Greetings KRTA Family:
The 2025 Legislative Session has completed day 28 of the session and we now enter the two-week veto period. All legislation that passed both the House and Senate will go to the Governor’s desk for review. They will then return March 27th for the final two days and review Gubernatorial vetoes. There is no new legislation that has a negative impact on retired teachers. HB 694 did pass with a floor amendment and SCR 154 was filed by Senator Mays-Bledsoe. This Senate Concurrent Resolution creates a task force of all stakeholders to research and discuss the Health Insurance fund during the interim. We are not sure if this resolution will have time to pass both chambers, but we will monitor. This is something we hope will come to fruition at some point before the fund becomes fully funded in 2027.
WEP/GPO-we are still hearing great news from our members in reference to their social security. Some have received their backpay and increased amounts. Our understanding is that deposits are going in March and April depending upon you birth date. If you do not receive any payments or increase after April, you are strongly encouraged to contact social security.
Kroger Pharmacy– it is our understanding that Kroger’s is now again accepting our prescription medication plan. TRS will be updating this in their newsletter, but if this has an impact on you, please contact your local Kroger’s.
Convention– Convention registration is in the March edition of the KRTA newspaper. If you have not received this edition, go to our website and review information as needed. We hope to see you there.
Bill updates are listed below. Have a great week!
KRTS FULLY SUPPORTS THIS RESOLUTION
This is a housekeeping bill to clean up statutes currently written. It adds WeLeadCS to the system and cleans up other language currently in use. Representative Thomas filed this for TRS and does no harm to retired teachers.
Status- Sent to State Government Committee 2/26/25
KRTA IN MONITORING THIS BILL
This bill creates a new section relating to the Teachers Retirement System. It sets default language for when the Health Insurance Fund is 100% funded. Continues employee contributions to the Health Insurance fund and redirects employer contributions to the unfunded pension liability.
Status- 3rd reading and passed the House 77-18 on 2/26/25; passed the Senate on 3/12/25. Sent back to the House rules committee. Delivered to the Governor 3/13/25
KRTA IS MONITORING THIS BILL
Status-3rd reading and passed the house 97-0. Received in Senate Committee of Committees 2/26/25; 2nd reading in the Senate 3/6/25. Posted for passage for concurrence in the Senate 3/12/25
KRTA SUPPORTS THIS BILL
This bill appears to be an identical bill to SB 12 in the Senate. This is an act to establish cost-sharing requirements for prescription drugs; requires rebates to be passed through; establish confidentiality requirements for the rebate information; create a new section to provide the actual amount of rebates received is a trade secret; provide that compliance with prescription drug cost-sharing and rebate requirements shall not be in violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
Status- to Banking and Insurance (H) 2/12/25
KRTA IS MONITORING THIS BILL
An act relating to taxation of retirement distributions. This bill would increase the retirement distribution exclusion from $31,110 to $41,110 for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
Status- introduced to Appropriations & Revenue 2/4/25
KRTA FULLY SUPPORTS THIS BILL AND WILL BE WATCHING IT CLOSELY.
An act relating to cost-sharing requirements for prescription drugs; require rebates to be passed through; establish confidentiality requirements for the rebate information; create a new section of KRS to provide the actual amount of rebates received.
Status- sent to Banking & Insurances 1/9/25
WE ARE CONTINUING TO MONITOR THIS BILL
CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR KRTA LEGISLATIVE RESOURCE PAGE
CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE OUR TEXT ALERTS FROM OUR TEXTING SERVICE
WEP/GPO–
Starting the week of February 24, 2025, SSA is beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the WEP and GPO
If a beneficiary is due retroactive benefits as a result of the Act, they will receive a one-time retroactive payment, deposited into the bank account SSA has on file, by the end of March. This retroactive payment will cover the increase in their benefit amount back to January 2024, the month when WEP and GPO no longer apply.
Social Security benefits are paid one month behind. Most affected beneficiaries will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount in April 2025 (for their March 2025 benefit).
Anyone whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who will get a retroactive payment, will receive a mailed notice from Social Security explaining the benefit change or retroactive payment.
NOTE: A beneficiary may receive two mailed notices, the first when WEP or GPO is removed from their record, and a second when their monthly benefit amount is adjusted for their new monthly payment amount. They may receive the retroactive payment before receiving the mailed notice.
We have been able to expedite payments due to the use of automation. For the many complex cases that cannot be processed automatically, additional time is required to manually update the records and pay both retroactive benefits and the new benefits amount.
We urge beneficiaries to wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will process incrementally throughout March.
Beneficiaries should also wait until after receiving their April payment before contacting SSA to ask about their monthly benefit amount because the new amount will not be reflected until April for their March payment.
What should people do now that the Social Security Fairness Act is lThe Act applies to benefits you get on your own record (retirement or disability benefits) and to spouse’s or surviving spouse’s benefits on another person’s record. What action you need to take depends on your situation and on what type of benefits you are eligible for.
If you are entitled to retired or disabled workers’ benefits, and your benefits are currently being reduced by WEP; OR if you are entitled to spouse’s or surviving spouse’s benefits, and your benefits are currently being reduced or eliminated by GPO:
If you know that SSA has your mailing address and/or direct deposit information on file, no other actions are needed from you at this time.
If you want to verify that the mailing address and/or direct deposit information that SSA has on file is accurate and up to date:
Check your personal my Social Security account. Visit www.ssa.gov/my account to sign in or create an account.
If you are unable to create an account, please call 1-800-772-1213 to verify the information we have on file.
Ensuring that SSA has the correct information allows you to get any retroactive benefits and your new benefit amount quicker.aw?
What happens if my Medicare premium is deducted from my Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuity?
If a person has had their premiums deducted from their CSRS annuity, and then applies for Social Security benefits, SSA will tell the person that their premiums will now be deducted from their monthly Social Security benefits. SSA’s notice will include this information. Please contact SSA if you have any questions about your premiums.
What is SSA doing to ensure it can help people affected by the Social Security Fairness Act?
SSA is currently processing pending or new claims for benefits and using automation to pay retroactive benefits and increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the WEP and GPO.
The Act requires SSA to adjust benefits for over 3 million people. Since the law’s effective date is in the past, SSA must adjust some people’s past benefits as well as future benefits. Processing these changes is very complex and SSA’s analysis shows that some of the work must be done manually, on a case-by-case basis. Our electronic payment systems cannot make all the necessary changes at the same time and we will need to process the actions in several stages, beginning the week of February 24th.
Below is a list of other education bills that have been filed:
Eastern Kentucky Flood relief:
Gather and donate supplies, such as:
Drop off Locations
FACTS FOR KENTUCKIANS APPLYING FOR FEMA INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE
Gov. Andy Beshear has announced that President Donald Trump approved his request for an Expedited Major Disaster Declaration, which currently includes individual assistance for Kentuckians in 11 counties affected by the most recent storms.
Those counties are Breathitt, Clay, Floyd, Harlan, Knott, Lee, Letcher, Martin, Owsley, Perry and Pike. Additional designations and counties may be added at a later date if warranted by the results of further damage assessments.
This action opens immediate need and cleaning and sanitizing money to Kentuckians who qualify. The maximum grant award is $43,600. Last week, the Governor promised to push the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make it as easy as possible to receive approval for individual assistance. Gov. Beshear remains committed to ensuring that families affected by the storms are cared for and get the very best service.
How to Apply: Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362) or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service – such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or other similar service – can give FEMA the number for that service.