HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-1 WHEREAS, By 2032, the federal Social Security Trust Fund will
1-2 likely be unable to meet its obligations, and comprehensive reform
1-3 is necessary to ensure its viability both for present and future
1-4 beneficiaries; and
1-5 WHEREAS, Legislation on the subject is anticipated in the
1-6 106th Congress, and with the federal government searching for
1-7 avenues to restore solvency to the failing fund, attention has
1-8 turned to the option of mandated coverage for newly hired employees
1-9 of previously noncovered state and local governments; and
1-10 WHEREAS, Such governments were initially excluded from Social
1-11 Security participation when the system was established in 1935, as
1-12 it was considered unconstitutional for the federal government to
1-13 tax counterpart governments at the state and local levels; and
1-14 WHEREAS, Consequently, Texas state and local governments
1-15 established independent retirement plans to meet the needs of their
1-16 employees, and local government participation in Social Security
1-17 remains optional, although state employees are now covered by both
1-18 Social Security and state retirement plans; and
1-19 WHEREAS, Mandating coverage on newly hired employees of
1-20 previously noncovered governments, according to the Social Security
1-21 Advisory Council, would extend the solvency of the Social Security
1-22 Trust Fund by a mere two years; and
1-23 WHEREAS, Such mandated coverage would result in a tax
1-24 increase of 6.2 percent each for local government employees and
2-1 local government employers, for a combined tax increase of 12.4
2-2 percent; and
2-3 WHEREAS, There currently are over 562,000 noncovered public
2-4 employees in Texas, including public school teachers and
2-5 administrators, public safety officers, and large numbers of city,
2-6 county, and special district employees; and
2-7 WHEREAS, Estimates prepared by the Texas Association of
2-8 Public Employees Retirement Systems project a cost of at least
2-9 $6.87 billion to Texas local government employers, particularly
2-10 school districts, and newly hired workers over the first 10 years
2-11 of implementation; and
2-12 WHEREAS, City and county governments, in order to pay the new
2-13 federal tax, might have no choice but to reduce services such as
2-14 law enforcement, fire protection, libraries, public health,
2-15 programs for senior citizens and the disabled, parks and
2-16 recreation, and refuse collection and recycling; and
2-17 WHEREAS, School districts would experience a new source of
2-18 pressure toward increasing property taxes, and local government
2-19 retirement plans generally might need to be reduced due to the cost
2-20 imposed by mandatory Social Security coverage; and
2-21 WHEREAS, The proposed new tax is a shift of a federal burden
2-22 to local communities to solve a federal problem that our state and
2-23 local governments had no hand in creating, and under which there
2-24 would be no benefit paid to Texas workers for more than a
2-25 generation; now, therefore, be it
2-26 RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas
2-27 hereby memorialize the Congress of the United States and urge the
3-1 president of the United States in the strongest possible terms to
3-2 refrain from the inclusion of mandatory Social Security coverage
3-3 for presently noncovered state and local government employees in
3-4 any Social Security reform legislation; and, be it further
3-5 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
3-6 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
3-7 the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
3-8 the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
3-9 the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
3-10 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
3-11 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
Telford
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 249 was adopted by the House on May
29, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 249 was adopted by the Senate on
May 30, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor