WE, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the Second Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the President of the United States and the members of the United States Congress as follows:

WHEREAS,  under current federal law, an individual who receives a Social Security benefit and a public retirement benefit derived from employment not covered under Social Security is subject to a reduction in the individual's Social Security benefit; and

WHEREAS,  these laws, known as the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision, greatly affect public employees and the Government Pension Offset requires a reduction in the spousal benefit received under Social Security equal to 2/3 of the surviving spouse’s benefit under another government pension plan even though the spousal benefit was fully earned; and

WHEREAS,  the Windfall Elimination Provision reduces the Social Security benefit of a person who is also receiving a pension from a public employer that does not participate in Social Security; and

WHEREAS,  the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision are particularly burdensome on the finances of low-income and moderate-income public service workers such as school teachers, clerical workers and school cafeteria employees; and

WHEREAS,  the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision both unfairly reduce benefits for those public employees and their spouses whose careers cross the line between the private and public sectors; and

WHEREAS,  since many lower-paying public service jobs are held by women, both the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision have a disproportionately adverse effect on women; and

WHEREAS,  in some cases, additional support in the form of income, housing, heating and prescription drug assistance and other safety net assistance from state and local governments is needed to make up for the reductions imposed at the federal level; and

WHEREAS,  other participants in Social Security do not have their benefits reduced in this manner; and

WHEREAS,  to participate or not to participate in Social Security in public sector employment is a decision of employers, even though both the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision directly punish employees and their spouses; and

WHEREAS,  although the Government Pension Offset was enacted in 1977 and the Windfall Elimination Provision was enacted in 1983, many of the benefits in dispute had been paid into Social Security prior to the enactment of those laws; and

WHEREAS,  H.R. 1332, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2011, a bipartisan bill introduced in the United States House of Representatives, would repeal these 2 unfair federal pension offsets, which penalize so many people in Maine and the rest of the Nation; now, therefore, be it