ATTENTION APSCURF MEMBERS!
CLICK HERE FOR OUR COLA FACT SHEET
Important
information regarding COLA efforts
Many state
workers and public employees are wondering about
Where is my COLA?
Many organizations
and individuals are asking the question, when will the COLA be passed. This is a difficult question to answer
because of the current political environment.
This website has been created to provide you with information regarding
COLAs and to inform you of potential pension issues facing the Commonwealth
that have prevented the COLA from its deserved attention.
It will be very
important for you to discuss your personal needs for a COLA with your local
legislator. It will also be wise to form
local coalitions, working with others seeking a COLA, in your community.
Please take action to visit, write or
call your legislators. You don’t have to advocate for a specific COLA
bill. Simply ask for a COLA.
The following links will provide you with guidance, information and assistance on how, by collective efforts,
a COLA can be granted by the state legislature.
COLA Legislation
House Bill 1970
Introduced by Rep. Peter J. Daley (D) on September 22, 2009, amends Titles 24 (Education) & 71 (State Government) providing for supplemental annuities commencing 2010. Legislation is similar to Steve Nickol’s COLA legislation introduced in 2008 (HB 2379). The legislation currently has 48 co-sponsors.
The COLA Coalition has been meeting regularly in anticipation for the introduction of HB 1970 and the task of state pension reform. The COLA Coalition will be planning a spring lobby day event, as the legislature may take up the issue of the pension spike and reform in the 2010-11 budget.
* COLA COALITION'S THANK YOU LETTER TO HB1970 CO-SPONSORS
House Bill 32
Introduced by Rep. Peter Daley on May 4, 2009, amends Titles 24 (Education) and 71 (State Government) providing for permanent cost-of-living increases in return for additional contributions in the amount of one percent. Referred to House Education.
House Bill 888
Introduced by Rep Benninghoff. Amends Titles 24 (Education) and 71 (State Government) providing for supplemental annuities commencing 2009 that are calculated based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI- U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland area, for the most recent 12-month period for which figures have been officially reported by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, immediately prior to the date the adjustment is due to take effect, to the then-current annuity amount. The additional monthly supplemental annuities shall be paid automatically unless the intended recipient files a written notice with the system requesting that the additional monthly supplemental annuities not be paid. The additional liability for the increase in benefits shall be funded in equal dollar annual installments over a period of 20 years beginning July 1, 2010. Introduced and referred to House Finance on March 12, 2009
Senate Finance Committee Meeting - 1/27/2010
- Testimony by Don Mayer, APSCURF
- Testimony by Sue Houghton, PSEA-Retired
- Summary of the meeting by Pennsylvania Legislative Service
Senate Finance Committee Meeting - 1/16/2010
- Testimony by PSEA President Jim Testerman
- SERS & PSERS testimony
- PSBA testimony
- Summary of the meeting by Pennsylvania Legislative Service
To review summaries of previous COLA legislation, available on the
SERS website, please click here.
Lobbying and advocating for a COLA
To find out how to be an advocate for COLA, please click here.
“10 Reminders for legislators regarding
COLAs.”
Click
below to view a letter to legislators (names have been taken
out.) Please use this sample as
a template for your own writing campaign.
For every letter, phone call and/or personal visit to a legislator’s
office you do, APSCUF's Laura Saccente will follow-up with the same message once you make me aware of
the legislator(s) you are targeting.
Please let Ms. Saccente know of your work and additional letters can be posted for
retirees to review. Send an email message to lsaccente@apscuf.org.
COLA Coalition letter to legislators
Contact your legislator
To find out
your State Senator and/or State Representative, use the APSCUF Zipsticker:
APSCURF members may also request the legislative directory that
provides
contact information for all members of the General Assembly. Please email
lsaccente@apscuf.org or call
(717) 236-7486 ext 3026, for a copy.
On the Internet, locate your legislators at www.legis.state.pa.us
To contact Governor Rendell about support for a COLA, use the
following
address:
Governor
Edward G. Rendell
225 Main Capitol Building
History of COLAs in
Click to
read a History
of COLAs by the Pennsylvania State Employees
Retirement System (SERS)
To read the “background on COLAs in
COLA Coalition
Want to know
Minutes from COLA Coalition Meetings
Publications and links
Click to read “Funding
Cost-of-Living-Adjustments” a document by the
Click to read the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee’s report on
the
potential
costs and impacts of legislation pertaining to early retirement incentives and
cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) for state and public school employees as
directed by House Resolution 299 of 2005.
The study looked at House Bill 131, which would have provided annual
COLAs to annuitants based on the Consumer Price Index.
Feedback and Comments
Click to fill out the COLA Feedback Form to provide information on
COLAs—whether its additional talking points, legislative updates, comments
about legislators either supporting or opposing COLAs, news articles, etc.—It’s
up to you to fill this page. You may
post requests to join others in your area on COLA efforts. You can post letters you’ve written about
COLAs, you can share editorial opinions.
Send me all of your material.
This will be an interactive link that will be posted after it is
submitted. It will be very important to
interact with each other and share progress and/or concerns. If you don’t want to use the “COLA Feedback Form” to submit the material, you may
email it to lsaccente@apscuf.org or fax
(717) 236-1883.
If you need to mail
material, please mail to:
Laura Saccente
Associate Director of
Governmental Relations
APSCUF