| Summary of January 29th Coordinating Committee Meeting |
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| The Coordinating Committee met Thursday, Jan. 29 in St. Paul. The main agenda was an update from our lobbyists, Tom S. and Rick W., along with Joe O'Neill. Joe continues to assist us with all aspects of our cause. Tom and Rick distributed and explained documents they are using to explain our issue. One deals with the historical background, the other is an explanation of how TRA can use internal funding to help reduce the inequity of Pre-1969 teachers without harming the TRA fund. We hope to have both of these documents on our website in the near future. Some of the highlights from the documents: The data used is up-to-date from TRA as of June 30, 2003. The historical background clearly shows that those who got IMP were given a savings clause that gave them two choices at retirement. Those who elected any of the other four choices were never given a savings clause even though their irrevocable choices were mandatorily transferred. The financial document states that our amended legislation, HF 282/ SF 213 "is a financially responsible bill that does not require any support from the General Fund and does not weaken the TRA fund." It goes on to conclude that "The State Legislature in 1973 and 1974 created a discriminatory and gross injustice to Pre-1969 Teachers" and "It is time now for the 2004 State Legislature to correct this inequity by the passage of HF 282/SF 213 in the Omnibus Pension Bill." Tom and Rick have now met personally with most of the Pension Commission members, and, with help from Joe O'Neill, will have met with or offered to meet with every member before the next LCPR meeting. They have also met with Rep. Michael Beard, author of our legislation on the House side. Joe and John G. have now identified 82% of potential Pre-1969 teachers and have addresses of 72% of those who are Pre-1969 teachers. They have provided the Coordinating Committee with contact information for constituents of Pension Commission members. These constituents will soon be requested to contact the commission member who is their legislator. The next LCPR meeting is scheduled for Tues., Feb. 10; our legislation is NOT on the agenda. Four Coordinating Committee members are planning on being at that meeting. We expect the LCPR to meet weekly, but as always, their schedule is subject to change. We expect our legislation to be on the agenda of one of the February meetings. If we need you to be at a meeting, we'll let you know. If you want up-to-date information on the LCPR meeting dates and agendas, go to http://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/lcpr/lcprmain.htm We also took note of information in the most recent Comprehensive Annual TRA Financial Report: "The comparison of net assets to required reserves shows that the funding ratio for fiscal year 2003 was 103.13 percent, a moderate decrease from the comparable 105.31 percent for fiscal year 2002. This statistic produces the seventh consecutive year in which the TRA fund is considered fully funded..." Our lobbyists state in their document that "the TRA fund was only 71.6% funded in 1972...when the 1973 legislature funded the Pre-1973 retired teachers with a 25% total pension benefit increase." Our document goes on to explain that "the legislature had changed the pension benefits to a High 5 year computation from a career average salary computation, and the adjustment corrected a serious inequity." No date has been set for the next Coordinating Committee meeting. Thanks to everyone for all the time and effort for our cause. |