Thursday evening, January 21, DEA Executive Board members gathered for dinner with 8 local legislators. During the dinner DEA members discussed many issues with legislators with proposed retirement changes being among the topics. Senator Liljenquist indicated he is reconsidering the move to a 35-year requirement for full retirement. This is a major shift which would keep him closer to his stated intention of not impacting current employees.
Following the dinner, legislators and the others present heard a presentation from Dr. Pam Perlich from the University of Utah which focused on the changing demographics of the nation and Utah. She indicated that Utah is in a good position to learn from the mistakes made by other states since we are behind the nation in this trend. We have time to implement changes to address these shifting demographics in ways other states did not.
Susan Firmage was thrilled with the turn out and the response of our legislators. Even in these difficult times, it is good we can still communicate with our legislators and have some impact on decisions they are making regarding and classrooms and personal finances.
