Lawmakers flag teachers left out of current PC 13‑99 draft

Members raised that the current draft of PC 13‑99 does not cover all teachers with pensions below $1,000 because of a cut‑off date in the law that governs teachers' retirement. Arnaldo Ortiz explained the bill follows existing text that excludes teachers who retired after August 2014 and said, "si ese corte se elimina, se beneficiarían adicionales 1305 maestros." Lawmakers asked the committee staff to prepare an amendment option to include the excluded cohort.

Representative Nelly Lebrón, herself a retired teacher, pressed for clarity on who is excluded and for concrete amendments that would add those 1,305 teachers. The committee agreed to request a revision or amendment language and to produce a breakdown by retirement cohort to determine legal and fiscal implications of any change.