Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SCR17 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	S.C.R. No. 17
	1	+	By: Hughes, et al. S.C.R. No. 17
	2	+	(Herrero, Muñoz, Jr., Parker, Capriglione, Toth)
2	3
3	4
4	5		SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
5	6		WHEREAS, Social Security is the foundation for retirement for
6	7		tens of millions of American workers and their families, with many
7	8		reporting that they rely on the program as their sole source of
8	9		income; and
9	10		WHEREAS, Two Social Security provisions, however, the
10	11		Government Pension Offset (GPO), enacted in 1977, and the Windfall
11	12		Elimination Provision (WEP), enacted in 1983, severely and unfairly
12	13		penalize recipients of public pensions; and
13	14		WHEREAS, The GPO effectively prohibits some government
14	15		retirees from collecting both their own pension and full Social
15	16		Security benefits as a surviving spouse; an estimated 9 out of 10
16	17		public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal
17	18		benefit, even though their spouses paid Social Security taxes for
18	19		many years; and
19	20		WHEREAS, The WEP reduces the Social Security benefit for
20	21		public employees who did not participate in Social Security while
21	22		working for the government, but who at some time in their careers
22	23		were in jobs where they paid Social Security taxes for the period
23	24		required to qualify for retirement benefits; the WEP can deprive a
24	25		retiree of nearly $450 a month in Social Security benefits duly
25	26		earned by that individual; and
26	27		WHEREAS, Although these provisions were intended to curtail
27	28		the payment of windfall benefits to highly paid government
28	29		employees, in practice they have had and continue to have
29	30		devastating consequences for low-income employees who worked for
30	31		many years as public servants; more than two million government
31	32		employees and retirees are affected by either the GPO or the WEP or
32	33		both, and the repercussions are felt most acutely in Texas and 14
33	34		other states where a high proportion of public employees
34	35		participate in state or municipal retirement systems that do not
35	36		include Social Security; and
36	37		WHEREAS, These punitive and discriminatory provisions target
37	38		hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters,
38	39		and other public servants; although the vast majority of Texas
39	40		school employees participate in the state's teacher retirement
40	41		system, and therefore are not required to and do not participate in
41	42		the Social Security system, many Texas teachers and other public
42	43		school employees nonetheless have earned Social Security benefits
43	44		on their own behalf through other employment, the WEP
44	45		notwithstanding, or would be entitled to spousal Social Security
45	46		benefits based on their spouses' lifetime earnings were it not for
46	47		the GPO penalty; these provisions cause veteran teachers to retire
47	48		prematurely and discourage qualified individuals from entering the
48	49		teaching profession at precisely the time that Texas and the nation
49	50		face a severe shortage of highly qualified educators; and
50	51		WHEREAS, The GPO and WEP as applied to public employees are
51	52		unreasonable and unjust and will cause tens of thousands of
52	53		government retirees to experience a diminished quality of life or
53	54		be forced to return to work to make up for the effects of these
54	55		provisions; now, therefore, be it
55	56		RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas
56	57		hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
57	58		repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination
58	59		Provision of the Social Security Act; and, be it further
59	60		RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
60	61		copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
61	62		the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
62	63		Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
63	64		members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
64	65		this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record
65	66		as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
66		-	______________________________ ______________________________
67		-	President of the Senate Speaker of the House
68		-	______________________________ ______________________________
69		-	President of the Senate Speaker of the House
70		-	I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 17 was adopted by the Senate
71		-	on April 19, 2021, by a viva-voce vote.
72		-	______________________________
73		-	Secretary of the Senate
74		-	I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 17 was adopted by the House
75		-	on May 11, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0,
76		-	two present not voting.
77		-	______________________________
78		-	Chief Clerk of the House
79		-	Approved:
80		-	______________________________
81		-	Date
82		-	______________________________
83		-	Governor