Legislative Report #3, 2005

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LEGISLATIVE REPORT #3

March 30, 2005

J. Pat Thompson
Deputy Director

Pension funds under attack

Your calls and emails are desperately needed!

FACED WITH a self-inflicted deficit, the State is currently mulling over how much money to divert from your pension fund to balance its budget.

Governor Gregoire takes a whopping $524 million out of the system through a series of schemes that ignores current debt and keeps both employer and employee contributions artificially low. It’s important to bear in mind that these costs must be repaid eventually so no real savings are achieved under the budget; it simply pushes unavoidable cost into the future.

This type of budgeting is not only shortsighted; it digs a hole that becomes so deep our attempts to improve benefits in the future will be much more difficult.

The Senate has just released its version of the budget and it, too, falls short of properly funding the pension programs. Although not as severe as the Governor’s budget, it shaves $328 million away from the pension system but only from the rates the employer is required to pay.

Please call and email your Senator and Representatives Immediately.

THE MESSAGE:
“Don’t raid our Pension Fund. Please support the Select Committee on Pension Policy House Bill 1324 and Senate Bill 5246.”

If you don’t know what district you are from, go to http://www.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx and enter your address.

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