00               CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 30(STA) am                                                             
01 Relating to supporting the repeal of the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall                                     
02 Elimination Provisions from the Social Security Act.                                                                    
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the retirement systems established by the state for public employees are                                
05 independent of the federal social security system; and                                                                  
06       WHEREAS Alaska's teachers and most public employees do not participate in the                                   
07 federal social security system while performing public service; and                                                     
08       WHEREAS the Social Security Act includes two offsets, the Government Pension                                    
09 Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision, that reduce the social security benefits payable                         
10 to persons earned in the private sector or from other public retirement systems under certain                           
11 conditions; and                                                                                                         
12       WHEREAS educators and many other public employees in Alaska who earn a                                          
13 pension from working for a government agency incur substantial reductions in their earned                               
14 social security benefits as surviving spouses through their spouses' social security eligibility                        
15 under the Government Pension Offset or from employment for which they paid into social                                  
16 security from the Windfall Elimination Provision; and                                                                   

01       WHEREAS the Social Security Act offsets discourage individuals with private sector                              
02 or military service from seeking teaching and other public employment positions in Alaska;                              
03 and                                                                                                                     
04       WHEREAS the recruitment of teachers from other states who have earned social                                    
05 security benefits from other jobs is also undermined by these federal offsets; and                                      
06       WHEREAS teachers have left Alaska upon learning about these offsets in order to                                 
07 avoid losing social security benefits; and                                                                              
08       WHEREAS the Alaska economy is also harmed by these social security offsets due to                               
09 millions of dollars in lost benefits; and                                                                               
10       WHEREAS legislation to remedy the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall                                    
11 Elimination Provision has been introduced in the 108th United States Congress by a bipartisan                           
12 group of legislators and cosponsored by a large number of other legislators;                                            
13       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests the Alaska                                            
14 Congressional delegation to sign on as cosponsors to current federal legislation and support                            
15 the repeal of the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision.                                     
16       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
17 of the United States; the Honorable Tommy Thompson, United States Secretary of Health and                               
18 Human Services; the Honorable Rod Paige, United States Secretary of Education; the                                      
19 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable                                
20 Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.