We havebegun our campaign to make 2023 the year we FINALLY receive the COLA we have been asking for. And we will not take NO for an answer. Our first effort was at
our September meeting where we invited incumbents and candidates to speak. A
significant number of the legislators who attended were Democrats and were
ultimately not elected. Below you can see the names of those who won their
legislative race on Nov. 8th. All of the names with an asteriskeither attended in person or sent a representative to that meeting. Let’s thank them.
Senators
Legislator/Party/District
Brandon Creighton R 4
Carol Alvarado D 6
Paul Bettancourt R 7
Mayes Middleton R 11
Borris Miles R 13
John Whitmire* D 15
Joan Huffman* R 17
Lois Kolkhurst R 18
Representatives
Legislator/Party/District
Teresa Leo-Wilson R 23
Greg Bonnen R 24
Cody Vasut R 25
Jacey Jetton R 26
Ron Reynolds D 27
Gary Gates R 28
Ed Thompson R 29
Suleman Lalani* D 76
Stan Kitzman R 85
E. Sam Harless R 126
Charles Cunningham* R 127
Briscoe Cain R 128
Dennis Paul R 129
Alma Allen D 131
Mike Schofield R 132
Mano Deayala R 133
Ann Johnson D 134
Jon Rosenthal* D 135
Gene Wu D 137
Lacey Hull R 138
Jarvis Johnson* D 139
Armando Walle D 140
Senfronia Thompson D 141
Harold Dutton Jr. D 142
Ana Hernandez D 143
Mary Ann Perez D 144
Christina Morales D 145
Shawn Thierry D 146
Jolanda Jones D 147
Penny Morales Shaw* D 148
Hubert Vo D 149
Valoree Swanson R 150
Our nexttask is to contact our legislators and remind them about our agenda. Thank them
for attending our event if they did. They want to hear from their constituents.
Congratulate them for winning. Tell them your story and why it is so important
to get this economic boost. Our agenda is:
TRTA STATE ISSUES
(1) Support a COLA for TRS Retirees
(2) Preserve the traditionalDefined Benefit Retirement Plan
(3) Fund the TRS Pension Fund
(4) Protect TRS-Care
TRTA FEDERAL ISSUES
ACTION ITEM: Ensure earned Social Security benefits are paid toretirees
● Reform WEP and GPO currentformulas that unfairly penalize Texas retired educators
● Retirees’traditional supplemental income has been impacted by pandemic (substitute
teaching, bus driving)
● Prevent mandatory Social Securityas a resolution to the inequity of WEP and GPO
How do I contact my legislator?
Tell them we have had no COLA since 2004 while those who received Social Security received a40 % increase during that time period. This is not right! Speak up!.
