| Summary of January 25th Coordinating Committee Meeting |
 |
| The Pre-1969 Teachers' Coordinating Committee met on January 25 in St. Paul. We assessed our progress, and developed a strategy for this legislative session. Thank you to Diane K. for providing notes of the important items we covered: 1. Our lobbyists, Tom Selwold and Rick Winters, will meet with Senator Larson the week of January 31. Our legislation is now introduced in the Senate as S.F. 543. Senator Cal Larson is once again our chief author with Senators Keith Langseth, Geoff Michel, Jim Vickerman, and David Tomassoni as co-authors. The Senate only allows the names of five senators on a bill. Because several more senators wish to sponsor our bill, a second copy of the same bill will be introduced. Senator David Gaither and two other senators have already committed to this second bill. We are looking for more DFL senators who would like to put their names on the bill. 2. Representative Beard will again author our bill in the House. He will speak to the House members who co-authored the bill last year to seek their support for this year. If your representative wants to be a co-author, give his/her name and background to Rick Winters: [email protected] 3. Pension Commission: Senator Betzold will likely be the chair of the Pension Commission; the names of members have not been announced, but we expect the Senate side to remain the same as last year. We expect the commission will consist of 5 Senators (2 Republicans and 3 Democrats) and 5 Representatives (3 Republicans and 2 Democrats). 4. Tom S. and Rick W., our lobbyists, have met with Representative Entenza, House Minority Leader. They are planning to meet with many legislators who they consider important decision-makers regarding our cause. 5. Joe and John G., with help from our wonderful membership all around the state, have developed & updated a large database with many names and addresses of Pre-69 teachers and a large number of e-mail addresses. More names come in daily. 6. We are sending e-mail to all Pre-69 teachers about Dennis Wegner running for the TRA Board Retiree position. We are supporting him as the best candidate for the position and ask all our members to notify every retired teacher you know about his efforts. He does not favor capping the annual increases to retirees at 5% as has been considered. A highly successful Pre-69 meeting was organized by Harry D. for legislative districts in the Northwest metro area: It was held at the Brooklyn Park Library on Wed., Jan. 26. Harry, with publicity help from Joe & John G. had a great turn-out. Those attending included nine legislators and 58 possible Pre69ers. The legislators included: Senators Linda Scheid (46), Leo Foley (47), David Gaither 43); Representatives Michael Nelson (46a), Debra Hilstrom (46b), Joyce Peppin (32a), Lyndon Carlson (45b), Denise Dittrich (47a), Melissa Hortman (47b). All in attendance listened intently to, and asked many excellent questions of, our terrific lobbyists, Tom S. and Rick W. Their presentation was outstanding and they had thorough, accurate answers to all questions. Legislators Gaither, Dittrich and Hortman ndicated they would sign on as co-authors of our legislation. The next Coordinating Committee meeting is scheduled for Feb. 22 in St. Paul. |