Today, April 7, the House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services (PIFS) Committee met to discuss several bills impacting the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) and TRS retirees. The Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) thanks PIFS Chairman Rafael Anchia for designating today to focus on these important bills that could impact our dedicated public education retirees\u2019 livelihoods for years to come.<\/p>\n
You can view a recording of the meeting online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n TRTA also received an outpouring of support from the Texas Senate during a reading of the resolution honoring Texas retired public educators, SR 129<\/a>, which was sponsored by Sen. Bryan Hughes. The Senate\u2019s overwhelming response to the resolution is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on SB 288<\/a> by Sen. Kel Seliger. This bill is identical to HB 2109 by Rep. Gene Wu and reforms penalties for violations of return-to-work limits. TRTA testified in support of the bill and thanks Sen. Seliger for filing the bill. The Finance committee voted the bill out of committee and sent it to the full Senate today.<\/p>\n Tomorrow, the Senate Education Committee will meet<\/a> and hear testimony on SB 1356<\/a>. This bill helps provide opportunities for high-impact tutoring with our Texas schools and TRS retirees. TRTA supports this endeavor, as the TRTF Tutor Program launched in 2020. TRTA has been working with state leaders to bring the program in alignment with what schools are doing with high-impact tutoring.<\/p>\n The following bills were heard in committee today:<\/p>\n The Texas Retired Teachers Association\u2019s (TRTA) Executive Director Tim Lee provided testimony on the bills today. He thanked Chairman Anchia for including TRS bills on the day\u2019s agenda and recognizing retirees\u2019 commitment to the state.<\/p>\n Lee testified in favor of HB 672, which he noted is a creative solution to providing retirees with a pension increase while continuing to keep the TRS pension fund actuarially sound.<\/p>\n He also testified in favor of Representative Rep. Alma Allen\u2019s bill, HB 1846.<\/p>\n Allen stated when laying out her bill \u201cAs a former educator, this is an important issue to me,\u201d adding that she has seen retirees suffer as costs increase while their pensions do not. She said that retired educators \u201cdedicated their whole lives to you, to me, and thousands of children . . . honor your teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Lee said, \u201cDr. Allen is a hero in my book.\u201d He told committee members that 130,000 current TRS retirees earn $1,000 per month or less, adding \u201cthat\u2019s who (Dr. Allen) is thinking about with her bill.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Abel Herrero presented his bill, HB 3207, which he said \u201cprevents TRS from withholding monthly benefit payments if a retiree works temporarily in a school district where a disaster has been declared.\u201d The bill would include not only retired teachers, but also auxiliary personnel such as bus drivers.<\/p>\n Tim Lee testified in favor of the bill, saying it\u2019s a \u201ccreative solution for retirees who want to help schools.\u201d<\/p>\n TRS Executive Director Brian Guthrie testified as a resource witness. When asked why the penalty is in place by Chairman Anchia, Guthrie said, \u201cThis (issue) dates back to 2005\u2026employment after retirement rules were changed to discourage behavior.\u201d Specifically, at that time, many school employees would retire as soon as eligible then immediately return to work in the same position, which caused financial problems for the pension fund.<\/p>\n HB 3207, if passed, would have no significant financial impact on the TRS pension fund, per Guthrie. Guthrie added that during next week\u2019s TRS Board of Trustees meeting, staff will be asking the TRS Board to adopt an emergency rule to allow any retiree to come back to work this summer without penalty.<\/p>\n When laying out HB 2109, Rep. Gene Wu explained that TRS retirees may not be told by their employers that they have exceeded their allotted work time for the month. As soon as a retiree is over the limit, the penalty must be assessed\u2014current law allows for no exceptions.<\/p>\n Wu also said that there is a significant delay in when TRS becomes aware of the violation. The retiree may not know about the penalty for several months and end up with a huge fine they cannot afford to pay. The total number of retirees this affects every year is around 500. This bill would create a warning system.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are people who spent their entire lives working to educate our state\u2026they deserve more justice,\u201d said Wu. The problem is significant in rural areas. Wu predicts the problem could get worse this summer due to COVID learning loss and the school districts\u2019 needs for additional help.<\/p>\n Tim Lee testified in favor of the bill, saying TRTA members are very interested in this issue. \u201cIf you\u2019re living on the margins and you\u2019re returning to work to earn a little extra income\u2026.to lose your entire monthly annuity\u2014it hurts!\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n This bill would alert not only the retiree of a pending violation, but the school district as well, allowing time for correction before a severe penalty is issued.<\/p>\n Rep. Drew Darby laid out his bill, HB 2022, sharing that the TRS-Care health insurance program underwent drastic changes in 2017, prompting many retirees to make a hard decision about whether or not to leave TRS-Care due to financial concerns within a limited period of time.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Legislature was trying to do some good\u201d in changing TRS-Care, said Darby, \u201cbut we caught some folks in an area where they felt unprepared and rushed to make a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Lee testified in favor of the bill, saying retirees made decisions before they had a complete picture. They lost access to a program they paid into their entire career in this one moment.<\/p>\n HB 3787, laid out by author Rep. Jay Dean, would change four things in current TRS return-to-work laws:<\/p>\n Tim Lee testified in favor of the bill, adding how significant it is for the Texas Retired Teachers Foundation (TRTF), TRTA\u2019s charitable arm, which has been working on the TRTF Tutor Program for more than a year and would like to arrange contracts with school districts to provide free tutoring hours.<\/p>\n TRTA commends Rep. Jay Dean for taking many of the current return-to-work pain points that impact TRS retirees and codifying them into one succinct approach. The measure to all current retirees who retired on or before Dec. 31, 2020 the opportunity to return to work with no penalty is exceptionally well designed and would help thousands of current TRS retirees.<\/p>\n Rep. Sergio Munoz, Jr. clarified that his bill, HB 1124, would provide a 3 percent COLA to TRS retirees who did not receive one as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 1458 in 2013.<\/p>\n Tim Lee testified in favor of the bill, saying \u201cthe TRS pension trust fund is actuarially sound\u2014a remarkable achievement by all involved.\u201d He also said that in 2013, the COLA went \u201cas far as we could go\u201d while keeping the fund sound.<\/p>\n Lee said important considerations for providing any COLA for TRS retirees include how many years of amortization it adds to the pension fund and the COLA\u2019s actual annual cost to the fund.<\/p>\n Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, author of HB 3214, said his bill includes a committee substitute that would adjust his proposed 6 percent COLA to include any TRS retiree who retired before August 31, 2019.<\/p>\n Capriglione provided both passionate and logical testimony, saying \u201cWe have retirees today who are living on almost next to nothing.\u201d He added that the COLA is \u201cequivalent to less than .3 percent of the fund\u2019s value,\u201d or about one-third of what is paid to TRS investment managers to run the fund.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been able to get this fund so it can pay itself off in 26 years,\u201d Capriglione added. \u201cWhat we want to do is get under 31\u2014this bill goes from 26 to 29 years.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, saying if the Legislature waited until the funding period was zero years, they would be \u201casking our retirees who are in their 60s, 70s, or 80s to wait 26 years to get a small bump.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Lee testified in favor of the bill, adding that \u201cthere is no general revenue cost tied to this.\u201d The cost to fund the COLA comes from the pension fund itself.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in a blessed period of time when we can do this. Will we be able to do this two years from now? I don\u2019t know,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n That is why TRTA fully supports providing a COLA for retirees this session, while we know the fund is financially capable of supporting the cost.<\/p>\n Rep. Glenn Rogers laid out his bill, HB 3507, stating that his mother was a high school history teacher. The bill would provide a one-time supplemental payment, also known as a 13th check, for TRS retirees, capped at $2,400. Rogers added that the monthly average annuity for TRS retirees is just $2,118.<\/p>\n TRTA Legislative Committee Chair Nancy Byler testified in favor of the bill. Byler\u2019s touching testimony included two stories of retirees she had met who used their thirteenth checks in 2019 to pay for dentures and to fill their propane tank for the winter.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think what you do is not important to retirees, you\u2019re wrong\u2026what you do is important to them,\u201d Byler added. \u201cWhat you do today and what comes out of this session will impact retirees for their rest of this lives, not just one day.\u201d<\/p>\nBill Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Bill Testimony<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\u00a1Gracias!<\/strong><\/h2>\n