TRTA Members Deliver a Strong Message
Texas Senate Added to Outreach Campaign
In just three days, over 4,000 TRTA members emailed their Texas House Representatives asking them to restore the deep cuts made to the TRS pension trust fund and the TRS-Care health insurance program. Early this week, the Texas Senate released its preliminary budget proposal, which slashes the TRS budget the same way as the Texas House.
Our email advocacy campaign is continuing and we need to make certain that our Texas legislators are hearing from you on this vital issue. TRTA has added the option to send an email directly to your Texas Senator. If you have already sent an email to your Texas House Representative, click here to now send an email to your Senator as well.
The budget process is in the beginning phase and there is much work that can be done with our Texas legislators to restore the funding for the TRS pension fund and the TRS-Care program.
Your legislators need to know that under-funding the TRS-Care program at the requested budget amount will mean an increase in retiree premiums in the coming biennium.
TRTA State Legislative Committee members will be in Austin the entire month of February and into the first week of March. These volunteer TRTA members will push the TRTA Legislative Priorities and offer better alternatives for helping public education retirees than cutting pension fund contributions and raising health care premiums. We can make a difference this session!
Important Hearing on Public Pension Plans
Senator Robert Duncan and Representative Vicki Truitt have arranged for a special hearing on public pension funds. This hearing has scheduled invited testimony from a panel of experts including TRS Executive Director Ronnie Jung, ERS Executive Director Ann Fuelberg, NASRA Research Director Keith Brainard, and more.
TRTA members can watch this hearing live at 1:30 PM, Thursday, January 27, on the Texas House web site at http://www.house.state.tx.us/video-audio/. Please note that your computer must have the free Real Player audio/video utility in order for you to see the live video stream. A free download for this utility is offered on the Texas House Audio/Video page for your convenience.
After the hearing, please feel free to send your comments to tim@trta.org. TRTA staff will attend this hearing. An update about the hearing will be sent to Línea interior Subscribers tomorrow.
Final Thought
Thank you for your hard work and dedication to TRTA. If you receive any information from your legislators about the proposed budget cuts, or any other information you believe we need to know, please forward it to me (tim@trta.org) and I will follow up with each of these contacts.
