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The following email was sent you on April 21.  If you have not already done so, please contact the Senate now!  things are moving quickly.  Two weeks left until the end of Legislative Session.  THANK YOU! 
April 21st Email:
The 2016 Legislative Session will end at 6:00 pm, May 13th
ONLY THREE WEEKS LEFT! CALL TO ACTION
 
NOW is the time to show the strength of MRTA. Write your Senator today. We need thousands of e-mails to the Senate!
 
As of the writing of this e-mail, the PSRS/PEERS systems have had a 0% return on investment. The stock market has not been good.  There are three bills in the Senate that MRTA supports. These bills will help make our retirement system fundamentally more sound.  Please write your Missouri State Senator today asking for the support and passage of: 
  • HB 1709 - Divorce "pop-up" reform.
  • HB 1710 - Kelly Services, requires all retirees to conform to the the 550 hour Work After Retirement (WAR) Law whether working for an employment service company or not. This will ensure contribution payments to the system from active employees and from the school district. 29% total contribution of payroll.   
  • HB 1780/HB 1420 - reinstating the 2.55 benefit factor after 31 years of service. This bill saves the system approximately $7 million per year. 
All three of these bills are in Senator David Pearce's Committee on Education, david.pearce@senate.mo.gov.   Please drop him a note of thanks and ask him to push these bills to passage.
 
Please also voice your opposition to SB 1059 (Senator Schaaf) and HB 2314 (Rep Leara) dealing with Saint Louis City Teacher retirement benefits to your Senator. This is a very bad piece of legislation as it reduces the retirement benefit for active working teachers while raising their contribution rate at the same time. This bill will set a very bad precedent for PSRS/PEERS if it is  allowed to pass. The active educators of Saint Louis City need our support. 

To add insult to injury, there has been no discussion to a resolution of a COLA for Saint Louis City Retirees who have not had a COLA since 2006. If they were serious about reforming the Saint Louis City retirement system they would discuss putting an automatic COLA in to law for Saint Louis City Teachers, especially if they are asked to pay more and get less benefit. OUTRAGEOUS! This bill must be defeated.
 
Suggested note for you to copy and paste into your email:
 
Dear Senator xxx
 
As a voter, taxpayer, and MRTA member in your district please support and vote for HB 1709 (divorce), HB 1710 (employment services) and HB 1780/HB 1420 (2.55 after 31 years). These three bills deal with positive reforms for the PSRS/PEERS retirement systems. It is anticipated that these bills will soon be on the Senate calendar for debate. They will be coming out of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Pearce Chairman.
 
I also ask your opposition to SB 1059 (Senator Schaaf) same as HB 2314 (Rep Leara) in the House. We are adamantly opposed to a reduction of benefits for Saint Louis City teachers while at the same time requiring more contributions from them to the system. This is a mid-career change in benefits and sets a terrible precedent for all public school educators.
 
THANK YOU for your time and attention to this correspondence.
 
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