Shady attempt at attacking our retirement by State Legislators

I found out today that in the past few months, 2 separate bills were introduced by a Republican from Houston (Kenneth Sheets) and Warren Chisum from Pampa sought to eliminate various retirement plans in Texas, specifically affected would be the TDCRS, which is also known as the "Teachers Retirement" but also encompasses tens of thousands of government workers, including Bexar County.  Its unclear why these guys wanted to hurt so many people.  

Legislative Session: 82(R) - Relating to creating defined contribution retirement plans for persons eligible to participate in the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

Battle brewing over Texas public pensions-over-texas-public-pensions-1802578.html 

Attack on TRS pensions draws heavy fire

Bill to Undermine Guaranteed TRS Pension Benefits on Committee Agenda Tuesday

Basically, had the bills passed, you would have been grandfathered and allowed to stay in the TCDRS but anyone new coming on after Sept. 1st 2012 would have been forced to get a 401(k) or something similar for a retirement option...bully idea.  Anyone remember when the economy crashed for the first time a few years ago and how most people with 401(k)'s lost 50% or more of their value?  This is why when former President Bush suggested 'privatizing' social security and investing it in the stock market was such a spectacularly bad idea.  Rather than have a guaranteed retirement plan, you would likely see a reduction in benefits paid to you over time.  One bill is dead and the other was left in Committee back in April, presumably still on life support.  Contact your representative and fight this.

So, my next question is; WHERE IS THE DSABC ON THESE THINGS and why aren't they spending the members dues on getting into the fight on this?

Suggestions:

Hire an actual, honest to God labor attorney to protect our interests in the Texas Legislature.

Have a designated union representative be the DSABC watchdog for legislative issues.  These bills were introduced back in March and we should have been on the case day one.  Maybe we were...I don't know because I'm not a member of DSABC.  If so, let me know by commenting or email me at bexardeputyissues AT gmail.com