SCR109

WHEREAS, the Social Security Act was originally passed in 1935 to provide essential benefits and financial security to retired individuals, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, individuals receiving Retired Insurance Benefits constitute the largest group of Social Security beneficiaries, with over fifty-two million retired workers or family members receiving monthly payments as of 2023; and

WHEREAS, more than ten thousand individuals from the baby boomer generation become eligible for Retirement Insurance Benefits from Social Security every day; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the retirement of the large baby boomer generation, it is projected that under existing law, the trust fund reserves for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Disability Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted by 2034; and

WHEREAS, it its projected that a depletion of the two Social Security trust funds will result in only seventy-eight percent of scheduled benefits being paid to beneficiaries on a timely basis after 2034; and

WHEREAS, in a response to this projected cut in benefits, concerned congressional leaders introduced the Social Security 2100 Act in 2023, which is intended to permanently improve Social Security's long-term health by extending the solvency of the two Social Security Trust Funds without increasing taxes on the middle class; and

WHEREAS, according to United States Representative John B. Larson, co-introducer of the Social Security 2100 Act, the Social Security 2100 Act increases benefits by two percent across the board for all Social Security beneficiaries for the first time in fifty-two years, improves the cost-of-living adjustment to reflect economic inflation experienced by seniors, and increases benefits for lower income retirees; and

WHEREAS, the Social Security 2100 Act also restores student benefits up to age twenty-six for dependent children of disabled and deceased workers; increases access to benefits for children living with grandparents or other relatives; repeals the windfall elimination provision and government pension offset that currently penalizes certain public servants; ends the five-month waiting period to receive disability benefits; and increases benefits by an additional five percent for seniors who have been receiving benefits for fifteen years or more; and

WHEREAS, the Social Security 2100 Act would cut taxes for twenty-three million middle-income beneficiaries while paying for benefits by applying the Federal Insurance Contributions Act to earnings over $400,000 and adding an additional 12.4 percent net investment income tax for taxpayers making over $400,000; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative that Social Security remains a well-funded public entitlement without being privatized through self-directed retirement accounts that would subject beneficiaries, and particularly retiree savings accounts, to considerable risk and redirect Social Security assets into the coffers of Wall Street brokerages and investment banks; and

WHEREAS, the United States Congress must act urgently to preserve Social Security benefits for current and future retirees; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the House of Representatives concurring, that the United States Congress is urged to adopt the Social Security 2100 Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Congress is strongly encouraged to reject any legislation that would lead to the privatization of Social Security benefits; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Social Security 2100 Act

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	109
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII