Legislative Advocacy: Ongoing Efforts

With less than 50 days in the 89th Regular Session of the Legislature, you might receive requests from your TPEA team to respond to alerts urging you to reach out to legislative leaders and/or your legislators regarding matters affecting state employees and retirees.

Since the spring of last year, TPEA has actively communicated to legislators and their staff:

• The necessity of sustaining pay increases for the state workforce,
• The significance of funding insurance and pension plan for state employees, and
• Highlighting the critical need for state retirees to receive a benefit increase after decades without one. 

We also raised concerns regarding several bills, such as the strict remote work policies, the provision of bi-monthly paychecks to certain employee class groups, and supported compensatory time for TDCJ employees, to name a few.

We communicate these messages through a variety of methods and platforms. The materials shared with legislators are available on the TPEA website, where you can also view numerous testimonies to committees by TPEA team members. However, we cannot display the numerous private interactions we have with legislators and their staff. For instance, just last week, our team met with senior staff at the Lieutenant Governor's office, TPEA staff also provided testimony before the Senate's Business and Commerce Committee, and our staff and consultants held a conference call with the Chief of Staff for Senate Finance Chair Joan Huffman. These are merely three significant examples.

Rest assured that the TPEA team is utilizing every possible channel to convey our message and garner support for our concerns. Our initiatives have already yielded positive outcomes, such as the allocation of seven hundred seventy million dollars in additional funds for the health insurance plan included in both the House and Senate budget bills; additional money to the ERS fund to reduce debt; and specific targeted pay increases. (See link to September's testimonies of agencies.)  We will persist in our outreach and communications with determination because our state needs:

• broader pay raises for state employees,
• a much-needed pension enhancement for all ERS retirees,
• and a sensible return-to-office solution similar to HB 5196 which we testified on. (See testimony here.)

TPEA is not a union but a not-for-profit association that is committed to advocating for the rights and benefits of state employees and retirees. Our efforts are driven by a deep understanding of the challenges faced by our members and a steadfast dedication to ensuring your voices are heard at the highest levels of government. We remain focused on securing meaningful improvements in compensation, benefits, and working conditions, and we are confident that our continued dialogue and engagement with legislative leaders will lead to positive changes, which ultimately benefits the residents of Texas as well. Thank you for your ongoing support and involvement in these critical initiatives. Together, we can make a significant impact on the future of public service in Texas.

The more members, the more of an impact we can make during this Legislative Session. Are you a member?