The Texas House and Senate passed resolutions today recognizing the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems for its 30 years of educational and legislative advocacy for the pension plans relied on by cities, counties and special districts for their public employees.
Rep. John Wray, R-Waxahachie, sponsored House Resolution 64 and Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, sponsored its Senate companion.
HR 64 recognizes TEXPERS’ role in assisting pension systems to deliver retirement security for police officers, firefighters, and municipal employees, as well as employees at airport and water district authorities, hospital districts and community colleges.
HR 64 notes the importance pension funds have on the Texas economy, acknowledging that retiree spending of pension earnings creates a $29 billion stimulus and $4.4 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue. The “Pensionomic” benefits of Texas and other states’ pensions was recently identified in a report by the National Institute on Retirement Security.
“Public employees play a critical role in the operations of cities and counties in our state. In particular, when we call on them to respond during natural disasters such as fire, flood, or other disasters, they take care of us. For 30 years, TEXPERS has been taking care of them by supporting and assisting our public pension systems," Wray said.
TEXPERS Board President Paul Brown said the association values this gesture of appreciation for its work educating pension system trustees and administrators about creating sustainable benefit plans and maximizing investment opportunities.
“Our research confirms that Texas pension systems have achieved ever greater financial health in each year following the financial downturn of 2009,” Brown said. “This is a testament to the hard work of our member systems, and it is certainly nice for all of us to be recognized in this manner by the Legislature.”
The resolution was passed with more than 50 TEXPERS members on hand in Austin for legislative outreach training sponsored by TEXPERS as part of the educational programming and advocacy work it does to support secure retirement for active and retired public employees.