More than four months have passed since the Pa. House approved a bipartisan bill to provide 69,000 retired public servants with a long overdue pension cost-of-living adjustment.
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HARRISBURG, PA (March 18, 2024) — As the Legislature returns to session this week in Harrisburg, PSEA leaders called on lawmakers to do the right thing and pass a pension cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 69,000 retired public servants mostly in their 80s and 90s.
It has been more than four months since the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed COLA legislation for educators, education support professionals, and other public employees who retired prior to pension enhancements that went into effect under Act 9 of 2001.
“We’re talking about a generation of public servants who spent their careers making our commonwealth a better place to live, work, and learn,” said PSEA President Aaron Chapin, a Stroudsburg Area middle school teacher. “They should be able to enjoy their retirements with their families, not worrying about how they will afford to put food on the table or pay for medications.”
“It has been more than two decades since these retirees saw any type of increase to their pensions,” said PSEA-Retired President Patsy Tallarico. “On average, they are earning less than $20,000 a year. Just imagine how difficult it must be to make ends meet after so many years of rising inflation.”
The state House passed House Bill 1416 in a bipartisan 140-63 vote on Nov. 14. If signed into law, the bill will provide cost-of-living adjustments ranging from 15% to 24.5% to public employees who retired prior to the passage of Act 9 of 2001.
As lawmakers negotiate a final FY 2024-25 budget and related code bills, PSEA leaders called on them to include a cost-of-living adjustment for pre-Act 9 retirees as part of that work.
“Including a pre-Act 9 cost-of-living adjustment as part of the state budget process is the fastest way to get this done and provide long overdue relief to thousands of pre-Act 9 retirees,” Tallarico said.
Chapin and Tallarico commended Reps. Dan Deasy, D-Allegheny, and Steve Malagari, D-Montgomery, in the House and Sens. John Kane, D-Delaware, and Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, in the Senate for sponsoring and advocating for cost-of-living proposals.
From 1968 to 2002, the General Assembly passed cost-of-living legislation every four or five years for retired public workers. The last cost-of-living bill for pre-Act 9 retirees was passed more than 20 years ago in 2002.
Since then, the cost of food has increased 88%, the cost of housing has gone up 85%, and the cost of medical care has gone up 111%.
“Every year that goes by without a cost-of-living adjustment for retired public workers, their lives get harder, and their money doesn’t go as far,” Tallarico said. “It is long past time for lawmakers to restore the promise of a secure retirement to our retired public servants.”
Scott Brown, a math teacher who retired from the Colonial School District in Montgomery County in 2000, said a cost-of-living adjustment would help him and many of his former colleagues who struggle to make ends meet.
“We are talking about people in their 80s and 90s, many with health issues,” Brown said at a Capitol press conference in October. “Nobody should be in a position where they have to decide between buying groceries or medicine in any given week.”
He noted that some of these retirees are in the final years of their lives.
“We will not be around forever,” he said. “This is an opportunity for our lawmakers to stand by us the way we stood by them, and their parents, and their grandparents. Let us close out the last chapters of our lives feeling appreciated and valued for our many years of service.”
An affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA represents about 177,000 active and retired educators and school employees, aspiring educators, higher education staff, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.
