SRC-SEW H.C.R. 210 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center H.C.R. 210 77R9223 ELG-DBy: Haggerty (Armbrister) State Affairs 4/30/2001 Adopted DIGEST The Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2000 was approved in a bipartisan effort by 391 members of the United States House of Representatives in the 106th Congress, including 20 members from the Texas delegation to the congress. However, even though more than 80 United States senators signed letters of support for this legislation in 2000, the bill never came up for a vote in the full senate. An identical bill addressing railroad retirement reform is now before the 107th Congress to modernize the financing of the railroad retirement system for its 748,000 beneficiaries nationwide, including more than 38,000 in Texas. The act provides tax relief to freight railroads, Amtrak, and commuter lines; it also provides benefit improvements for surviving spouses of rail workers, who currently suffer deep cuts in income when the rail retiree dies. Railroad management and labor and retiree organizations have agreed to support this legislation. No outside contributions from taxpayers are needed to implement the changes called for in this legislation as all costs relating to the reforms will come from within the railroad industry, including a full share by active employees. PURPOSE As proposed, H.C.R. 210 submits the following resolutions: Provides that the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby respectfully urges the Congress of the United States to enact the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001. Provides that the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.