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First Regular Session

Sixty-first General Assembly

LLS NO. R97@0796.01 YDW

STATE OF COLORADO

BY REPRESENTATIVE Pankey;

also SENATOR Blickensderfer.

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 97-1044

WHEREAS, Recent studies project that the nation's social security system is approaching insolvency due to changes in the country's demographics; and

WHEREAS, Due to this shift, the current system will begin to run large deficits starting in the year 2012; and

WHEREAS, Savings and investments in the United States continue to decrease at alarming rates; and

WHEREAS, Most American families are working harder to make ends meet and have nothing left for savings; and

WHEREAS, The federal government must honor its obligation to current and future retirees who depend on social security; and

WHEREAS, A broad­based grassroots initiative is necessary in order to accomplish the goal of educating the public on the disastrous results of the deficit projections of the current system as well as options for future reform; and

WHEREAS, A social security safety net needs to be maintained so that no beneficiary is forced to live in poverty; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty­first General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:

(1)  That the current pay­as­you­go social security system should be replaced with a funded system that is not vulnerable to changing demographics and that will remain actuarially sound;

(2)  That a system should be created that allows workers to build savings for their retirement and earn interest on their savings and that increases capital ownership for all Americans;

(3)  That any new system should provide savings incentives, thus increasing the nation's savings and investment rates, job creation, and the prosperity of the United States and all of its citizens;

(4)  That America's citizens should be informed of the challenges facing the current system and the options for reform.

Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to the Colorado Congressional delegation, Governor Roy Romer, the Colorado state agencies, and Economic Security 2000.