Legislative Achievements

In response to our efforts, substantial pension increases were granted by the legislature in 1983, 1985, 1993, 1997 and 2001.

We were unable to stop the taxing of our pensions in the 1991 Legislative session. The U.S. Supreme Court decision (Davis vs. Michigan) that granted Federal retirees the same exemptions we receive cost the State of Montana about $20 million, so the legislature decided to tax both them and us. We fought for and were able to get a partial payback, called a "Make Whole" provision, that would have averaged about 2.5 percent.

Federal retirees immediately filed suit against the State saying, in part, that the State cannot give us a "Make Whole" payback, unless it gives them one also. We entered the suit, on the side of the state in an attempt to protect our "Make Whole" payback provision and the District Court decided in our favor but the Supreme Court reversed that decision late in 1993.

Historical Event

An historical event took place in 1997, when we were successful, with the help of our Telephone Tree, in obtaining a 1.5% GABA (Guaranteed Annual Benefit Adjustment). This was the only guaranteed annual pension benefit increase in the history of the PERS in over 50 years.

In the 1999 regular session and the 2000 special session, tax reform bills were introduced. The one in 1999 was not in our best interests and we lobbied against it. In the 2000 special session, a new tax bill was introduced but we didn't have the time to see if our membership would be hurt by it so we again lobbied against it. Then again in 2001 a similar tax bill was presented, this bill died for lack of support.

Due to the cost of living increases we decided that in 2001 we would try to obtain an additional 1.5% bringing the GABA to 3%. This time we found that we had very little opposition and we were able to get the GABA increased to 3%. The same bill that increased our GABA included an additional benefit for long time retirees. It provides a one time increase to those who retired prior to 1982 so that their benefit will be increased to an amount equal to 75% of their purchasing power when they retired. The idea was to address some of the negative impacts older retirees have experienced due to inflation.

We work for all public retirees, join in our struggle to maintain and increase our benefits.

* Definition of GABA = Guaranteed Annual Benefit Adjustment

2009 Legislative Session

With our lobbyists assistance, we were able to persuade the legislature to pass House Bill 315, which adds an inflation index to the pension exemption on our state's income tax returns.  The current exemptions have not been changed since it was put in place in 1991.  This inflation index will benefit all retirees residing in Montana.  We will continue this type of work in future legislatures.

Learn more by reading our June 2009 newsletter!