Weekly/Daily Legislative Report

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Charlie Roberts
4/6/09

In my last UPDATE I stated that a FINAL UPDATE would be written but not this week. From the calls and emails I should have given a reason. Legislative Bills and Resolutions passed in the closing days of a session does not always read the way they are proposed. Most have amendments ( Piggybacks ) which completely change function of the bill. I want to study legislation when it is printed AS PASSED so that you will know what the Governor signs or rejects.

As retired educators, we knew these were Tough Times and that we would have limited opportunity to seek additional funding. Our Legislative Committee set our objectives to protect our benefits and health care. We may not like the changes but we still have both. TRS was given the chance through investment (if the Governor signs in to law ) to rebuild our lost revenue. GREA strongly supported this bill and was commended on the floor of the Senate for our support. GREA is listed among the Education Advocates at the Capitol and thanks to our local efforts we enhanced our position during an extremely rough session.

The Gold Dome Group will meet next week to review and discuss the passed legislation and I will file a FINAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE for GREA.

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