| Summary of July 20th Coordinating Committee Meeting |
| NOTE: This is a partial summary; if you need a full summary, contact any Coordinating Committee member. The Coordinating Committee met on Wednesday, July 20, in St. Paul. Joe O'Neill, Tom S. and Rick W., reported what happened in the legislature during the special session. A few months ago the Omnibus Pension Bill, Part 2 (including our bill) overwhelmingly passed out of the Senate. On June 9 the House received the Omnibus Pension Bill #29 that contained 21 bills including the bills solving the Minneapolis Pension issue and our bill for Pre-69 teachers. The regular session ended without the House acting on pension legislation. Throughout the special session, Joe, Tom, and Rick continued to meet with many legislators and their leaders. Near the end of the special session, they asked that Pre-69 teachers e-mail or call Governor Pawlenty, Representative Sviggum, and our own representatives. Joe and John G. immediately e-mailed everyone with this request. We have heard from legislators that a lot of you did this. Thanks for responding to and supporting the plans and requests of our lobbyists. When the Pension Bill was presented by Rep. Smith in the House on July 13, our bill, the Minneapolis Teacher bill, and six others were not included. Some have theorized that party leaders decided to exclude sections of the bill. (Please do not contact Rep. Smith unless he is your representative. Joe O. says that all of Smith's constituents should continue to communicate with him. He also reminded us that each time we talk to our legislators, they gain a better understanding of the fairness and equity issues.) Ask your legislator for support. Be kind; do not berate any legislator. Tom, Rick and Joe will be talking to Rep. Smith. Legislators realize that the Minneapolis Teachers' Fund has a problem, but many are not willing to quickly help Minneapolis. However, the problem just gets worse every year it goes unsolved. Many legislators acknowledge the need to help Minneapolis but are reluctant to do so. WE NEED YOUR HELP AGAIN! We want all of you to e-mail or write your legislators and thank them for their support. Tell them that we are continuing our efforts to get partial equity for Pre-69 teachers. If your representative was one of the 31 representatives or one of the 10 senators to author our bill, serves on the Pension Commission, or is a leader in the House or Senate, thank them for their extra efforts and their time. Even if your legislator has not been particularly supportive, be respectful when contacting him/her. If your legislator does not understand this issue, continue to try to explain it. Also, Rick W. and/or Tom S. would be willing to meet with you and your legislator. Legislators are back in their communities now so watch for a chance to visit with them in person. Joe and John Gindele have done an outstanding job of finding more Pre-69 teachers. They have the e-mail addresses for many Pre-69 teachers and mail addresses for others. They continue to find more Pre-69 teachers and print and mail information to Pre-69 teachers without e-mail. We are indebted to Joe and John for all their work on our behalf. You can help them save time and money by letting them know your email address: Please, if you have not sent them your current, valid, email address, do so today! Contact them at: [email protected] We are going to take a few weeks off to absorb what has happened. We have a meeting set for September 12, but will hold one sooner if a special session meets before that date or if our lobbyists call for a meeting. We are disappointed. But we have hope. We still have three very strong and committed lobbyists along with many other Coordinating Committee members planning strategy and ready to do whatever is necessary to pass our bill. We know the governor may call a special session to deal with the stadium issue; he has also mentioned that he may want to look at pensions. We have many, many legislators who support us. Joe O., Tom S., and Rick W. are committed to continue; the Coordinating Committee is committed. Joe and John G. and Joan S., who maintains our website, are committed. We will not give up! We are not going away! Thank you for all your terrific support in the past and we hope we can count on you in the future. Will you commit to continue? |
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