1-1     By:  Haggerty (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister)          H.C.R. No. 210
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 23, 2001;
 1-3     April 24, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 7, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 7, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                         HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-7           WHEREAS, The Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement
 1-8     Act of 2000 was approved in a bipartisan effort by 391 members of
 1-9     the United States House of Representatives in the 106th Congress,
1-10     including 20 members from the Texas delegation to the congress; and
1-11           WHEREAS, Even though more than 80 United States senators
1-12     signed letters of support for this legislation in 2000, the bill
1-13     never came up for a vote in the full senate; and
1-14           WHEREAS, An identical bill addressing railroad retirement
1-15     reform is now before the 107th Congress to modernize the financing
1-16     of the railroad retirement system for its 748,000 beneficiaries
1-17     nationwide, including more than 38,000 in Texas; and
1-18           WHEREAS, The act provides tax relief to freight railroads,
1-19     Amtrak, and commuter lines; it also provides benefit improvements
1-20     for surviving spouses of rail workers, who currently suffer deep
1-21     cuts in income when the rail retiree dies; and
1-22           WHEREAS, Railroad management and labor and retiree
1-23     organizations have agreed to support this legislation; and
1-24           WHEREAS, No outside contributions from taxpayers are needed
1-25     to implement the changes called for in this legislation as all
1-26     costs relating to the reforms will come from within the railroad
1-27     industry, including a full share by active employees; now,
1-28     therefore, be it
1-29           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
1-30     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to enact
1-31     the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001;
1-32     and, be it further
1-33           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
1-34     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
1-35     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
1-36     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
1-37     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
1-38     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
1-39     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
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