| Summary of January 31st and February 15th, 2006 Coordinating Committee Meetings |
| NOTE: This is a partial summary; if you need a full summary, contact any Coordinating Committee member. This summary includes updates & information from a brief Feb. 15 special Coordinating Committee meeting which was called by our volunteer lobbyists. That meeting was held immediately following a Pension Commission meeting which had us on the agenda. When our legislation came up, however, Chairman Pogemiller said the commission would "wait on that." He said the same for the Minneapolis merger with TRA. Member Steve Smith indicated that the House had yet to decide their positions regarding these two issues. Our lobbyists will meet with Rep. Beard to help get a sense of direction for lobbying. They also will try to get some time with David Gaither, the Governor's top assistant. CC members have been attending Pension Commission meetings. We intend to continue this. The commission has had a busy schedule & Chairman Pogemiller has expressed his intent to get major legislation discussed before the March 1 legislative session begins. He also intends to have the commission designate legislation considered "controversial," similar to last year, when two Omnibus Pension bills were up for consideration. The bill that passed out of the Senate last session stated that $22 million was to be set aside for us. However, this year, the amount would be only $11 million, since another year has passed. The problem is in the House. They have yet to act on our legislation. Indications from the Feb. 15 LCPR meeting are that the Minneapolis-TRA merger will likely be a separate bill. We have yet to determine if this will harm or help our legislation. We are waiting to see the February revenue figures. People are predicting a good increase. As of June 2005, the TRA Active Fund was reported to be 98.5% funded by one group and 99.1% funded by another group. Joe O. said to be at least 98.5% funded is very good. Many pension funds are far below that figure. Under the old bill where the funds to solve our situation would come from TRA, our bill would have taken 1.2% of the assets. Senator Larson will be requesting that TRA give him updated figures. Joe O. talked with the Secretary of the Senate, Patrick Flahaven. He said that the Senate would open on March 1, adjourn on March 2, and return on March 8. This allows the senators to return to their home districts in time for state caucuses on March 7. Senator Larson and Representative Beard sent letters to the 10 authors in the Senate and the 31 authors in the House thanking them for authoring our bill and asking them for their continued support. A different letter was sent to all the other legislators seeking their vote on our issue. We hope to place these letters on our website. WE ARE ASKING ALL MEMBERS TO: Keep a positive relationship with your legislators; stay alert for notices regarding when and what to communicate to your legislators; attend caucuses on March 7 & let your legislators know you are a politically active Pre-1969 Teacher. Our lobbyists will decide when is the best time to contact legislators so keep watching for alerts explaining when to make contact and who to contact. If you receive important feedback from your legislators, please send it to Rick Winters: [email protected] IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR ALL PRE-1969 MEMBERS: If you have changed your address/phone number/email address, PLEASE send your current, correct information to John Gindele: [email protected] If you have a NEW email address, please let John Gindele know. This way you can be kept up-to-date on our issue. Email addresses are preferred due to speed and reduced U.S. mailing time and associated costs. Next Coordinating Committee meeting: March 2 in St. Paul. |
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