Urgent Help Needed

From Your Indiana Retired Teachers Association Lobbying Team

WE URGENTLY NEED THE HELP OF EVERY MEMBER AND FRIEND OF RETIRED EDUCATORS!

Dear Member,

We have worked very hard to try to get a COLA for our retirees during the current legislative session. THE HOUSE BUDGET HAS A COLA IN IT! Because the Senate Appropriations Committee REFUSED to put ANYTHING for retirees into their budget, we are now faced with trying to get enough support to get a “13th check” or “stipend” that could be included in the budget when the House and Senate meet in conference to reconcile the two bills. We have only a few days to make our point. We have not had a COLA for seven years now, but at least an increased “13th check” would be helpful to those 14,000 retired teachers who get $1,000 or LESS in the monthly pension.

Please---contact your senator and your representative to ask them to support an increased “13th check!” Even if you’ve contacted them before, please do so again. We need a tidal wave of messages!

Remind them of what local business you can no longer support because you have lost 13% of your purchasing power.
Ask your children, your friends, and your neighbors to contact them.

Senators can be reached in the following ways:
S__@in.gov (Put their Senate district number in the blank after “S.”) OR

The Honorable _____________ (Or home address if known.)
200 W. Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Representatives can be reached by
H__@in.gov (put their House district number in the blank after the “H.”) OR

The Honorable ______________ (Or home address if known.)
200 W. Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204

To find your legislators: Go to the web site “Indiana General Assembly.” Scroll down to the tab at the bottom of the screen that says, “Find your legislator.” Put in your address and it will tell you. OR call our toll-free number: 1-800-454-9333 and ask us to help you find it.

Click HERE TO FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR.

Thank you for your help!
Nancy Tolson, Tom Mellish, Steve Beebe

April 16 AREA Meeting

Dear Allen County Retired Educators:

April is around the corner! It’s time to get together with our AREA friends! The date for this is Thursday, April 16, 2015, at Ziano’s Restaurant, 10520 Maysville Road.

Please check in so that the meeting can start at 11:00 A.M. promptly.

RESERVATIONS: Please make your reservation with Mary Jo Purvis at least one week before the meeting: 493-4263 or mpurvis1@frontier.com

The cost is $15.00, which can be paid at the meeting.

THE MENU: breadsticks; choice of house or Caesar salad; choice of lasagna, fettucine alfredo with chicken or shrimp, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken marsala, tilapia and angel hair pasta; choice of coffee, tea, or soft drink. Anyone who has special dietary needs should speak with your meal server to substitute within our budget.

FREE lunch to 2014 Retired Educators who have not attended any prior AREA meetings. TWO-FOR-ONE deal for Members who bring a non-member retired principal or teacher. Be sure to inform Mary Jo with your reservation.

PROGRAM: Scheduled speaker could not attend. Speaker will be AREA’s own Pam George, membership chairman. She will present a Power Point about her three week mission trip to Kenya, Africa last fall. Her trip provided a variety of wonderful experiences.

EYEGLASSES: Ed DeLong will be collecting old eyeglasses for Lion’s Club, as at all meetings!

THE IRTA REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY will be held Wednesday, June 17, 2015, at Primo South in Indianapolis. Please consider attending. It is very informative and costs you nothing! More information later, but put it on your calendar!

IRTA MEMBERSHIP – Have you joined? IRTA needs you! Contact Pam George.

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Legislative Bulletin #8

After the chaos of the past week, the legislators have gone home until Tuesday.  We are still meeting and talking, but our chance of getting a COLA faded this week when we were told that HB 1481 would not be heard.

Sad to say, one legislator stands between us and a COLA!

 

HOWEVER: it isn’t over until the last gavel bangs and they go home for the summer.  We do know that there are House members who still want us to get some help.  Therefore, we are talking to them to say that if all we can get is the so-called, “13^th check,” it needs to be larger, but even more importantly, it needs to help those on the lower end who get so little in their monthly pension.

 

As you talk to legislators over the next week or two, please remind them that our latest figures from INPRS show that over 14,000 retired teachers get less than $1,000 monthly.  That isn’t a pension to allow for many luxuries!

 

We still feel that many of the members of the House truly want to get something done, be it a COLA or the “13^th check.”   We will be working with some friends in the Senate in the coming days to see what can be done.

 

Perhaps it is simply from the tension and stress that has been evident over the past days that makes me feel pessimistic, but I have to tell you that I do not see a COLA in the future until and unless there is no longer a “Super Majority” in the legislature.  I hope I am wrong, but Tom is going to have battles to fight next year and longer, so all we can do is help him in any way he asks.

 

I do want to tell you that I feel very good about one thing—I asked you to contact Senator Long, and according to his administrative assistant, he got “lots” of letters and emails.

Thank you for doing your part!  And please do not feel that it didn’t matter.  It does matter; it is simply that the system is rigged against us for the time being.

 

Please continue to write and email, and if one of your legislators tells you he or she is for the COLA or for some form of help, especially if it is a Republican, ask them to please speak for us in their caucus.  That is where most of the decisions are made!  We are actively trying to find some voices in that caucus who will support us.  We have a few, but need more to speak up to those who control it. 

 

As we know more, we will keep you updated.

 

Nancy