2018 Indiana General Assembly Passes SB 373 Unanimously
BARTA Members Lobbied for the bill, February 21
Pension supplemental allowance reserve accounts have become law in Indiana. Receiving a unanimous thumbs up in both the Senate and the House, SB 373, a move to stabilize and provide supplemental benefits to public employees' pension plans passed the Indiana Legislature March 7. Read on below.
BARTA members Joyce Heckman and John Quick confer with Tom Mellish, Executive Director of IRTA about SB 373.
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Chief IRTA lobbyist Steve Beebe (right) works to bring about legislation to favor IRTA interests.
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LOBBYING AT THE STATE LEGISLATURE: BARTA members Joyce Heckman and John Quick lobbied for the passage of SB 373 bill at the IRTA Legislative Brunch, Feb. 21. Speaking with author of the bill, Senator Greg Walker, and House Minority leader, Terry Goodin, our members thanked Senator Walker for his work on the bill and discussed the need for the passage of the bill with Terry Goodin. Both legislators spoke positively about the need to bring some order into funding supplemental benefits for PERF, EGC and TRF (all now combined as INPRS). Heckman and Quick also requested meetings with House members Milo Smith and Sean Eberhart. Neither were able to meet with them at that time.
THE DETAILS OF SB 373: The purpose of SB 373 is to provide for paying postretirement benefit increases, thirteenth checks, and other benefit changes or adjustments granted by the general assembly after June 30, 2018. (Note: originally the bill used the term COLA rather than "other benefit changes.") Funding after June 30, will come through the state lottery commission which will transfer each quarter $7,500,000 of the surplus revenue from the commission's administrative trust fund to the Indiana public retirement system (INPRS), eventually landing in one or more of the reserve accounts as allocated by the INPRS board of trustees. The allocated $35 million is estimated by IRTA to be about the amount needed to fund a thirteenth check. For more details about this bill, go to
https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2018/bills/senate/373#document-98269341 .
THE DETAILS OF SB 373: The purpose of SB 373 is to provide for paying postretirement benefit increases, thirteenth checks, and other benefit changes or adjustments granted by the general assembly after June 30, 2018. (Note: originally the bill used the term COLA rather than "other benefit changes.") Funding after June 30, will come through the state lottery commission which will transfer each quarter $7,500,000 of the surplus revenue from the commission's administrative trust fund to the Indiana public retirement system (INPRS), eventually landing in one or more of the reserve accounts as allocated by the INPRS board of trustees. The allocated $35 million is estimated by IRTA to be about the amount needed to fund a thirteenth check. For more details about this bill, go to
https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2018/bills/senate/373#document-98269341 .
Do you Know someone who needs a Helping hand?
A HAND UP program aids retired teachers
Retired teachers, especially those very elderly recipients of particularly small pensions, may find meeting the cost of unexpected expenses quite difficult. A Hand Up program provides $1000 grants to IRTA members who are facing short term financial emergencies. During its first nine months of life, A Hand Up has awarded $3500 in four grants to our members. For more information and applications go to https://www.retiredteachers.org/foundation .
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Irta Foundation has sCHOLARSHIPs FOR fUTURE tEACHERS
BARTA's parent organization, Indiana Retired Teachers Association and its Foundation, supports its members and their families by sponsoring a minimum of ten scholarships per year for Indiana college students. Sophomore and junior education majors who are children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, legal dependents, or spouses of active IRTA members may apply for a $2000 scholarship by June 30. A minimum of one scholarship in each of the ten IRTA areas will be awarded annually. For information use this link: http://www.retiredteachers.org/foundation .