 200,000 retired education professionals will be eligible for this benefit increase and MANY of them have contacted TRTA saying how badly they could use this money. We need to work together and help all our members and fellow retirees. Please call NOW!

TRTA Call Your Legislator Hotline (M-F, 8 AM-5 PM)
1.888.674.3788

TRTA Email Campaign Available Soon!

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

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