88R5645 TBO-D
By: Herrero H.C.R. No. 20
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Social Security is the foundation for retirement for
tens of millions of American workers and their families, with many
reporting that they rely on the program as their sole source of
income; and
WHEREAS, Two Social Security provisions, however, the
Government Pension Offset (GPO), enacted in 1977, and the Windfall
Elimination Provision (WEP), enacted in 1983, severely and unfairly
penalize recipients of public pensions; and
WHEREAS, The GPO effectively prohibits some government
retirees from collecting both their own pension and full Social
Security benefits as a surviving spouse; nearly three-quarters of
beneficiaries affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal
benefit, even though their spouses paid Social Security taxes for
many years; and
WHEREAS, The WEP reduces the Social Security benefit for
public employees who did not participate in Social Security while
working for the government, but who at some time in their careers
were in jobs where they paid Social Security taxes for the period
required to qualify for retirement benefits; the WEP can deprive a
retiree of more than $500 a month in Social Security benefits duly
earned by that individual; and
WHEREAS, Although these provisions were intended to curtail
the payment of windfall benefits to highly paid government
employees, in practice they have had and continue to have
devastating consequences for low-income employees who worked for
many years as public servants; as of December 2018, more than two
million government employees and retirees had been affected by
either the GPO or the WEP or both, and the repercussions have been
felt most acutely in Texas and 14 other states where a high
proportion of public employees participate in state or municipal
retirement systems that do not include Social Security; and
WHEREAS, These punitive and discriminatory provisions target
hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters,
and other public servants; although the vast majority of Texas
school employees participate in the state's teacher retirement
system, and therefore are not required to and do not participate in
the Social Security system, many Texas teachers and other public
school employees nonetheless have earned Social Security benefits
on their own behalf through other employment, the WEP
notwithstanding, or would be entitled to spousal Social Security
benefits based on their spouses' lifetime earnings were it not for
the GPO penalty; these provisions cause veteran teachers to retire
prematurely and discourage qualified individuals from entering the
teaching profession at precisely the time that Texas and the nation
face a severe shortage of highly qualified educators; and
WHEREAS, The GPO and WEP as applied to public employees are
unreasonable and unjust and will cause tens of thousands of
government retirees to experience a diminished quality of life or
be forced to return to work to make up for the effects of these
provisions; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination
Provision of the Social Security Act; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to 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.