Advocacy

TPEA's Advocacy

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 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.

Advocacy Letters

How to be your own advocate

Although law prohibits agencies from attempting to influence legislation, 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
Sign up for text alerts: click here or text TPEA to 313131
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)

Learn how to be your own advocate.
(PDF File)

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!