Chapter Newsletter. Pendleton, Oregon. John. Chapter #2115 Officers. President s Report ~ John Robertson

Transcription

1 Chapter 2115 Newsletter Pendleton, Oregon Chapter #2115 Officers President John Robertson Vice President Vacant & Programs Legislative Lyle Jensen Secretary Colleen Hewes Treasurer Joyce McFarland Alzheimer s Rachel Eastman eastmans@wtechlink.us Public Relations Janet Lambert Membership...Bernie Hewes butchandcolleen@wtecklink.us Sunshine Lois Horton lh888@q.com Service Lois Horton lh888@q.com District 2A Representative... Lyle Jensen ljensen7510@gmail.com Editor John Robertson jrobertson@wtechlink.us Inside this Issue President s Report Page 1 Legislation Page 2 Federation Report Page 4 Meeting Notes Page 6 Service Report: Taxes Page 7 Service Report: TSP Page 7 Notes From the Editor Page 7 Next Meeting Page 8 Elected Officials Page 8 NARFE Congressional Switchboard Page 8 NARFE Websites Page 8 National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association Volume 10 Issue 2 February 2015 President s Report ~ John Robertson Well like many of you I watched the Super Bowl. I am not sure what they were thinking on that last play but I was disappointed in the outcome. Oh well there is always next year. Something I am not disappointed about is our up coming agenda and programs. Coming up in May is the Federation Convention to be held in Portland at the Monarch Hotel. The dates are May 3rd - 5th. The NARFE regional training conference will also be held at the Monarch, May 2-3. For those who want to attend these sessions, I will have the sign up sheet at the meeting. If your interested but can not attend please see the notes to the editor for information about signing up. At the meeting we will discuss Chapter representation, the costs and reimbursement. We also need to check the status of items for the Federation Alzheimer's Raffle. At the same time Rachel has been putting together a raffle basket for the Chapters Alzheimer's Raffle. Be sure to pickup tickets at the meeting. We are still pursuing advertisers for the newsletter. We had several suggestion at the last meeting and perhaps with your help we can find some support to fill in our ad space. This month program, thanks to Dale Hilding who made the arrangements, will be Mary Jane Peterson who will bring us up to date on the happenings at St. Mary s Outreach. We had planned to have a membership meeting last week but everyone but Lyle forgot about it. We will be doing this on Tuesday of this week. The purpose is to re-requite lapsed members. Results will be conveyed to members when available. I am still looking into the Distinguished Members recognition program. I look forward to seeing you at the February 12th meeting, 1130 at Sharis. John NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 1

2 L EGISLATION By Lyle Jensen The 114th Congress has convened and is already at work. Most of the initial legislative proposals are being reintroduced from the last session of Congress. Early action impacting the Federal community has generally been in the House. NARFE is tracking a series of bills that affect employees and retirees; one of NARFE's chief concerns is talk about the Federal community having to make sacrifices to pay for Congressional priorities. From a Federal employee and retiree perspective, the reintroduced bills demonstrate the partisan divide in Washington, D.C. A brief rundown of some of the bills NARFE is following include: -Representative Gerald Connolly (D-VA), and Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act (H.R.304 and S.164, respectively) which would provide Federal employees with a 3.8 percent pay raise in The act is intended to help reduce the widening pay gap between private and Federal government sectors and help recruit and retain a top quality workforce. NARFE has endorsed the legislation. In addition, NARFE President Richard Thissen has sent a letter to President Obama requesting that the 3.8 percent pay raise be included in the President's fiscal year (FY) 2016 budge - Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) has reintroduced a bill (H.R.138) that repeals the Affordable Care Act and requires the establishment of a national health program administered by OPM. The new program would offer Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) benefits to individuals who are not currently eligible for the FEHBP. NARFE has not taken a position on this legislation. - H.R.417 is legislation introduced by Representative Cynthia Lumnis (R-WY) that requires a reduction in the number of Federal employees, shrinking the workforce by 10 percent over the next five years. The reduction would be achieved through attrition by imposing a hiring freeze on any agency exceeding a limit of one new hire for every three departing employees. NARFE opposes this proposal. A bill introduced by Representative Ken Calvert (R-CA) would give the Defense Department until 2022 to reach a 15 percent workforce reduction. - The Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act (FEPPLA, H.R.532) was reintroduced by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) which would provide six weeks of paid leave to Federal employees for the birth of adoption of a child. NARFE President Thissen attended a press conference, joining Maloney and others in supporting the bill. On Jan. 15, President Obama signed a presidential memorandum requiring Federal agencies to advance up to six weeks of paid sick leave after the birth or adoption of a baby. President Obama hopes to push Congress into taking action on this issue. - The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform unanimously approved H.R.313, the Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act of Introduced by Representative Stephen Lynch (D-MA), the act provides service-disabled veterans employed by the Federal government with 104 hours of paid sick time for medical leave at the beginning of their employment. A companion bill, S.242, was introduced in the Senate by Senator John Tester (D-MT). In this Congress, Republicans are in position to set the agenda and pass their desired legislation. Congressional Democrats are in the unrewarding position of controlling nothing and can only deliver little. Some have suggested that with a Democrat in the White House, with veto power, gridlock will continue to prevail. Maybe! Gridlock is supposed to be a bad thing because nothing happens. However, these pundits also argue that Federal employees and retirees are a good example of groups (Continued on page 3) NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 2

3 LEGISLATION (Continued from page 2) who actually benefit from gridlock. It keeps politicians with political, personal and fiscal axes to grind from chopping up the Federal families' benefits' package. Other experts say that the Federal family is in for a rough ride and that benefits will be on the chopping block. I think we will have to stay alert and see how this divide plays out. On Jan. 20, President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech. Prior to the address, the President toured the country, giving speeches regarding the administrative agenda and previewing policies that he also discussed in the State of the Union. The speech did not contain any insights pertinent to the Federal family. The President is scheduled to release the Administration's FY2016 budget on Feb. 2, which shows the President's priorities for next year. In previewing the This space available for advertising. Please contact any chapter officer for further information. Administration's budget, the President proposes to add about $74 billion in spending (about a seven percent increase), split evenly between defense and domestic programs. On the domestic side, spending increases are focused on education, research, health care and infrastructure. The President is asking Congress to roll back the sweeping budget cuts (of sequestration) both parties agreed to four years ago. The proposed budget pays for spending increases by cutting inefficient programs and closing tax loopholes. Republican lawmakers are focused on reversing restraints on military spending and perhaps changing some of the sequester budget cuts. However, the Republicans seem to be divided on how to pay for the proposed changes to free up money for the military; some Republicans want to cut domestic programs while other favor cuts in mandatory programs such as Social Security and Medicare. The budget battles begin in earnest when the President releases his FY16 budget. Potential impacts to the Federal families' benefits in the President's budget, if any, will be reviewed in next month's newsletter. The House and Senate will release their budgets in mid -March. The budget and appropriations debate will continue throughout the spring and summer. NARFE anticipates that the impending budget battle could include policies negatively impacting the Federal family, change pay and benefits in the effort to reduce the government's costs. In addition, the country will be entering the fourth year of the 10-year budget sequestration plan. Interesting, OMB recently reported to Congress that reductions to agency discretionary budgets will not be necessary in 2015 as called for in the Budget Control Act, because spending levels are at or below spending caps. However, sequestration could return in FY2016. Some of the legislative proposals that could be debated in this Congress include the familiar list of ideas: Reduction in the COLA via the "chained" CPI; Changes to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program; Increasing retirement contributions for all active employees, not just new hires; Using the high-five years of salary instead of the high-three to determine annuities; Eliminating the Federal Employees Retirement System annuity supplement; Imposing pay freezes; Making arbitrary workforce reductions. NARFE has indicated that the Legislative Bill Tracker will appear again in the NARFE magazine March issue. The bill tracker is a great feature providing monthly (Continued on page 4) NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 3

4 LEGISLATION... (Continued from Page 3) updates on legislation that NARFE is following. The Legislative Action Center (on NARFE's website) has received a facelift. NARFE has contracted with CQ Roll Call to provide the new design and run the action center. Information on the site is currently being updated. I encourage members to explore the new site. Also, recently updated is the Protect Americas Heartbeat toolkit for a variety of legislative uses, including meeting with Congressional representatives. The kit provides excellent information and advice in conducting our legislative campaigns at the local level. In December's newsletter, I included a small paragraph discussing Phased Retirement and suggested that rollout would be very slow and uneven. Apparently this outlook is coming true. Only the Departments of Defense and Energy are expected to let their employees apply for the program in early NARFE sent an e- mail to more than 100 members who had expressed a particular interest in phased retirement, asking about what they have been told. Jessica Klement, NARFE Legislative Director, said that none replied that the option will be available to them anytime soon. "It's either 'I've heard nothing' or 'not for a while,' " Klement said. "A common theme is 'I'm no longer going to wait. I'm going to make my own retirement plans.' This option has been eagerly anticipated by a portion of the Federal workforce, but now they're fed up and making their plans independent of phased retirement." Prior to the January Federation meeting, I called Senator Merkley's Portland office, inquiring about a new NE Oregon field representative. I spoke to Ed Hall. He indicated that a person has not yet been selected but would let us know when the person is chosen. EDERATION REPORT By Lyle Jensen F The first Oregon Federation Executive Board meeting of the new year occurred on Jan. 22 in Albany. I attended this event. The meeting was primarily focused on the upcoming Federation Convention and Regional Training Conference in early May. Also featured were discussions about current NARFE topics and Federation officer reports. Mike Parker, Portland Chapter President, reported on the current status of planning for the May 3-5 Federation Convention at the Monarch Hotel in Clackamas (Portland). The Convention organization committee has met and is moving ahead. They have lined up Teddy Roosevelt as a Convention feature; Teddy is apparently a NARFE member. In addition, the committee is working on having a least two local Westside Congressional Representatives, Kurt Schrader and Susan Bonamici, speak to the Convention. (The early May date is apparently one of the House recesses.) The committee is also attempting to attract one of the National Officers, preferably the new National President, to the Convention. Many of the Convention logistical details are still being addressed. The Federation Executive Board made a review and provided suggestions on Convention schedule, activities and logistics. All members are encouraged to attend, as the Convention should be informative and fun. And it is close to home. The planned Regional Training/Conference will be held May 2-3, just prior to the Convention at the Monarch Hotel. Unfortunately, planning for the Training Conference is not as far along. Conference specifics have not been finalized and discussion topics have not yet been selected. My suggestion to the Board was to work on identifying NARFE problem areas, discussed by the group in the past. These included increasing membership, improving participation in activities (reducing apathy?) particularly in legislation and improving Chapter operations. In a discussion about the FY15 budget, the Board decided to pay an incentive for attendance at the Training/Conference. The registration fee for the first 30 NARFE members from Oregon Chapters who sign up will be paid by the Federation. Federal retiree (and employee) community service (volunteering) reporting continues to be a topic of Federation discussion. A few Chapters who recently gained members from a closed Chapter have found that they are not as "competitive" in the program because members in distant locations do not attend meetings. Some Board members were looking to simplify the process by (Continued on page 5) NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 4

5 FEDERATION REPORT... (Continued from Page 4) changing reporting requirements, removing cash award incentives and other suggestions. Much discussion ensued but in the end the Board voted to maintain the current process. The process includes reporting community volunteer hours at each meeting, using total Chapter voting members as the base for comparison and providing some publicity on the contribution of NARFE (Federal) members to the entire community. One major weakness has been providing publicity on Federal employees and retirees volunteering at both state and local levels. This needs improvement. One of the concerns of the E-Board is the current status of Strategic Planning in addressing the Future of NARFE (FON). Lanny Ross, Northwest Region Vice-President, talked about current programs and handed out briefing materials. The last National Convention passed a resolution calling for establishment of a standing Strategic Planning Committee no later than Feb. 15, To launch both strategic planning and brand development, the National Executive Board, as part of their November meeting, approved NARFE's market research program. The apparent intent is to address everything from membership to the association's future. A firm, Bates Creative, has been hired to conduct the research. The plan is to conduct the research in two phases. In phase one, prospective NARFE members' focus groups in the Washington, D.C. area are expected to provide insights into the perceptions, preferences and unfilled needs of the next generation of potential members. In the second phase, online surveys and phone interviews will be conducted to provide quantifiable results from prospective, current, and lapsed members. Results of the studies are expected to help the Strategic Planning Committee in developing a process road map for determining the Future of NARFE. Some members may be asked to provide input in the market research online or by telephone surveys. Please provide your thoughts to the questions if you are asked. With the downsizing of National officers to two (President and Secretary/Treasurer) based on the vote at the last National Convention, a reshuffling of NARFE departments and positions have occurred. One major change of note is that Chris Farrell, formerly a National legislative analysis and PAC coordinator, has been moved to a state legislative advocacy position. NARFE President, Richard Thissen, has placed increased emphasis on working with state legislation, in part because many in Congress were former state legislators. Two new positions are being created in the Marketing Department, a Deputy Director for Marketing and Deputy Director for Non-Dues Revenue. The marketing deputy will focus on recruitment and retention at the National level and support membership efforts in the field. The non-dues revenue marking director will work on business development to increase revenue. The other change is to place more responsibility on the Regional VPs to act as the local resource (since NARFE has a downsized staff). Members are urged to contact the Regional VPs on issues, questions and problems rather than the NARFE headquarters. But, I believe Lanny Ross has always served the Chapters and Federation well in this capacity. Membership is another topic of ongoing concern. Lanny Ross reported that as of Dec. 31, national membership was 236,890, up slightly from the October report. Total active employee membership remains at about 22,500. However, the net loss in 2014 was greater than Lanny also reported that, nationally, NARFE has 1258 Chapters, as of the end of December. Ellen Calkins, Federation Membership VP, commented again that Oregon members are declining primarily because members are dying faster than new ones are recruited. Regarding Chapter closures, Ellen was concerned that the Federation was not doing everything possible to keep them open and offered suggestions for possible action. Her specific focus was on the recently closed Bend - Redmond chapter. Follow up discussion centered on the fact that members leave Chapters for a reason; Chapters need to provide value to their members. Subsequent to the meeting, Ruthann Couch, Eugene Chapter President, (Continued on page 6) NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 5

6 FEDERATION REPORT... (Continued from Page 5) announced that their Chapter will be holding their April meeting in the Bend-Redmond area with the intent of stimulating interest in re-opening the closed Chapter. The National e-chapter (#2623) continues to grow and is now at 24,943 members, with Oregon at 356 e- Chapter members. The e-chapter has elected new national leadership which replaces the headquarters leadership. A controversy seems to be brewing over use of dues monies being partially returned to the Federations (and first year to Chapters) while none is returned to the e-chapter for their operations. We'll probably hear more about this as the e-chapter flexes its muscles. Zane Suverly, Federation VP for Legislation, provided an update on legislation, including his view for the upcoming two-year period. He thinks that the next two years will be similar to President Bush's last two. There were no vetoes until Democrats controlled Congress; Bush then vetoed about 60 bills. By inference, Zane expects President Obama to follow a similar game plan and take similar actions. Certainly, proposed legislation introduced by Democrats will gain little traction in the current Congress. However, in my view, President Obama seems more willing to "compromise" and may not be as aggressive with the veto. For example, the President has already signaled that he favors certain proposals, such as the "chained" CPI. At the time of the meeting, Zane pointed out that Congress is just starting and some of the legislation affecting the Federal community has been reintroduced. Various "nuts and bolts" organizational items were discussed. Several talked about ensuring that the Scholarship Program is well publicized to increase the number of candidates. Applications are due by the end of April and can be found in the NARFE magazine. The importance of contributing to NARFE PAC was stressed by Lanny Ross, to help maintain our influence in Congress. Total PAC contributions are declining as total membership goes down. During the election cycle, NARFE members contributed about $920,000. New PAC donors pins are available with a contribution. Few Service Officers are being recognized for their contributions and nominated for the national award. Unfortunately, the nomination due date was Jan. 30. Two Service Officer training modules are being offered on the NARFE website. One candidate from Oregon will be attending the National Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. in March. Lanny also spoke to the lack of participation in NARFE legislative webinars in the Northwest Region. Discussion centered on ensuring that members are informed of the upcoming webinar events. One possible explanation was that only about a third of Oregon members are on NARFE GEMS, in which they could receive the information. The Federation Alzheimer's Coordinator, Darlene Raish, updated the Board on the program. Total national contributions to the program amount to about $11.2 million at the end of December; the goal is to achieve $12 million by She reported that Oregon totals are ahead of last year. The final yearly reporting "cut-off" date is March 31. She plans to send Chapter Alzheimer's Coordinators and Treasurers additional information in February. inutes of NARFE Meeting January 8, 2015 M President John Robertson called the meeting to order 11:42 a.m. After a brief moment of silence, the Pledge of Allegiance was repeated by the group. Approval of minutes as printed in the December newsletter. Moved and seconded to accept the minutes as printed in the newsletter. Treasurer s report: $3, in checkbook; members dues paid for November and October were read. Reports of Officers and Committee Chairs: Legislation: Jessica Klement, Legislative Director, top three priorities for st: workforce policy reforms; 2nd: Budget Direction for committees; 3rd: Legislating by headlines. Jason Chaffetz, new leader of Government Reform Committee, wants substantive legislation starting with USPS reform and workforce policies. Volunteer: As of 12/2014 2, hours reported for final report. Alzheimer s: $617.40; $ from individuals, the balance from the chapter rummage sale. Membership: We are down to 108 chapter members. As of the end of the year and the $10.00 NARFE rebate for signing up a member ended. Public Relations: We did not make it in the newspaper. Sunshine: Let Lois know anyone who needs a card. Send a card to Bill Hensley and Charlene Rooper. Service: None Program: Bonnie Day, Art s Center 2015 programs and classes. Brought an art print as a drawing. Many youth and adult classes starting the week of January 12, Check out their website If you want to help with maintenance week it is January 20-23, Old Business: No one wanted to go to the legislative training in March. We would like to honor some of our chapter members of 20 years or more. New Business: Federation Convention: in Portland, Ore- (Continued on page 7) NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 6

7 MEETING MINUTES... (Continued from Page 6) gon, May 3 5, This should be a good convention to voice our opinions on where the Future of NARFE Our chapter is eligible for three delegates. Next Meeting: Thursday, February 12, 2015, at Shari s Restaurant. Program will be Mary Jane Peterson, St. Mary s Outreach. Colleen Hewes, Secretary ERVICE REPORT: TAXES By Lyle Jensen S NARFE recently published two items concerning taxes that members should find informative: Update on Tax Form 1099-R Each year, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sends form 1099-R, Statement Annuity Paid, to both retires and survivors for use in filing income tax returns. OPM will print and mail these forms to annuitants who have not signed up to receive them electronically, in time to be received by Jan. 31. Many retirees and survivors are using OPM's Services Online to view and print their forms. OPM is currently updating the site to have the 2014 forms available by Jan. 31. Until the site becomes available, those who need a duplicate form 1099-R for prior years will have to make a request either by calling or by ing OPM at retire@opm.gov. Question - Will OPM calculate the tax-free portion of my annuity and include the information on my 1099-R? I don't understand why this is referred to as tax-free money. Answer - For most retirees, OPM provides the amount of your annuity that was tax-free on the CSA 1099-R, which you receive each year. But to use that amount in filing your returns, you need to get a copy of Publication 721, Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Retirement Benefits. You can download this guide from the Internal Revenue Service website at You also can request a copy by calling the IRS at This publication includes the formula to use to compute the amount of your annuity that would be tax-exempt. You will have to calculate this deduction and claim it on your tax return. You paid taxes on your retirement contributions before they were placed in the retirement fund. The IRS uses your contribution to compute the tax-exempt portion of your annuity. The IRS refers to this deduction as the tax-free portion of your annuity. But it is not really "tax-free" because you already paid taxes on your contributions. ERVICE REPORT: THRIFT SAVINGS PROGRAM S By Lyle Jensen In last month's newsletter, I discussed the Thrift Savings Program's (TSP) value due to its basic options and low administrative fees. TSP administrators have been pressured to add more funds and options to the program. The headline in a recent report in Fed Week (1/29/15) indicates that more investment choices may not be better: A report from the Center for Retirement Research argues in favor of having a limited choice of funds in retirement savings programs similar to the TSP, as well as restrictions on the ability of investors to move money among funds frequently. The report said, "Due to the growing influence of 401(k)s researchers have examined numerous aspects of the investment choices made by plan participants. Virtually all the finding suggest that the individual investor does not make very good decisions." The report meanwhile looked at what happened when the administrator of such plans added or dropped investment options. In many cases, that involved dropping options that had been performing poorly and adding those that had been performing well. However, once those changes were made, the added funds did worse while the dropped funds did better. "This finding suggests that plan managers were chasing returns, but their efforts to tinker with their fund selections had essentially no impact on overall performance. The outcome underscores the traditional investor's caveat that past performance does not predict future returns," it said. The study's conclusion: "The mutual funds that 401(k) administrators select achieve investment returns that are worse than comparable index funds." otes From the Editor By John Robertson N If you are interested in attending the Regional on Training Conference and the Federation Convention in Portland in May but will not be attending the February meeting you need to contact me directly so we can get you signed up. For the convention we have helped cover the expenses of members attending the past. In the past we have covered Registration fees as well as meals, lodging and $0.35 per mile for travel. As part of the sign up you will need me tell me your choices for the three meals available at the conference. I will have those available when you contact me. Basically there is a chicken and vegetarian dish for the two luncheons and the dinner. Plus a pork and pot roast for the luncheons and a London broil for the banquet. NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 7

8 John Robertson Best Road Pendleton, OR Address Service Requested NARFE Chapter 2115 Next Meeting. Thursday, February 12th at 11:30 Location. Shari s Program: St. May s Outreach Mary Jane Peterson ELECTED OFFICIALS U.S. Senate Ron Wyden: La Grande contact: Kathleen Cathey kathleen_cathey@wyden.senate.gov FAX U.S. Senate...Jeff Merkley senator@merkley.senate.gov Portland Office Contact, Jessica Stevens, jessica_stevens@merkley.senate.gov U.S. Representative Greg Walden: La Grande contact: Kirby Garrett kirby.garrett@mail.house.gov FAX NARFE Congressional Switchboard (This is a toll free number) Ask for your Representative or Senator White House.. ( ) NARFE...National Office Oregon Federation NARFE Chapter 2115 Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 8