Claim: In 1981, Matagorda, Brazoria, and Galveston Counties all opted out of the Social Security program for their employees. Today, their program is very, very well-funded and there is no question about whether it’s going to be funded in" years to come.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Social Security (United States)
text: the Social Security laws as they existed at that time, several thousand employees of Galveston County, Texas were allowed to opt out of the Social Security program in the early 1980s, and have their money placed in a private retirement plan instead. While employees who earned $50,000 per year would have collected $1,302 per month in Social Security benefits, the private plan paid them $6,843 per month. While employees who earned $20,000 per year would have collected $775 per month in Social Security benefits, the private plan paid them $2,740 per month, at interest rates prevailing in 1996. While some

title: Texas County & District Retirement System
text: Texas County & District Retirement System Created in 1967 by the Texas Legislature, the Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) works with 760 county and district employers to provide retirement, disability and survivor benefits to more than 294,000 Texas public employees and retirees. The system receives no funding from the State of Texas. Each plan is funded independently by the county or district and its employees. TCDRS net assets are $30 billion as of Dec. 31, 2017, and paid out $1.4 billion in benefits in 2017. Each county and district that participates in TCDRS maintains its own customized plan

title: Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
text: West Texas. Austin's legal aid program, founded in 1966, was expanded to include the counties surrounding Travis and the Belton-Ford Hood area and became Legal Aid of Central Texas. Corpus Christi's program in Nueces County was expanded to take on ten more counties in the Coastal Bend region and renamed as the Coastal Bend Legal Services program. During the years of transition that began with President Reagan's initial attempt to dismantle LSC, LSC programs intensified their efforts to identify funding that could replace, if necessary, the federal money that enabled the provision of legal services to poor people. The 1980s

title: Bailey Hardeman
text: Matagorda County. It was almost natural for him to fall into a leadership roll in the local politics given his experience in Tennessee. On 28 Nov 1835 General Council of the Provisional Government of Texas elected him one of the commissioners to organize the militia for Matagorda Municipality. Upon his arrival at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, he was appointed to a twenty-one-member committee to draw up a constitution for the Republic of Texas. The resulting Constitution was approved in mid-March. The delegates elected him Secretary of the Treasury. On 27 Mar 1836 he and Lorenzo de Zavala were appointed

title: Presidency of George W. Bush
text: the payroll taxes funding the program. The President argued that Social Security faced an imminent funding crisis and that reform was necessary to ensure its continuing solvency. However, Bush's plan earned unified opposition from congressional Democrats and failed to attract the necessary support from Republicans, and legislation on Social Security reform was never brought to a vote. Hurricane Katrina, one of the largest and most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the United States, ravaged several states along the Gulf of Mexico in August 2005. On a working vacation at his ranch in Texas, Bush initially allowed state and local authorities

title: Ike Dike
text: storm surge suppression. That corporation, the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District, Inc., was established on April 20, 2010. Galveston County Judge Jim Yarborough was elected chair of the board of directors and Robert Eckels, former county judge of Harris County, was elected President. Dannenbaum Engineering was appointed as the engineering consultant. Despite this, though, the declining economy in 2010 stifled efforts to secure funding and the project remains stalled. By the end of 2012 momentum toward building the structure had waned significantly, in large part due to Hurricane Sandy, which seriously damaged the U.S. Northeast and attracted attention

title: Effects of Hurricane Ike in Texas
text: Forces troops on standby. The Texas County of Brazoria called for voluntary evacuation and Matagorda County called for mandatory evacuation as did the County of Brazoria for zip code 77541 and the city of Lake Jackson. Galveston, parts of southern Houston and areas south of the city and near the Texas coast were under a mandatory evacuation order starting at noon September 11. On September 10, U.S. President George W. Bush made an emergency declaration for Texas in advance of Hurricane Ike, making more federal help available for preparations and evacuations. State rural water associations activated mutual aid networks to

title: Brazoria County, Texas
text: brought to be reinterred at the state capital in Austin. The town of West Columbia served as the first capital of Texas, dating back to pre-revolutionary days. Temple Lea Houston, youngest son of Sam Houston, was c. 1880 the county attorney of Brazoria County. His life story is reflected in the 1963 film "The Man from Galveston" and the 26-episode 1963-1964 NBC western television series, "Temple Houston". Lake Jackson is a community developed beginning in the early 1940s to provide housing to workers at a new Dow Chemical Company plant in nearby Freeport. The county has elements of both rural

title: Texas Municipal Retirement System
text: not cover city employees in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth, Galveston, and El Paso, which have their own retirement systems. Within a menu of options, each participating city determines and controls benefit levels for its employees. Retirement benefits for employees of participating cities are paid from the employees’ contributions, city contributions, and the System’s investment income. TMRS is headquartered at 1200 North Interstate 35 in Austin, Texas. It is governed by a six-member, unpaid Board of Trustees that is appointed by the Governor of Texas, with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate. Board members serve staggered, six-year

title: Texas County & District Retirement System
text: of benefits. This gives employers the flexibility and local control to select and pay for benefits based on their needs and budget. Employers review their plans annually and have the option to raise or lower benefits to control costs. Employees save for their own retirement over the length of their careers. TCDRS benefits are based on an employee’s total savings balance, which includes interest and employer matching contributions. This structure prevents benefit manipulation—or “benefit spiking”—sometimes found in plans using final average salary benefit formulas. Benefits are funded by each county or district and its employees. Each employer must pay 100%

title: Social Security Administration
text: agency was Thomas Elliott, one of Felix Frankfurter's "happy hot dogs." The first Social Security office opened in Austin, Texas, on October 14, 1936 Social Security taxes were first collected in January 1937, along with the first one-time, lump-sum payments. The first person to receive monthly retirement benefits was Ida May Fuller of Brattleboro, Vermont. Her first check, dated January 31, 1940 was in the amount of US$22.54. In 1939, the Social Security Board merged into a cabinet-level Federal Security Agency, which included the SSB, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and other agencies. In January 1940,

title: American Jewish Congress v. Bost
text: 21, 2002, the Houston Chronicle reported that the case would be sent to federal district court. The Rockefeller Institute of Government reported that the lawsuit is a response to the 1996 gathering of a number of churches and businesses in Brenham, Texas, that formed the "Jobs Partnership of Washington County," a program which has come under legal scrutiny. The Texas Freedom Network, a nonpartisan organization, reports that, "The religious message seemed to have a coercive impact on clients. About one-third of the participants said in the program evaluation that they felt pressure to join the host church, Grace Fellowship Baptist

title: Social Security (United States)
text: advocates of privatization of Social Security point to the Galveston pension plan as a model for Social Security reform, critics point to a GAO report to the House Ways and Means Committee, which indicates that, for low and middle income employees, particularly those with shorter work histories, the outcome may be less favorable. This claim also discounts the fact that investment in private markets is not risk-free and private investments can and often do lose value. A person whose investments fail for whatever reason may lose everything they invest and enter their retirement years penniless. Therefore, advocates argue, Social Security

title: Social Security Board (Belize)
text: Social Security Board (Belize) The Social Security Board (SSB) is a statutory corporation of Belize which administers the country's Social Security Fund. It was established in 1981 by Part IV of the Social Security Act (SSA). The SSB was established on 1 June 1981 with a staff of 26 and funding consisting of a government loan of BZ$50,000. By 2006, it had grown to 263 employees. In those 25 years it paid out a total of BZ$33 million in benefits, and collected BZ$49 million in contributions. The SSB's chief executive is referred to as the Manager. The Manager is appointed

title: Tax resistance in the United States
text: the social security program expressed their opposition in terms of opposing government overreach into private lives and contracts, and opposition to socialism. "For those of us who still have confidence in our own ability," one wrote, "such a socialistic thing should not be forced upon us." About a dozen women from around Marshall, Texas organized in 1951 to refuse to submit Social Security taxes on behalf of their domestic help. "It's not the money, it's the principle," said spokesperson Carolyn M. Abney. "That law is unconstitutional." The "Texas Housewives" (as they were invariably called in the newspapers) lost a court

title: Odessa College
text: and Brazosport College in Lake Jackson were proposed for closure by the State of Texas. The Texas Association of Community Colleges rallied successfully to keep the four instiututions open. In a letter to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio and Jim Pitts of Waxahachie in Ellis County, then the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, TAAC leaders referred to state budget restrictions at the time: Community colleges are fully aware of the state's budget crisis, and we understand that we will have to bear our share of the budget pain. We pledge to work with you to reach

title: Texas County & District Retirement System
text: 8%. Its 30-year return is 8.4%. TCDRS is invested in a broadly diversified portfolio, which reduces total exposure to losses from any single asset class or investment. How the plan works: The average TCDRS retiree begins retirement at age 61, after 18 years of service and receives an annual benefit of $20,940. Texas County & District Retirement System Created in 1967 by the Texas Legislature, the Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) works with 760 county and district employers to provide retirement, disability and survivor benefits to more than 294,000 Texas public employees and retirees. The system receives no

title: Hurricane Celia
text: then-President of the United States Richard Nixon declared seven counties in Texas as disaster areas – Aransas, Bee, Jim Wells, Live Oak, Nueces, Refugio, and San Patricio – allowing affected residents to be eligible for federal relief. Immediately, then-Governor of Texas Preston Smith sent National Guardsmen to the area to patrol and assist with recovery. About a week after the storm, Governor Smith stated that the most urgent need was financial assistance, and designated the American Red Cross as the official relief agency. The American Red Cross chapters in Colbert and Lauderdale counties in Alabama announced that they were accepting

title: Galveston County, Texas
text: who supported the United States in the Revolutionary War. Galveston County was formally established under the Republic of Texas on May 15, 1838. The county was formed from territory taken from Harrisburg, Liberty, and Brazoria Counties, with governmental organization taking place in 1839. The island and city of Galveston was by far the most important population center. The city of Galveston was the republic's largest city and its center of commerce and culture. Port Bolivar on the Bolivar Peninsula was a port of secondary importance. Other development in the area was initially mostly ranching interests and small farming communities. Texas

title: Hurricane Harvey
text: to Sargent. However, watches and warnings were re-issued as Harvey began to re-emerge into the Gulf of Mexico, and beginning at 15:00 UTC on August 28, a tropical storm warning was in effect for the entire Gulf Coast of Texas from High Island northward. Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency for 30 counties on August 23, while mandatory evacuations were issued for Brazoria, Calhoun, Jackson, Refugio, San Patricio, and Victoria counties, as well as parts of Matagorda County. On August 26, Governor Abbott added an additional 20 counties to the state of emergency declaration. Furthermore, the International Charter