The Coalition to Preserve Retirement Security on May 13 briefed U.S. Senate staff in the Capitol on the reasons public employees should not be forced to participate in the program.

The plans lose, employers lose, local governments lose, state governments lose and taxpayers lose because of the impact on local governments.

Mandatory coverage, the aides were told, would threaten the financial stability of public pension funds and could lead to tax increases or cuts in government services because of the new financial burden that the employer half of the 12.4 percent Social Security tax would put on state and local governments.

"The end result is a long list of negatives," Tom Lussier of Lussier, Gregor, Vienna & Associates, the coalition's administrator, said. "The plans lose, employers lose, local governments lose, state governments lose and taxpayers lose because of the impact on local governments."

CPRS Chair Terri Bierdeman and CPRS Executive Committee member Gerri Madrid-Davis also spoke at the briefing, which was attended by aides to senators from Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada and Ohio.

The event was intended to educate Senate staff about what Bierdeman called the "devastating impact" of mandatory coverage of state and local workers before Social Security reform legislation is written. A similar briefing is being planned for House staff.