| A Close Vote! |
 |
| The Pension Commission, at its Tuesday, March 9 meeting, failed to support our legislation by one vote. After outstanding testimony on our behalf from Sen. Larson, Rep. Beard, Tom Selwold, Rick Winters, and Joe O'Neill, the commission took a vote and we had five of the necessary six votes. Please thank these commission members for supporting us: Senators Cal Larson, Geoff Michel, and Keith Langseth; Representatives Steve Smith and Mary Murphy. Also, a special thank you to Rep. Michael Beard is due for his constant support. The Coordinating Committee met immediately following the vote and Joe O'Neill advised us that there still are some legislative options during the current session open to us and he, along with Tom S. and Rick W. would be exploring those over the next few days. The next Coordinating Committee meeting will likely be the week of March 22 - 26, but the exact date is yet to be determined. We are very grateful for all the support we now have for our cause and realize it is due to the long hours and hard work of many Pre-1969 Teacher members. Thanks to them our issue is well-known at the legislature and we have a solid base to build on when we develop our next strategy. Please stay tuned, keep informed, and know that we will never abandon our efforts for our cause until we see some form of justice to correct the inequity mistake that was made in our TRA pension benefits. |