Bill Text: TX SCR5 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Urging Congress to repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision of the Social Security Act.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 3-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-04 - Co-author authorized [SCR5 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-SCR5-Comm_Sub.html
| By: Huffman | S.C.R. No. 5 | |
| (In the Senate - Filed January 10, 2019; February 7, 2019, | ||
| read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; | ||
| March 27, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, | ||
| Nays 0; March 27, 2019, sent to printer.) | ||
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| WHEREAS, Social Security is the foundation for retirement | ||
| income for tens of millions of American workers and their families; | ||
| nearly two-thirds of the older Americans who receive program | ||
| benefits rely on Social Security for 50 percent or more of their | ||
| total income, and one-third rely on it for 90 percent or more; among | ||
| beneficiaries aged 80 and older, 42 percent rely on Social Security | ||
| for nearly all of their income; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Two Social Security provisions, however, the | ||
| Government Pension Offset (GPO), enacted in 1977, and the Windfall | ||
| Elimination Provision (WEP), enacted in 1983, severely and unfairly | ||
| penalize recipients of public pensions; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The GPO effectively prohibits some government | ||
| retirees from collecting both their own pension and full Social | ||
| Security benefits as a surviving spouse; an estimated 9 out of 10 | ||
| public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal | ||
| benefit, even though their spouses paid Social Security taxes for | ||
| many years; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The WEP reduces the Social Security benefit for | ||
| public employees who did not participate in Social Security while | ||
| working for the government, but who at some time in their careers | ||
| were in jobs where they paid Social Security taxes for the period | ||
| required to qualify for retirement benefits; the WEP can deprive a | ||
| retiree of nearly $450 a month in Social Security benefits duly | ||
| earned by that individual; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Although these provisions were intended to curtail | ||
| the payment of windfall benefits to highly paid government | ||
| employees, in practice they have had and continue to have | ||
| devastating consequences for low-income employees who worked for | ||
| many years as public servants; more than two million government | ||
| employees and retirees are affected by either the GPO or the WEP or | ||
| both, and the repercussions are felt most acutely in Texas and 14 | ||
| other states where a high proportion of public employees | ||
| participate in state or municipal retirement systems that do not | ||
| include Social Security; and | ||
| WHEREAS, These punitive and discriminatory provisions target | ||
| hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters, | ||
| and other public servants; although the vast majority of Texas | ||
| school employees participate in the state's teacher retirement | ||
| system and therefore are not required to and do not participate in | ||
| the Social Security system, many Texas teachers and other public | ||
| school employees nonetheless have earned Social Security benefits | ||
| on their own behalf through other employment, the WEP | ||
| notwithstanding, or would be entitled to spousal Social Security | ||
| benefits based on their spouses' lifetime earnings were it not for | ||
| the GPO penalty; these provisions cause veteran teachers to retire | ||
| prematurely and discourage qualified individuals from entering the | ||
| teaching profession at precisely the time that Texas and the nation | ||
| face a severe shortage of highly qualified educators; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The GPO and WEP as applied to public employees are | ||
| unreasonable and unjust and will cause tens of thousands of | ||
| government retirees to experience a diminished quality of life or | ||
| be forced to return to work to make up for the effects of these | ||
| provisions; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to | ||
| repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination | ||
| Provision of the Social Security Act; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
| members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
| this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record | ||
| as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
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