| 1 | 1 | | By: Neave H.C.R. No. 100 |
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| 2 | 2 | | |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 5 | 5 | | WHEREAS, Tens of millions of American workers and their |
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| 6 | 6 | | families count on Social Security to provide a reliable minimum |
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| 7 | 7 | | income in their retirement; and |
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| 8 | 8 | | WHEREAS, Almost 50 percent of married couples and 75 percent |
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| 9 | 9 | | of unmarried persons age 65 and older depend on Social Security for |
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| 10 | 10 | | more than half of their total retirement income, and nearly a |
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| 11 | 11 | | quarter of the married couples and almost half of the unmarried |
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| 12 | 12 | | persons receive 90 percent or more of their income from the program; |
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| 13 | 13 | | and |
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| 14 | 14 | | WHEREAS, The Government Pension Offset (GPO), enacted in |
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| 15 | 15 | | 1977, and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), enacted in |
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| 16 | 16 | | 1983, severely and unfairly penalize recipients of public pensions; |
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| 17 | 17 | | and |
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| 18 | 18 | | WHEREAS, The GPO effectively prohibits some retirees from |
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| 19 | 19 | | collecting both their own pension and full social security benefits |
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| 20 | 20 | | as a surviving spouse; an estimated 9 out of 10 public employees |
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| 21 | 21 | | affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even though |
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| 22 | 22 | | their spouses paid social security taxes for many years; and |
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| 23 | 23 | | WHEREAS, The WEP, which affects benefits paid under Title II |
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| 24 | 24 | | of the Social Security Act, lowers Social Security benefits for |
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| 25 | 25 | | employees with public pensions, including teachers, law |
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| 26 | 26 | | enforcement officers, and firefighters, as well as for their |
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| 27 | 27 | | spouses and children, and can deprive a retiree of more than $425 a |
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| 28 | 28 | | month in social security benefits duly earned by that individual; |
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| 29 | 29 | | and |
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| 30 | 30 | | WHEREAS, These provisions in practice have had devastating |
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| 31 | 31 | | consequences for employees who worked for many years as public |
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| 32 | 32 | | servants including teachers, police officers, firefighters, and |
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| 33 | 33 | | other public servants; almost two million employees and retirees |
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| 34 | 34 | | are affected by either the GPO or the WEP or both; and |
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| 35 | 35 | | WHEREAS, The GPO and WEP as applied to public employees cause |
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| 36 | 36 | | tens of thousands of Texas retirees to experience a diminished |
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| 37 | 37 | | quality of life or be forced to return to work to make up for the |
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| 38 | 38 | | effects of these provisions; now, therefore, be it |
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| 39 | 39 | | RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 40 | 40 | | hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to |
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| 41 | 41 | | repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination |
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| 42 | 42 | | Provision of the Social Security Act; and, be it further |
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| 43 | 43 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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| 44 | 44 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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| 45 | 45 | | the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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| 46 | 46 | | Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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| 47 | 47 | | members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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| 48 | 48 | | this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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| 49 | 49 | | memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |
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