On Thursday, May 7th, 2015 members of our Georgia Senate and House Retirement Committees will decide on whether or not to send SB 152 to a summer actuarial study. This bill outlines significant changes to the Teacher Retirement System of Georgia-one of the most solvent and competently run retirement systems in the United States. If this bill is allowed to move on and becomes law, it has the potential to destroy the retirement savings of teachers and other public employees throughout the state. Please sign this petition and pass it on. Let's make sure our legislators make the right choice in protecting our assets!

The changes proposed in the bill will allow outside financial managers to make riskier investments with more fees going to Wall Street and less benefits going to teachers and other beneficiaries. Can you imagine if this bill passed in 2007 with the market that followed? Why is it necessary to fix something that is working well, especially when the changes are not at all guaranteed to be successful, and may actually lead to large financial losses? The bill purportedly offers "new" choices for investments (401k), but all public sector employees already have a virtually identical option available to them (403b).

The proposed changes will not only affect teachers, but many public sector employees who are part of TRSGA. If our retirement system is weakened, it will have a profound impact on our future ability to recruit and retain teachers and other qualified public servants throughout the state of Georgia. If our retirement system is financially damaged by the changes (which might happen due to increased exposure to high risk investments), ALL present and future retirees will be impacted. We are asking that all members of the Senate Retirement Committee do not vote to send HB152 to actuarial study this summer.

Sincerely, Georgia's public servants and other concerned citizens