It is very difficult for me to express how the pension reform has affected me and all my fellow retirees. However, I will try to put it simply. We have pretty much lived on the same amount of money for 12 years.

I cannot even begin to convey what losing my cola has meant. It was something I had counted on during my retirement years especially when as we all know nothing ever goes down, it always goes up whether it is cost of living overall or each individual bill we have to pay. I do not live an extravagant life style but was at least able to get by until the cola was taken away. I have only myself for income so when I have to make the decision how much food I am going to buy versus what medication I am able to purchase Is the monthly fact I have to face.

I feel that I have been devastated by the actions taken back in 2011. First, I made two decisions based on the fact that I would continue receiving my pension. During my divorce of 2000, I didn't go after some of my ex's pension knowing that mine was better. Second, I retired after merely 28 years of teaching. Those two decision have left me with a mere monthly net income of 3100. Today I am looking at either selling my home or filing for bankruptcy. Is that how a retired teacher with a master's degree face her "golden years"?

n 2008 I retired from the Rhode Island Department of Education after 39 years of public service. For 39 years I paid almost 9% of every paycheck – before taxes - into the pension fund, as mandated by law. Our pensions are not free, as many Rhode Islanders seem to believe.

I started teaching in Rhode Island in 1997 and entered into a contractual relationship with the state of Rhode Island. This contract stated that I would receive approximately 60% of my salary in retirement from the state pension fund. This benefit was part of the package for teachers when salaries were very low. I was earning 34,000/year plus the pension retirement benefit. This was an earned benefit that I would collect when I retired.

I am a retired state employee with over 35 years of faithful service. I had well over 20 years when the major changes were made to the retirement system. I was in the most affected group having not enough years to retire and too few years to make up what had been promised to us. My suggestion; return COLAs to 3% or the social security annual increase, whichever is less.

Submitted via online webform

My name is Dolores Bresette, and I worked for the state of Rhode Island for 37 years, which is more than half my life. I retired from RI College, where I was an Information Aide. Throughout my career, I paid almost 9% of my biweekly paycheck into the pension system, hoping to secure a comfortable retirement for myself and my family.

I worked at the pharmacy at MHRH until I retired in 2008. I took the SRA option, knowing I would receive my pension plus the compounded interest until age 62. Back when I retired, taking the SRA made sense to me. I knew that once I reached age 62, the annual COLA would cover any SRA offset. I would be financially comfortable.



That scenario didn't play out, for the pension rules changed when the "pension reform" legislation passed. COLAs were put on hold until the pension system became 80% funded. Looking back, that number seems so arbitrary.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Much like the young lady from Coventry who testified on video with Frank Flynn, I too am significantly impacted by the pension changes of 2005, 2009 and 2011.

I was an English teacher at East Providence High School for 34 years. I retired in 2004, my husband receives Social Security. I have enough quarters from other work to receive Social Security but I cannot because I was an East Providence teacher and the Federal Windfall Act prohibits me form collecting what I earned. I planned a retirement based on the promised COLA and thought our future would be secure. After 7 years of retirement the COLA was stopped and my pension has not had an increase since 2011. For 12 years we have had to adjust our living downward.