| Summary of September 12th 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 Monday, Sept. 12, in St. Paul. The main topic for discussion was whether or not another special session might be called. The conclusion was best stated by our attorney and lobbyist, Joe O'Neill, when he said, "Everything is conjecture." Some of our "conjecture": Recent events have made it less likely that a special session be called. For example, the hurricane disaster and the press reports regarding how costly the per diem payments were for the last special session both make another session doubtful. On the other hand, we have many media reports regarding how important it is to deal with several sports stadium issues. Some of these reports indicate that the governor would include other issues like transportation and public pension reform in a special session. Several of our members have indications from their legislators that a special session is likely, but there are also some who say it is not likely. Other conjecture regarding a special session: The Minneapolis pension problem will get more expensive to solve if it is put off until next year; it could take priority for funding and cause our issue to be dropped. Some feel the governor is only talking about the Minneapolis issue when he mentions "public pension reform." Because we must be ready if a special session were to be called, our lobbyists have already hand-delivered an excellent letter to all the important legislative leaders and staff who deal with pensions. This letter outlined the importance of dealing with the Pre-1969 Teacher inequity. Joe O'Neill indicated that the letter was well received by many people. Our lobbyists maintain close contact with the two chief authors of our original bill, Sen. Larson and Rep. Beard. Sen. Larson indicated that he feels there will be another special session. A discussion regarding possible TRA legislation to cap benefits: Some legislators want to have a 5% cap on future annual benefit increases. Legislating a cap removes any flexibility for the TRA Board to grant higher benefits even if we enjoy a robust economy in the future. Any cap would not be used for several years given the current status of the fund, because the fund is still recovering accumulated investment losses. We concluded that the Pre-69 Teachers' Coordinating Committee does not now have a position on capping legislation and likely will not. Our lobbyists remain ready to react to any indications that a special session is possible. This could mean asking our membership to contact legislators again or asking some key Pre-69 members to meet with legislative leaders. PLEASE REMAIN WATCHFUL AND READY TO RESPOND if our lobbyists need us. We ask all members to maintain positive contact with their legislators and be alert for any information that could help our lobbyists. As usual, send any feedback to any one of the Coordinating Committee members. If we learn there are definite plans for another special session, we will alert all Pre-69 members and request them to contact their legislators immediately. Thanks to every member for staying informed and ready! The next meeting of the Pre-1969 Teachers' Coordinating Committee is set for Tuesday, Oct. 18 in St. Paul. |
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