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The Texas Public Employees Association is the oldest and largest state employee group. As a non-partisan, non-union association, TPEA is the leading advocate for ALL state employees and retirees before the Texas Legislature.
Conference Committee continues to meet on HB 1 / Update on Health Insurance Plan
The ten-member Conference Committee on House Bill 1, the appropriations bill, continues to meet in order to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. A variety of logistical and procedural deadlines mean that an agreement on all parts of the budget will need to occur this week, or the legislature will need to return in Special Session. If legislators do not workout the huge differences in funding levels between the House and the Senate on a number of issues, a special session will be necessary.
TPEA continues to work with key legislators in order to preserve the affordability of the ERS health plan, for employees, retirees and their dependents.
Though no agreement has been announced, TPEA continues to be hopeful that the current contribution structure for health insurance will be preserved.
TPEA continues to hear that some legislators want employees and retirees to have “skin in the game on their health coverage”, that employees and retirees be required to pay more for their coverage. TPEA has been diplomatically reminding legislative leaders that employees and retirees are already paying approximately 28% of the total cost of the health plan through co-payments, coinsurance and dependent premium contributions. In addition, last summer ERS shifted costs to employees to the tune of $142 million a year in the form of higher co-pays and co-insurance.
Key legislative leaders on the conference committee such as Senators Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), Steve Ogden (R-Bryan), and Representative John Otto (R – Dayton) and Jim Pitts (R – Waxahachie) continue to work towards preserving affordable employee and retiree health insurance during the next biennium. They recognize that state government has been required to operate efficiently, and there has been only a three percent growth in the state workforce over the past decade while the population grew more than 21%. In addition, state employee pay is already 15 to 20 percent below what other private and public employers pay for comparable work, on average.
TPEA continues to make the case that significant cost increases for ERS health insurance would make it unaffordable for many state employees and retirees and could cause a major exodus of workers as the economy continues to improve.
TPEA will continue to keep you informed on any developments and will notify you of the details as soon an agreement on employee and retiree health insurance has been made public.
Bills Abolishing Longevity Pay Appear Dead
The two bills that attempted to abolish longevity pay, HB 2954 and HB 3168, were never approved by the Texas House before the May 12 deadline for approval of House bills. While it is always possible to try to resurrect legislation by attaching it to other bills as an amendment, the Senate voted down a proposal to suspend longevity pay.
Continue to Stay Informed by Signing Up Now
Due to legislative restrictions, TPEA cannot send full advocacy information to state email addresses. In order to continue to stay up to date about the latest developments in legislation affecting state employees and retirees during the 2011 session, go to http://www.tpea.org and sign up with your home email address now. You can also follow our twitter feed.