Short Notice but an Important One...

[FD Bro']

Original document with working links: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...thkey=COPt_III

135 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32301 · 850-224-6926 · FAX 850-224-2266 · http://www.flaflcio.org
ALL HANDS ON DECK!

THE FIRST SHOWDOWN OF 2011 IS HERE!

JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE OR BY PHONE

Tell your legislators:

“DON’T BALANCE THE BUDGET ON THE BACKS OF

FLORIDA’S PUBLIC WORKERS”

The Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee has been holding hearings over the past few weeks concerning radical changes to Florida’s public pension systems, both the FRS and local plans. In spite of the fact that all of the information indicates our pension systems are strong and contributing to our overall economy, some seem determined to continue a dangerous course. This Friday, February 18th at 8:00 AM they are holding a public hearing on pensions in Tallahassee. All workers and retirees are needed to contact your elected officials and tell them to leave our public sector pensions alone!

Florida’s budget is facing an over $3.5 billion deficit yet they are still talking about tax cuts for the wealthy and eliminating all corporate taxes! In order to pay for those tax cuts, they want to raid our pension systems which are some of the strongest in the nation.
Legislators want to force public sector employees to pay 5% toward their pension contributions, amounting to a new income tax on our teachers, firefighters, police officers, state and local government workers. Public servants who have sacrificed raises over the past few years to balance state and local budgets and are paid at levels below their private sector counterparts.
Closing the Defined Benefit plan for all new hires, forcing them into risky 401k plans where Wall Street will gamble with our tax dollars. Forcing all new hires into defined contribution plans will cost all taxpayers $150 million the first year, $300 million the second, $450 million the third and so on until 2018!


JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE TO SPEAK OUT ON THIS FIRST ATTACK ON FLORIDA’S WORKERS!

If you can travel to Tallahassee, please contact Phyllis Garrett at pgarett@flaflcio.org

If not

CALL YOUR LEGISALTORS ON THE COMMITTEE AND TELL THEM TO STOP ATTACKING OUR PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS AND THEIR RETIREMENT SECURITY. CLICK HERE FOR THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS’ CONTACT INFORMATION.

CALL DON’T EMAIL



We need all private sector workers to stand in solidarity with our public counterparts, this is just the first attack of many this session…when they come for you your public sector brothers and sisters will be there!



FD Bro'

Hey FD Bro, we are covered by the city not the state retirement. Why do you keep bringing crap to this board that is irrelevant?

Original document with working links: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...thkey=COPt_III

135 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32301 · 850-224-6926 · FAX 850-224-2266 · http://www.flaflcio.org
ALL HANDS ON DECK!

THE FIRST SHOWDOWN OF 2011 IS HERE!

JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE OR BY PHONE

Tell your legislators:

“DON’T BALANCE THE BUDGET ON THE BACKS OF

FLORIDA’S PUBLIC WORKERS”

The Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee has been holding hearings over the past few weeks concerning radical changes to Florida’s public pension systems, both the FRS and local plans. In spite of the fact that all of the information indicates our pension systems are strong and contributing to our overall economy, some seem determined to continue a dangerous course. This Friday, February 18th at 8:00 AM they are holding a public hearing on pensions in Tallahassee. All workers and retirees are needed to contact your elected officials and tell them to leave our public sector pensions alone!

Florida’s budget is facing an over $3.5 billion deficit yet they are still talking about tax cuts for the wealthy and eliminating all corporate taxes! In order to pay for those tax cuts, they want to raid our pension systems which are some of the strongest in the nation.
Legislators want to force public sector employees to pay 5% toward their pension contributions, amounting to a new income tax on our teachers, firefighters, police officers, state and local government workers. Public servants who have sacrificed raises over the past few years to balance state and local budgets and are paid at levels below their private sector counterparts.
Closing the Defined Benefit plan for all new hires, forcing them into risky 401k plans where Wall Street will gamble with our tax dollars. Forcing all new hires into defined contribution plans will cost all taxpayers $150 million the first year, $300 million the second, $450 million the third and so on until 2018!


JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE TO SPEAK OUT ON THIS FIRST ATTACK ON FLORIDA’S WORKERS!

If you can travel to Tallahassee, please contact Phyllis Garrett at pgarett@flaflcio.org

If not

CALL YOUR LEGISALTORS ON THE COMMITTEE AND TELL THEM TO STOP ATTACKING OUR PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS AND THEIR RETIREMENT SECURITY. CLICK HERE FOR THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS’ CONTACT INFORMATION.

CALL DON’T EMAIL



We need all private sector workers to stand in solidarity with our public counterparts, this is just the first attack of many this session…when they come for you your public sector brothers and sisters will be there!



FD Bro'

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP YOU ARE. WHINE, WHINE, AND WHINE WHILE YOU CONTINUE TO BE OVERPAID FOR WHAT-- OH, YES, SLEEPING ON THE JOB.

Heed the warning young pup...and have a little respect for our brothers. You won't be bit#@ing when they're jumping out of beed to plug the bullet hole in your chest in the middle of the night.

You might want to take the time and read some of the proposals before dismissing it because we have our "city pension". They will and can attack the municipal pensions. Just like any other laws, they can pass ones that control our pensions whether you like it or not. Not all cities have pensions as solbent as ours and the laws that get passed to fix the broken ones will hurt ours. So in 20 years when they're calculating your pension on an average of your salary from your entire carreer and don't include overtime you'll have nobody to blame but yourself.

[Pearldrops]

Hey FD Bro, we are covered by the city not the state retirement. Why do you keep bringing crap to this board that is irrelevant?

Why do you young knuckleheads keep thinking because you are not in FRS you won't be affected? Are you really that foolish? I hope you do a better job doing investigations than you do looking out for your own future. YOUR PENSION BENEFITS ARE AT STAKE HERE, YOU BETTER OPEN YOUR EYES! THE REST OF YOUR LIFE HANGS IN THE BALANCE.
Too bad so many of us ol' sgts aren't still there to educate you about many things, but then again, it is probably too late for most of you.

Hey FD Bro, we are covered by the city not the state retirement. Why do you keep bringing crap to this board that is irrelevant?

Why do you young knuckleheads keep thinking because you are not in FRS you won't be affected? Are you really that foolish? I hope you do a better job doing investigations than you do looking out for your own future. YOUR PENSION BENEFITS ARE AT STAKE HERE, YOU BETTER OPEN YOUR EYES! THE REST OF YOUR LIFE HANGS IN THE BALANCE.
Too bad so many of us ol' sgts aren't still there to educate you about many things, but then again, it is probably too late for most of you.

I couldn't agree more. This new generation of "CUT THROATS" have no clue. On top of that, it really pisses me off when I see someone bad mouth a fellow brother firefighter. It always seems to be this new generation of cops that think they know it all. Well this veteran LEO fully supports the above firefighter who had the decency to at least let some of you cut throats know about the rally in Tallahassee, no matter whether you plan on attending or not. Governor Scott hates cops, that much is known, so if you think you are perfectly cozy with your future retirement plan, good luck! He doesn't care about anything or anyone except himself and his wealthy friends. Look what he just did to Tampa and Orlando by turning down 2 BILLION DOLLARS in federal money for the proposed "Fast Rail" system. That system would have created thousands of jobs for many years while it was built and hundreds of permanent jobs afterward to run it. Says a whole lot about his supposed promise to bring jobs to Florida.

[FD Bro']

Hey FD Bro, we are covered by the city not the state retirement. Why do you keep bringing crap to this board that is irrelevant?

"The Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee has been holding hearings over the past few weeks concerning radical changes to Florida’s public pension systems, both the FRS and local plans."'




FD Bro'

[FD Bro']

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP YOU ARE. WHINE, WHINE, AND WHINE WHILE YOU CONTINUE TO BE OVERPAID FOR WHAT-- OH, YES, SLEEPING ON THE JOB.

I'm about to take a nap right now. I'll get up at 0300 for the trip to Tally.

I'll tell al my FD and LE Brothers and Sisters there that you are concerned about them and wishing you were there.



Fraternally,


FD Bro'

[FD Bro']

Something to share...


FD Bro'


Call your Senators this week, vote to be taken on Thursday on the pension bills!
________________________________________
Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We had a very good turnout at the public hearing on SB's 1128 and 1130 on Friday. The committee took testimony for about 31/2 hours on the 175 bill (SB 1128) and about 1/2 an hour on FRS (SB 1130) before time ran out. Excellent points were made by all our speakers, but unfortunately about 15 or 20 members who drove up to 500 miles never got a chance to testify. Chairman Ring stated that there will be two more hearings next week on the bills and additional testimony will be taken.

With regard to the FRS bill, Chairman Ring stated publicly that the FRS Trust fund is healthy and in no need of modification, the proposed pension reductions are only being made to address the state's general revenue budget deficit.

The Governor's proposed state income tax on public employees is not in the Senate bill currently, but Chairman Ring nearly promised that it will be put in during the budget process, perhaps at a level lower than 5%.

The committee members questions and comments and our discussion with each of them this past week provide a glimmer of hope that they are reaching the conclusion that the few 175 plans that are in need of help, are the responsibility of the cities and they have all the tools they need to fix them already.

The FRS bill is simply a new tax by Republicans on both public employees and property owners alike. For public employees it's a state income tax and for taxpayers in general the Governor and the Senate bill both call for the closing of the FRS pension plan June 30, 2011. Closing the plan will increase the cost to employers for firefighters and police officers from the current 21% of payroll increasing annually for the next 28 years to over 50% of payroll. These figures are from the Senates current actuarial study by the FRS actuaries.

Your calls to the committee members are having an affect and we are asking you to redouble your efforts this week on the remaining committee members who have not been responsive to any compromises. Although we have been told that they are receiving 80 or 90 calls a day that number should be well over 500 a day to each committee member. So I am asking you to make as many calls as you can to the remaining committee members below, through Thursday when a vote will be taken on the bills. The committee members below need to hear from you every day until the vote is taken on Thursday.

The message is simple;
1. Do not close the pension plans for FRS or Chapter 175, this will cause a huge unfunded liability.
2. Do not vote for a state income tax on public employees by requiring a contribution for FRS
3. Vote NO on SB 1128 and SB 1130 in their current form.

Ring, Jeremy (Chair) (D) (850) 487-5094
Siplin, Gary (Vice Chair) (D) (850) 487-5190
Benacquisto, Lizbeth (R) (850) 487-5356
Bogdanoff, Ellyn Setnor (R) (850) 487-5100
Fasano, Mike (R) (850) 487-5062
Flores, Anitere (R) (850) 487-5130
Garcia (R), Rene (R) (850) 487-5106
Wise, Stephen R. (R) (850) 487-5027
We have discontinued phone calls for the time being to Senators Margolis, Latvala, Montford and Norman who are working with us to find a compromise.
--
Fraternally,
Gary Rainey, President
Florida Professional Firefighters
http://www.fpfp.org

[FD Bro']

Senate 1128: Public Retirement Plans

GENERAL BILL by Ring

Public Retirement Plans; Provides that a local governmental entity may not offer a defined benefit retirement plan to a plan member hired on or after a certain date. Provides that local plans must use at least 5 years to determine a plan member’s average final compensation for calculating retirement benefits for members hired on or after a certain date. Directs the Department of Financial Services to rate the financial strength of local government defined benefit plans. Creates the Task Force on Public Employee Disability Presumptions, etc.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2011

SB-1128 Amendments filed 2-21-11
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/1128
HTML: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill...nt/762940/HTML
PDF: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill...ent/762940/PDF




FD Bro'