This Week at TRTA!

Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) leaders and staff are busy this week as we host the District Presidents Leadership Training Conference (DPLTC). The three day event will be held at the Airport Hilton Hotel in Austin July 7-9.

All of TRTA’s twenty district presidents will be in town to receive training from the officers of the TRTA Board of Directors. They will learn more about TRTA’s goals for the interim and how to best communicate them to local unit presidents throughout the state.

District presidents will also elect the officers of the District Presidents Council this week. The council members will begin serving on the TRTA Board of Directors immediately.

On Wednesday, July 8, district presidents will tour the TRTA state office and meet with staff members to learn more about membership processing and communications. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for more updates about DPLTC as they happen!

The VOICE Will Arrive Soon!

TRTA’s quarterly news bulletin, The VOICE, will arrive in members’ mailboxes as early as this week! To get a sneak peek, click here!

Please pay special attention to page three, where you can find a full-page fact sheet about HR 711, the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act, which repeals the current Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).

The WEP is an unfair federal law preventing retired educators from receiving their earned Social Security (SS) benefits. The WEP, which took effect in 1983, provides a means of eliminating the “windfall” of SS benefits received by beneficiaries who also receive a pension based on work not covered by SS. Many educators are blindsided by this news, and it can have a significant impact on their financial security.

Kevin Brady (R – The Woodlands) introduced HR 711 into Congress earlier this year, but the bill is stuck in the House Ways and Means committee. The bill needs more cosponsors from other states to advance.

HR 711 proposes to reduce the WEP for current and future retirees without impacting the SS trust fund. If passed, HR 711 could increase the lifetime SS benefits of retired teachers by between $20,000 and $32,400.

On average, TRTA members report the WEP reduces their monthly income by $400. HR 711 will reduce the WEP for current retirees by as much as 33 percent. Future retirees will see the WEP’s impact reduced by as much as 50 percent.

Many of the bill’s cosponsors are from Texas, and that shows a great dedication from our members to get traction for this bill. However, we must now expand our reach to Congressmen across the U.S.

Congress is still working in July. Let’s tell our national leaders we need HR 711 passed now!

Please contact your friends, family and colleagues in other states, and ask them to contact their Congressmen and tell them to support HR 711! Feel free to email them a link to page three of The VOICE to provide them with more information.

Thank You

Your support helped us receive $768 million towards TRS-Care during the 84th Texas Legislative Session, but there is still more work to be done. Repealing the WEP is TRTA’s #1 priority, and your help can make all of the difference. Be sure to stay tuned to our other digital mediums to keep informed on all the latest news and updates. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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