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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Social Security is the foundation for retirement |
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income for tens of millions of American workers and their families; |
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nearly two-thirds of the older Americans who receive program |
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benefits rely on Social Security for 50 percent or more of their |
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total income, and one-third rely on it for 90 percent or more; among |
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beneficiaries aged 80 and older, 42 percent rely on Social Security |
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for nearly all of their income; and |
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WHEREAS, However, two Social Security provisions, the |
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Government Pension Offset (GPO), enacted in 1977, and the Windfall |
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Elimination Provision (WEP), enacted in 1983, severely and unfairly |
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penalize recipients of public pensions; and |
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WHEREAS, The GPO effectively prohibits some government |
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retirees from collecting both their own pension and full Social |
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Security benefits as a surviving spouse; an estimated 9 out of 10 |
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public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal |
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benefit, even though their spouses paid Social Security taxes for |
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many years; and |
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WHEREAS, The WEP reduces the Social Security benefit for |
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public employees who did not participate in Social Security while |
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working for the government, but who at some time in their careers |
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were in jobs where they paid Social Security taxes for the period |
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required to qualify for retirement benefits; the WEP can deprive a |
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retiree of more than $425 a month in Social Security benefits duly |
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earned by that individual; and |
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WHEREAS, Although these provisions were intended to curtail |
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the payment of windfall benefits to highly paid government |
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employees, in practice they have had and continue to have |
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devastating consequences for low-income employees who worked for |
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many years as public servants; more than two million government |
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employees and retirees are affected by either the GPO or the WEP or |
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both, and the repercussions are felt most acutely in Texas and 14 |
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other states where a high proportion of public employees |
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participate in state or municipal retirement systems that do not |
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include Social Security; and |
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WHEREAS, These punitive and discriminatory provisions target |
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hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters, |
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and other public servants; although the vast majority of Texas |
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school employees participate in the state's teacher retirement |
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system and therefore are not required to and do not participate in |
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the Social Security system, many Texas teachers and other public |
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school employees nonetheless have earned Social Security benefits |
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on their own behalf through other employment, the WEP |
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notwithstanding, or would be entitled to spousal Social Security |
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benefits based on their spouses' lifetime earnings were it not for |
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the GPO penalty; these provisions cause veteran teachers to retire |
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prematurely and discourage qualified individuals from entering the |
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teaching profession at precisely the time that Texas and the nation |
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face a severe shortage of highly qualified educators; and |
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WHEREAS, The GPO and WEP as applied to public employees are |
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unreasonable and unjust and will cause tens of thousands of |
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government retirees to experience a diminished quality of life or |
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be forced to return to work to make up for the effects of these |
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provisions; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to |
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repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination |
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Provision of the Social Security Act; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record |
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as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |