88(R) SCR 28 - Enrolled version - Bill Text

	S.C.R.  No.  28

	SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Social Security is the foundation for retirement for
	tens of millions of American workers and their families, with many
	reporting that they rely on the program as their sole source of
	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; nearly three-quarters of
	beneficiaries 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 more than $500 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; as of December 2018, more than two
	million government employees and retirees had been affected by
	either the GPO or the WEP or both, and the repercussions have been
	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 88th 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.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I hereby certify that S.C.R.  No.  28 was adopted by the Senate
	on April  3,  2023, by a viva-voce vote.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate