HOW TO BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE
You have a right to advocate on your own behalf - as long as it's on your own time and with your own personal resources. Here are a few ways to get involved:
- Join TPEA, an organization that advocates for you
- Subscribe to our newsletter with your home email address
- Know who represents you
- Think about your circle of influence
- Write a letter to your legislator(s)
For more than 78 years, TPEA has worked to protect the financial security of current and former state employees.
During this Legislative session, TPEA is actively working for more than the 250,000 current employees and retired Texans who receive ERS benefits because they have dedicated their careers to serving Texans. TPEA representatives and members have actively testified more than 40 times during this last session. TPEA also created multiple resources and documents to educate Legislators and the public, as well as the media.
ADVOCACY ACTION CENTER
The Texas Public Employees Association experienced success since the beginning by securing passage of the constitutional amendment and statutes that created the Employees Retirement System (ERS) in 1947. TPEA’s advocacy on behalf of active and retired state employees is characterized by pragmatic proposals, creative problem solving and a clear, consistent vision of superior benefits and competitive salaries that allow employees to maintain a comfortable lifestyle for themselves and their families.
Jimmy Teal, Waco District Railroad Coordinator at TxDOT
I think state employees should be a part of TPEA because they help all state employees, like they did with getting us two across-the-board pay raises. TPEA also helps us into retirement as they advocate for our pensions, stabilizing the funds, and other benefits too. We should all join because it’s not just helping ourselves but each other too.
Kerrie Summerfield, Team Lead for the Budget Division at the OAG
I relied on TPEA for years regarding information about changes in our benefits and what’s going on in the Legislature. Then, I decided to become a member and eventually volunteer so that I could help advocate for myself. The advocacy helped get our recent state raises. TPEA showed up to over 50 hearings to get the across the board pay raises. And they fight for our benefits like keeping premiums low. TPEA fights for employees, they fight for us.
Tim Fitzpatrick, Director III for Classification & Records at TDCJ
As a state employee, it's so beneficial to have a non-partisan, non-union association looking out for our best interest. I've seen the mission of TPEA firsthand in action, and how they've been able to support us by working to ensure our state benefits are protected. They support us as current employees and into retirement.
Julie Beaubien, Public Involvement Section Team Lead at TxDOT
I’m a member of TPEA because they continuously keep me in the loop with issues that impact me. TPEA staff is advocating for state employees and retirees daily – and they connect us with a ton of resources, including an easy way to reach out to my state representatives. On top of all this – they provide some great benefits! They are the only association that fights for all state employees and retirees.
How Texas Laws Are Made
This infographic shows the many steps a bill must go through in Texas to become law. After a bill is written (a long process in itself), it must travel through and survive several committee hearings, debates, and votes. There are many opportunities for a bill to fail, or to simply get stuck in the process without ever reaching the final ‘law’ stage. When it comes to legislation relating to state employees and retirees, some bills are successful enough to make it to law, while some fail during a committee hearing or a vote. Regardless, TPEA tracks and covers those bills at every stage, sometimes serving as subject matter experts for drafting legislation or providing testimony.
The Texas Budget Cycle
Have you ever wondered how state agency's budgets are determined, or how much money is put into/taken away from the ERS pension fund? This graphic shows the Texas budget cycle – the process in which the legislature and the governor deliberate and decide on how much money state agencies are allotted each fiscal year, and how they’re allowed to spend it. Once the legislature determines the state’s budget for the next year, the budget bill is reviewed and signed (or not) by the governor, who then distributes budgets and instructions to state agencies.
Citizen Handbook: Texas Legislature
The Citizen Handbook gives a broader and more detailed look at the Texas Legislature and how it works, including: how to be more effective in the advocacy process, a list of legislative committees, a glossary of common terms used in the legislature, and more!
Be Ready for the Next Legislative Session
Did you know?
- Membership allows TPEA to continue advocating for you, your salaries, pensions and benefits all year round.
- Membership helps with supplemental insurance discounts for you and your family that you might not be able to get otherwise.
- Membership offers you and your family access to discounted products, entertainment, travel and more.
** Cost of membership is only $7.50/month for active employees ($2.50/month for retirees), so help enhance your future and join. Remember TPEA = YOU.
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