Legislation introduced in US House to repeal Gov’t Pension Offset

This is the text of a posting by blogger Glen Brown on legislation to reduce the penalty in social security benefits for individuals that have public pensions.

A bipartisan bill was introduced in the US House this week to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which reduces public employees’ Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by two-thirds of their public pension, and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. This week, Representatives Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced a bill that would amend Title II of the Social Security Act and repeal GPO and WEP. A bipartisan bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate the week of May 6.

GPO and WEP penalize people who have dedicated their lives to public service by taking away benefits they have EARNED. Nine out of ten public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even though their spouse paid Social Security taxes for many years. The WEP causes hard-working people to lose a significant portion of the benefits they earned themselves.

Urge your Representative to support and co-sponsor the bill to end GPO and WEP, and restore Social Security fairness. TAKE ACTION!
E-mail Congress<http://capwiz.com/nea/utr/1/GNPBSZXIWJ/KKAPSZYFOE/9520161621> — Tell your Representative to support and co-sponsor the bill to end GPO and WEP and restore Social Security fairness.

Please read more about WEP & GPO here:
Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset<http://teacherpoetmusicianglenbrown.blogspot.com/2012/03/windfall-elimination-provision-and.html

 

SB2404 options described

http://teacherpoetmusicianglenbrown.blogspot.com/2013/05/we-are-one-illinois-union-coalition.html

The link above provides a nice table describing the choices put forward in the proposed legislation, SB2404.

GSU SUAA would be interested in your reaction to the proposal.  The GSU SUAA board thinks that this the fairest legislation proposed to date, but we may not have considered all the possible problems.

It has been suggested that we work to get as large a majority of senators to vote ‘yes’ in the Senate as possible.  A big majority would put pressure on the House to follow suit.

Note that the bill may be amended to add the salary cap for pensionable earnings and the increased retirement age, neither of which proposals have our support.

GSU SUAA Board

 

Still time to register for April 26 Regional Meeting

It is not too late to register for the Regional Meeting at Moraine Valley Community College. GSU SUAA will pay the registration fee for up to 10 attendees, and there is still room.

It should be a very interesting day. The program will include legislators discussing the pension legislation.  Senator Biss, who authored a bill we strongly disagree, with will be among the participants. A presentation on the IGPA proposal is also planned. The lunchtime speaker is Glen Brown, the TRS retiree that publishes the blog.

Why not join us for the day?

Click here for more information

 

IGPA proposal sent to Gov Quinn

Lot of coverage in the press these days for the Institute of Government and Public Affairs’ (IGPA) interesting proposal for a SURS remedy sent to Springfield earlier in the month. The university presidents have helped draw attention to this proposal by indicating their support in a letter to Speaker Madigan. Both documents are linked directly below:

• Click here to read the IGPA’s “Six Simple Steps for Reforming SURS”
• Click here to read the university presidents’ letter to Speaker Madigan

We’d love to know your thoughts! Just click below and to the right to “Leave a Comment”.

 

Response to Tribune perspective on pensions

Addison Woodward sent along a link to a terrific commentary:

“As a retired public school teacher dependent on the promises inherent in our Illinois pension system, I have watched with equal parts incredulity and horror as the Tribune’s editorials on teacher pensions have taken on the emotional intensity of a petulant two-year-old kicking and screaming in the middle of the street.”

Click here to read the entire piece at http://teacherpoetmusicianglenbrown.blogspot.com/2013/04/dear-chicago-tribune-editorial-board-by.html

 

 

SUAA Spring ’13 Regional Meeting Coming UP!

Mark your calendars and plan to attend the SUAA Spring 2013 Regional Meeting.

2013 Spring Regional Meeting
Knowledge for Power!
Friday, April 26, 2013
9 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Moraine Valley Community College
Moraine Business and Conference Center
9000 West College Parkway
Palos Hills, Illinois

Registration Information will be available mid-April

Click here for more information

 

Summary of recent legislative activity

CLICK HERE for a summary of the legislature’s activities on pension bills (pdf).

Briefly, the Senate passed SB1 which requires employees covered by TRS to make a choice between health care and the COLA.  It defeated SB35, which would have limited the COLA to the first $25,000 of pension salary.  Senate President Cullerton believes that some kind of trade-off is necessary if legislation is to be held constitutional.

The  House on the other hand passed bills to cap the salary for pension calculations, delay the COLA, limit the COLA to $750, and raise the retirement age.

The legislature is in recess for the next two weeks.  It is a good time to visit your legislator and discuss the pension problem.  You will find some excellent resources for visiting a legislator at www.suaa.org under the LCP heading in the list at the left of the page.  If you cannot manage a visit, a phone call might help to
convince your legislator to think twice before voting to take away the pension that you were promised by the state.  When both houses finish passing bills, the bills will need to be reconciled into bills that can pass both houses.  All legislators will be called upon to vote again on these issues.

- Jane Wells