Texas Public Employees Association wants state employees to be aware of legislative activities and developments affecting your job and career. TPEA is sending this message to our members and to state employees who have participated at TPEA events and given us their e-mail addresses. TPEA also requested and received e-mail addresses as public information from a number of state agencies. If you do not wish to remain on this list, you can unsubscribe by following the instructions at the end of this email. REMEMBER: STATE EMPLOYEES SHOULD NOT USE STATE EQUIPMENT OR STATE TIME TO ENGAGE IN ANY TYPE OF LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY EFFORTS. This message should not be printed, replied to, or forwarded using state equipment, unless allowed by your agency's policies and procedures. |
Texas Senate Passes Budget, Including Employee Pay Raises On Wednesday, March 23 the Texas Senate unanimously approved SB 1, the General Appropriations Act for the 2006-2007 biennium. Totaling over $139 billion in all funds, SB 1 restores a number of cuts to health and human services programs made during the previous legislative session, adds significant funding for state-supported institutions of higher education, and funds enrollment growth for public schools. With regard to state employees, SB 1 contains a pay raise package that closely mirrors TPEA’s proposal. It includes two across-the-board pay raises of 4.5 percent with $100 a month minimum increases, granted on January 1, 2006 and January 1, 2007. This would apply to all general government state employees on Salary Schedules A and B. Schedule C employees will receive separate pay increases based on a proposal by the Department of Public Safety Officers Association. To read the complete Texas Senate Passes Budget article, visit the TPEA web site. Return to the Table of Contents. TPEA Endorses Owen Whitworth for ERS Board Based on his experience and demonstrated leadership during his tenure on the Board of Trustees of the Employees Retirement System, Owen Whitworth has been endorsed for re-election by the Board of Directors of TPEA. See the TPEA press release announcing the endorsement. TPEA encourages all active and retired employees to participate in this election. Paper ballots were mailed to eligible voters on March 16, so you should have received your ballot by mail. Online voting is possible for the first time, go to ERS OnLine at this link https://badm2.ers.state.tx.us/psp/bprd/?cmd=login to vote electronically. You will need your social security number and password to enter ERS OnLine. Voting continues through April 20. Results will be announced May 12. Return to the Table of Contents. House Appropriations Committee Pay Raise Proposal While the Senate has concluded its initial work on the state budget, the House has been working on its version of the appropriations bill and will substitute it into SB 1 when it arrives from the Senate. The House version of the budget uses virtually all available new funds to increase public education funding under HB 2, the public education financing bill. The House version of the budget includes a state employee pay raise proposal, as well as pay raises for state law enforcement, judges and others, all of which are included in Article XI of the budget, which is the “wish list” portion of the bill (this means it is not yet funded). To read the complete House Appropriations Committee Pay Raise Proposal article, visit the TPEA web site. Return to the Table of Contents. Update on Health Insurance Issues TPEA appears to have been successful, thus far, in both the House and the Senate in blocking virtually all of the cost-shifting recommendations regarding employee and retiree health insurance contained in the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) Performance Review report released in January. If approved, the LBB recommendations would shift, in the aggregate, hundreds of millions of dollars in health care costs onto active and retired state employees. Under the leadership of Senator Tommy Williams, the Senate has maintained the current contribution policy for employee and retiree health insurance premiums and is not supporting any increased co-payments or other out-of-pocket costs. In the Texas House, a last-minute effort was made to incorporate two of the LBB cost-shifting proposals into the House version of the budget. These were the proposals to force Medicare-eligible retirees to utilize the new Medicare Part D drug plan, rather than the current ERS drug program, and the tiered coinsurance plan that would force ERS participants with higher medical expenses to pay up to $5000 annually in coinsurance, which is currently capped at $1000 annually. TPEA appreciates the efforts of Representatives Joe Pickett (D, El Paso) and Warren Chisum (R, Pampa) to prevent inclusion of these two cost-shifting proposals into the House version of the budget. Return to the Table of Contents. The omnibus bills affecting ERS have been filed in both the House and the Senate, these are HB 2617 by Rep. Eiland (D, Galveston) and SB 1176 by Senator Armbrister (D, Victoria). Among the bills’ provisions are: an increase in the interest rate for purchase of prior service credit from 5 percent to 10 percent; a reduction in the number of months that can be purchased as additional service credit, sometimes called air time, from 60 months to 36 months; repealing the ability to have any Texas Governmental Entity service used for retirement eligibility; and, making permanent the 90 day delay in retirement contributions for new employees. Historically, the ERS omnibus bill has been the vehicle to enhance retiree annuities or provide other benefit increases for retirees. TPEA believes some of the changes in the omnibus bills will improve the actuarial status of the ERS retirement fund and this should accelerate the time at which ERS could again grant 13th checks for retirees or otherwise increase retiree benefits. Thus far, no legislation has been introduced to change the “rule of 80” retirement standard. But this change could be amended into the ERS omnibus bills, or it could be added in other legislation. TPEA is also aware of discussions on changing how annual and sick leave are used to speed up retirement eligibility, but these provisions have not been included in any legislation to date. TPEA is closely monitoring these issues. Return to the Table of Contents. Return to work retiree issues—Five bills contain provisions that would implement the LBB recommendations to make return to work (RTW) retirees ineligible for longevity and benefit replacement pay and reduce annual leave accrual rates as if the RTW employee were a new employee. HB 2416, HB 2773, HB 2976, SB 1574 and SB 1609 contain these provisions. TPEA has suggested that these changes be made prospective, but the bills as drafted would take these payments away from current RTW retirees, as well as future retirees. SB 1649 by Sen. Staples (R, Palestine) would require RTW retirees under both ERS and TRS to contribute 6 percent of their pay to the retirement fund, but retirees would receive no benefit from this contribution. Alternative health plans for state employees—Legislation has been filed in both the House and the Senate to create consumer controlled health plans that are combination of portable tax-advantaged savings accounts and some type of related health coverage. HB 1313 by Rep. Chisum (R, Pampa) and SB 1269 by Sen. Deuell (R, Greenville) are identical bills that would require all new employees under the ERS health plan to utilize a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) after September 1, 2006. Current employees would have the option of participating in the HRA plan. HB 1795 by Rep. Crownover (R, Lake Dallas) and SB 562 by Sen. Janek (R, Houston) would create an optional health savings account plan with a related high deductible healthcare plan. Longevity and Hazardous Duty Increases—Legislation has been filed in both the House and the Senate to increase longevity and hazardous duty pay as part of TPEA’s pay raise proposal. HB 3008 Rep. Pickett and SB 1567 by Sen. Williams would change the statute governing these benefits to comport with the funding decisions in the appropriations bill. Return to the Table of Contents. TPEA Professional Development Conference TPEA is hard at work planning an exciting program for the 2005 Annual Meeting. While we are in the For additional information view the TPEA Professional Development Conference flyer. Return to the Table of Contents. |
Sign Up with An Email Address Outside of the Office TPEA has been building a new list of email addresses – ones that don’t go to State computers or workplaces and instead to home and web-based email accounts. Because you are receiving this email, we invite you to join the new list. Signing up will ensure that TPEA can keep you up-to-date on all issues concerning Texas State Employees. Register your home or web-based email address. If you are agency IT staff and need to contact TPEA about technical issues regarding this email, please contact the E-mail Administrator. If you do not wish to remain on this list, you can unsubscribe by following the instructions at the end of this email. This message was sent by: |