Retirement bill to be heard in House committee TODAY!

The latest version of SB 1040—legislation that attacks school employee retirement benefits—will be taken up TODAY by the House Appropriations Committee at 9 am this morning (MONDAY). According to sources in the House, their goal is to pass it WITH CHANGES and send it back to the Senate by FRIDAY!!!

Here are the elements of the SB 1040 passed by the Senate last week:

· New public school employees hired after July 1, 2012 sill be forced into a 401K
contribution plan, effectively stripping them of a pension.

· Current employees who are in the basic plan will be paying 5 percent to maintain the
1.5% multiplier.

· Current employees who are in the MIP plan will see their payments increase to 8 percent
(from 3.8 or 4.2) to retain the 1.5% multiplier.

· To avoid the higher costs in the future, employees can take a smaller multiplier (1.25%)
or move into a 401K plan.

· Final average compensation will be capped at $100,000 (probably more of a worry for
administrators).

· The bill puts “merit pay” back into the final average compensation figures.

· TheSenate set a new effective date to be July 31, 2012.

· They eliminated the graded premium for health care and eliminated the requirement of
being 60 years old to receive health care.

· CURRENT and FUTURE retirees will see their health insurance premiums double since SB
1040 burdens them with a 20 percent cost, an increase from the current 10
percent.

Please WRITE or CALL your REPRESENTATIVE in the HOUSE.

Click on the following link for an EASY way to email your House Representative - CLICK HERE

TALKING POINTS - USE ALL OR PICK THE ONES YOU WANT TO USE!!!!

• Tell your House representative that these laws are punitive and they break the promises made to you by the State of Michigan regarding your retirement.
• This bill does NOT solve the funding problem for MPSERS! These bills only kick the problem down the road. When future employees no longer contribute to the fund, the state will have an even larger funding problem!
  

• Tell your House representative that charging employees from 8 to 11% of their salaries, as well as paying 20% toward your insurance, while inhibiting what can be counted toward your Final Average Compensation is punitive and serves no other purpose.

• Tell your House representative that charging employees from 8 to 11 % of their salaries, as well as paying 20% toward their insurance costs, will seriously inhibit your ability to provide for your families and save your own money toward future retirement.

• Tell your House representative they are punishing your families and inhibiting your ability to provide a college education to allow them to become productive adult citizens of Michigan.
• Students considering future careers have no reason to pick teaching - the constant attacks have made the profession unattractive. There is no hope for earning a wage that will allow them to leave comfortably or have adequate funds for their retirement and health care!