Thanks Sheila...

I really rather like th Dixon Bill better just due to the wording of it seems that we would have more revenus from gas/oil than unclaimed property.

New amendment to Bedford Senate bill today -- encourage your senator to approve substitute amendment 2..... "No PACT contract in force as of the effective date of this act shall be altered or changed in any manner and all benefits, promises and/or guarantees included in such contract shall be paid, provided, and/or honored in full."  Contact your senator TODAY and encourage them to support this amendment!!!

ATTTENTION ON DECK, PACT CREW, NOW IS THE TIME WE NEED TO FOCUS...

I am passing along many comments from many important sources...they all have merit and we must find the common threads to focus our power on the Alabama legislators in a positive way..here are just some of the comments:

Comment:

They can't modify a contract by an act of the legislature.   That runs 
bad afoul of the law.
Legislature was in meltdown yesterday - nothing is getting done - and it is budget crunch time.
Those that have skin in the game (Folsom, ivey, byrne) are trying desperately to find a fix they can campaign on, but nothing is likely to pass this session.

Comment:
This [Bill SB581] is unacceptable..

"This bill would define the term tuition and

2 qualified fees for academic terms through the 2012

3 Fall Term as equal to the rate paid by the program

4 for designated beneficiaries for the 2009 Spring

5 Term at the eligible educational institution and,

6 thereafter, at a rate as determined by the Board of

7 Control of the Teachers' Retirement System based

8 upon the investment performance of the PACT Trust

9 Fund."

This equates to the state setting the payout rate!  In other words transferring the risk back for the lost they caused back to the participant AFTER the program has been looted.

Kay Ivey and the Board improperly invested the funds for the PACT program in high risk securities when the program was over 100 percent funded. There was no need to invest in risky securities lending.  These investments need to be looked into.  There needs to be an accounting.  The Board and Ivey by assuming risk that was unnecessary when the program was over 100 percent funded is a breach of their duty to participants.  They cannot now breach the state's contracts with participants and call it fixed.   

The contracts are for "Prepaid Tuition" not some undefined payout in an investment vehicle. 

If participants wanted to assume the risk of the stock market they would have just invested in the stock market.  Then if there were substantial gains the participants instead of the state would have gotten the benefit.
Under the program the state got any revenue after the funds obligations were met.

Now after contracting with participants the state wants to define tuition as a set rate according to the performance of the investment. 

There are many more...please read SB581 closely over the next fews days...SaveAlabamaPACT.com has not taken a position as to whether this is the best legislation available or not...the vote is still out...please post your concerns

OUR GOAL..NO EXCEPTIONS: No PACT contract holder gets left behind...NO ONE...NO exception to that!

The text of SB581 is posted on our Documents page of this website along with two "possible" alterations of the bill. We do not know the validity of the alterations at this time...listed as Sub1 and Sub2. The are just FYI...SB581 is the formal version as we know it at this time..

Legislative Proposals Click Here

I paid for a Pre-Paid College Tuition Contract.  That is clearly what I purchased.  I specifically did not invest in a high risk 529 plan.  The State negilently invested PACT funds in high risk securites.  The State would have reaped the benefits of high risk security returns, but now since there have been significant losses, the State wants to freeze tuition and establish tuition rates themselves.   I like the gist of the Bedford Holley bill, but remove any reference to freezing tuition and any dates.  Qualified higher education fees, as established by the University (not he State) for all PACT students should be paid in full for all contract holders.  The intent of the contract is absolutley clear.  I like the RSA managing the fund and I like Senator Scott Beason's  idea of removing the tuition breaks for out of state students.   The Bedford-Holly bill must provide funding, in case the word "available funds" becomes muddled.   We are simply asking for our contracts to be honored.

Lets keep united and contact all concerned 

OUR GOAL..NO EXCEPTIONS: No PACT contract holder gets left behind...NO ONE...NO exception to that!

PACT
C/O State Treasurers Office

Alabama State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue, Room S-106
Montgomery, Alabama 36104

http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/0409/613829.html

"One opponent of the bill, Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Daphne, said parents who chose other college savings programs have also suffered hits from the stock market, but the state is not helping them. Voting against the bill, in addition to Pittman, was Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, who is offering a different proposal. "

And,

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/art … /904160325

"The 10-2 bipartisan vote by the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee..."

"State Sen. Steve French, R-Birmingham, said he is concerned that the bill might bail out PACT investors, while offering no help to parents who chose to invest in the state's 529 plan instead of the PACT.

"'It's like the state is picking winners and losers, when they were all affected by the same market conditions," he said.

"State Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Daphne, said the state might put itself in the position of honoring contracts there were not guaranteed, particularly those signed after 1995. Pittman is against the idea of allowing senators to hash out the bill on the floor.

"The committee adopted an amendment to the bill that says the state will honor all of the 48,000 existing contracts. people might misinterpret the amendment to mean that the state will pay every contract in full, when in fact that is not what the amendment does. Sen. Wendell Mitchell, D-Luverne, raised the same issue.

"'The contracts are what they say they are," Pittman said. "That might mean that some folks might have their contracts terminated or they might be entitled to a refund."

"Pittman along with Sen. Wendell Mitchell, D-Luverne, voted against moving the bill forward. Several Republican committee members, who agreed to let the bill out of committee, also said alternative proposals would be offered as early as next week."

SB581...

I think the references to ACES muddy the waters a bit. Unless this is their way of separating the PACT from the 529???? Does someone know?

Wasn't the original name of the Pact legislation the Wallace-Folsom College Savings Investment Plan?

I haven't finished reading Sub 1 to see where the differences lie, but
I see that the second amendment (thank goodness)  clarifies the  language in Sub 1 ...
"Section 6. No PACT contract in force as of the effective date of this act shall be altered or changed in any manner and all benefits, promises, and/or guarantees included in such contract shall be paid, provided, and/or honored in  full."
Not sure about the 1st change .

Sure wish we had an "insider" to help us understand the jargon!

rem50,

Thanks for this information. There are absolute inaccuracies in this update by UA. SB581 has no intent to freeze tuitions for all students at any university. It freezes only PACT contract tuitions. I suspect that is a very small portion of overall tuitions at these universities...

We are on this to set the story straight.

Thanks for the great information...that is what we need guys...your support, eyes and ears!!

FYI
"IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
ALABAMA
REGULAR SESSION 2009
SENATE CALENDAR NO. 20
TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATIVE DAY
04/21/2009
________________________
"REGULAR CALENDAR
________________________

"By Senators Bedford and Holley (With Substitute):
"SB581 Relating to the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) Program; to amend Sections 16-33C-1, 16-33C-2.1, 16-33C-3, 16-33C-4, 16-33C-5, 16-33C-6, 16-33C-7, 16-33C-8, 16-33C-9, 16-33C-10, and 16-33C-13, Code of Alabama 1975, and to add Sections 16-33C-5.1 and 16-33C-6.1 to the Code of Alabama 1975, to transfer the administration of the PACT Program, including existing rights, contracts, and obligations, from the State Treasurer to the Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama; to suspend new enrollments in the program indefinitely and to ratify and confirm actions taken pursuant to the current suspension; to define the term tuition and qualified fees and specify the duties of the Board of Control regarding tuition and qualified fees; to authorize the State Treasurer for the ACES Trust Fund and the Board of Control for the PACT Trust Fund to solicit and accept funds for the PACT Program from the State of Alabama, the Legislature, and any other available source of funds, public or private; to require the Governor include in the budget, and the Legislature to annually appropriate necessary funds, from any available funding source, to ensure that the PACT Program meets its obligations and maintains actuarial soundness for the life of the program; to provide upon dissolution that remaining funds be used to repay funding sources for advances to the program, rather than to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education for the establishment of a scholarship program; to provide upon dissolution of the ACES Program that remaining funds be deposited into the ACES Opportunity Enhancement Fund, in lieu of being treated as abandoned property; to require each eligible educational institution to accept the total tuition and qualified fees paid for PACT beneficiaries as payment in full; to prohibit discriminatory practices by institutions; and to provide for implementation and monitoring by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, upon the advice of the Board of Control.
Finance and Taxation General Fund
Number of amendments: 0

"FISCAL NOTE
Senate Bill 581 as introduced:
(1) immediately transfers from the State Treasurer to the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) Board of Control all matters of any nature whatsoever pertaining to the administration of the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) Program;
(2) provides that the Board of Control may, in addition to all other powers previously granted to the PACT Board, adjust the terms of existing PACT contracts in order to preserve the actuarial soundness of the PACT
Trust Fund;
(3) indefinitely suspends new enrollments in the PACT Program;
(4) requires, for the life of the PACT program, an annual appropriation from any source of funds to be requested by the Governor and made by the Legislature in amount that is certified by the TRS Board of Control to be actuarially necessary, with such appropriations to be repaid by excess PACT Program operating revenue;
(5) requires, from now until the end of the 2012 Fall Term, eligible institutions to accept as payment in full the amount of tuition and qualified fees paid by the PACT Program for the 2009 Spring Term, with the
amount of such tuition and qualified fees thereafter determined by the TRS Board of Control based upon the investment performance of the PACT Trust Fund;
- 169 -
(6) provides that the Legislative Council and the Legislature can recommend or enforce penalties, including appropriation reductions and punitive payments, upon any eligible institution found by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) or the Examiners of Public Accounts to either be non-compliant with the tuition-related provisions of this bill or have engaged in discriminatory practices against a current or potential PACT beneficiary;
(7) provides that, upon dissolution, all PACT-related fund balances would be transferred (after all costs and liabilities are repaid) to the Education Trust Fund rather than to ACHE;
(8) provides that the Alabama College Education Savings (ACES) Program shall continue to operate under the oversight of the State Treasurer and the current ACES Board;
(9) provides that, upon dissolution, all ACES-related fund balances would be deposited into the ACES Opportunity Enhancement Fund rather than administered in accordance with the Alabama Uniform
Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act; and
(10) appropriates to the State Treasurer, in both FY 2009 and FY 2010, any amounts necessary and available in both the ACES Administrative Fund and the ACES Opportunity Enhancement Fund.

"As substituted and as amended by the Committee on Finance and Taxation General Fund:
(1) eliminates the requirement that the PACT Program repay from its excess reserves any funds provided to the program upon the recommendation of the Governor and appropriation by the Legislature;
(2) removes as one of the enumerated powers of the TRS Board of Control the ability to define the terms and conditions of PACT contracts;
(3) provides that ACHE shall issue tuition-related compliance reports annually rather than quarterly; and
(4) provides that no PACT contract in force as of the effective date of the act shall be altered or changed in any way, and all benefits, promises, and/or guarantees included in such contracts shall be paid, provided,
and/or honored in full."
____________________________
"Roger Bedford, Chairperson
Finance and Taxation General Fund"
_____________________________