Call State Senators About FRS Bill

The Governor has proposed a 5% cut in your pay to cover expenses for pensions this year. If you are concerned about cuts in your paycheck to pay for pension expenses currently covered by the state of Florida, please call before 3:30pm on Thursday when the Senate Committee on Governerment Oversight and Accountability will vote on whether to start deducting money for this purpose.

After minimal faculty pay raises for years, it is not acceptable to cut our salaries by 5% (or however much is finally chosen) in order to balance the budget and to give corporations even greater tax breaks. It also hurts recruiting and retention (at a time everyone admits we have a "brain drain" in the state) to ignore the severe problem of salary compression in Florida, amounting to roughly $10,000 for each ten years a faculty member works here, and then to reduce other forms of compensation so there are NO reasons left for coming to or staying in Florida.

After 5:15 pm Thursday, there may be no other realistic opportunies to stop this from happening. Make a call. If you call Senators Latvala, Norman, or Fasano, thank them for proposing amendments to reduce the damage to us. If you call Senator Ring , Chair, speak your mind but be polite. One or two sentences is all any office will record as a message. Use an off-campus phone for your call.


Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability will meet Thursday to discuss and hear testimony on the FRS bill, SB 1130. The committee will meet from 3:15 to 5:15 pm in room 412 of the Knott building. You can view the meeting on The Florida Channel, if your cable provider carries it, or on the web at www.wfsu.org.

Please call today and tomorrow. Ask the Senators to vote AGAINST SB 1130 in its current form.


Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability

Chair:
Senator Jeremy Ring (D) (850) 487-5094

Vice Chair:
Senator Gary Siplin (D) (850) 487-5190
Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto (R) (850) 487-5356
Senator Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff (R) (850) 487-5100
Senator Charles S. "Charlie" Dean, Sr. (R) (850) 487-5017
Senator Mike Fasano (R) (850) 487-5062
Senator Anitere Flores (R) (850) 487-5130
Senator Rene Garcia (R) (850) 487-5106
Senator Jack Latvala (R) (850) 487-5075
Senator Gwen Margolis (D) (850) 487-5121
Senator Bill Montford (D) (850) 487-5004
Senator Jim Norman (R) (850) 487-5068
Senator Stephen R. Wise (R) (850) 487-5027

The link to the committee page is:

http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/GO/