Sun City West Chapter 1789 Newsletter

NATIONAL ACTIVE AND RETIRED FEDERAL
EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION - 1789
23207 N VIA DE LA CABELLA
SUN CITY WEST AZ 85375
Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage Paid
Sun City AZ
Permit 248
'
Current Resident or
SUN CITY WEST CHAPTER 1789
January 2015
NEWSLETTER
National Active and Retired Federal Employees
CHAPTER 1789 OFFICERS FOR 2015
President’s Notes – Daniel Reilly
I like to thank everyone who attended the Christmas/Holiday
Party.
I especially wish to thank the Federation President for attending
and performing the swearing in ceremony.
Membership: One new member joined in December and two
new members will be joining in January
As we begin a New Year (2015), there will be many new goals
that we will be facing with the new 114th Congress. We all
must be vigilant and watchful as the new congress begin there
legislation on any and all upcoming bills.
We received the following email.
President: Daniel Reilly, 623 680-1667,
[email protected]
Vice President: Vic Peterson, 1-775 934 4045,
[email protected]
Thank You
Dan, Barbara and Sun City West Chapter
Members I want to thank you for inviting me to your
December Holiday meeting. The food was good, the
hospitality great, and I was glad to be able to meet with
your members.
Continue the good work and hope to see
everyone in Sierra Vista on May 3-5.
Secretary: Barbara Wrinkle, 928 252-2419,
[email protected]
Treasurer: Marvin Stein, 623 214-7244,
[email protected].
Membership Chair: Josephine Sala, 623 249-6205,
[email protected]
Congressional / State Legislative Officer: Vic Peterson,
Program Chair, NARFE-PAC Chair:
Etta Bryant, President
Arizona Federation
Service Officer:Joan Babecki, Alzheimer’s Chair: 623
546-3249, [email protected]
Sunshine: Rose Carrillo, 623- 546 1097, June Robinson
Welcome/Sign-in: Dorothy Hebert, 623 546-4349 and
Rose Carrillo
Historian: Cynthia Sherman, 623 584-8924
Newsletter Editor: Ron Castaneda, 623- 546 5596,
[email protected]
Public Relations Officer: Open
Executive meeting 1st Friday of every month. February 6th
9:30am Basha's Community Meeting Room Camino Del
Sol & R.H. Johnson, Sun City West. All members welcomed
to attend.
NARFE Chapter 1789
1
January 2015
Dates to Remember
Thursday January 22nd, 2015 12:00pm Luncheon 1:00pm Meeting, Golden Corral, Litchfield & Grand,
Surprise, AZ
DAY AT THE RACES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015
Thursday, February 26 1:00pm at the Foundation Building will be Sgt. Derick Elmore from the Phoenix PD
speaking on Silent Witness Program
May 3,4,5 Arizona Federation Biennial Convention. Windemere Hotel and Conference Center Sierra Vista, AZ
Phone: 520-459-5900
Minutes of the Monthly Membership Meeting
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Coco’s Restaurant, 98th Avenue & Bell Road, Sun City, AZ
Submitted by Secretary Barbara Wrinkle
BUSINESS MEETING
Following the annual Holiday Luncheon,
President Daniel Reilly called the meeting to order at 1:25
p.m. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance
led by President Reilly and was followed by a moment of
silence to honor troops at home and abroad, and active
and retired federal employees.
All Executive Board members were present.
Thirty members and six guests attend the luncheon and
meeting. President Reilly welcomed the Arizona
Federation President Etta Bryant and her husband Mike.
Also, he welcomed two new chapter members, Ethel
(Sadie) Wright and Delores McCaslin. President Reilly
introduced the National Region VII Vice President, and a
member of Chapter 1789, Rodney Adelman; Arizona
Federation Vice President Thad Andreski; Arizona
Federation State Legislative Chair and member of
Chapter 1789, Vic Peterson; and Arizona Federation
District I Vice President, and member of Chapter 1789,
Ron Castaneda.
President Reilly thanked the members for their
generous donations to the West Valley Food Bank. The
Chapter will conduct another food drive in April 2015.
ARIZONA FEDERATION PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Bryant thanked the chapter for inviting
her. She discussed concerns and issues that impact
NARFE.
NARFE Chapter 1789
Arizona Federation Convention: The
Convention will be hosted by the Sierra Vista Chapter,
May 3-5, 2015. Additional information will be published in
early 2015. The Federation is looking for people to run
for offices. Some positions have been vacant for some
time. This is not good for the organization.
Service Officer of the Year Award: The
nominations are due January 16, 2015. The nominees
are submitted to the Federation, then to Region VII, and
then forwarded to National.
Chapter Website: The chapters should keep
their websites current. Include a listing of officers and
other pertinent information. The chapter needs to update
the F-7 with current officers. Ms. Wrinkle volunteered to
complete the update.
IRS Form for Non-profit Organizations: The
chapter needs to complete the IRS form by May 5, 2015
to maintain their non-profit status.
Arizona Federation Newsletter: The current
newsletter is being discontinued and will be replaced with
a Federation Newspaper, published without cost to the
Federation. The Publishing Company will solicit ads from
Arizona companies. Colorado and Michigan have already
published copies and have received favorable reviews.
The newspapers do not replace chapter newsletters.
The newspapers will be mailed directly to all NARFE
members.
Recruitment: The National/Federation
recruitment campaign will continue until December 31,
2015. Anyone recruiting a new member will receive
$10.00 from National and $10.00 from the Federation. Be
sure to include your membership number on the
membership application form. From September through
November there were only 18 recruiters. From October
2
January 2015
to now NARFE gained 512 new members; however, it
was almost overcome with the number of loses to
NARFE.
Legislative Actions: The 113th Congress did
manage to pass a spending bill except for the Homeland
Security Agency. The National Defense Act included the
authority to hire annuitants without impacting pensions.
The bills not passed by the 113th Congress expired, and
everything will start over in the 114th Congress on
January 6, 2015. The Chained CPI will certainly be one
of the fist items to be pushed.
Phased retirements have been approved but will
take time to get the procedures and guidelines in place.
The self-plus one will be offered for the first time
as a part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plans
starting in 2016. It is all ready offered in the Dental and
Vision Plans. This action should create a great deal of
activity at the Health Fairs in 2015. All chapters should
prepare early for the Health Fairs.
Several online discussion sessions will be held in
January. Anyone can participate. If you are interested
please contact [email protected].
All members should send letters to their
representatives and let them know how you feel about the
NARFE issues. Go to the NARFE website, look for the
Legislative Action Center, hit the submit key and the
already prepared letters will automatically go to the
representatives. Also there is a NARFE Daily Media
Monitoring Service provided by Jason Freeman. Just
send him an email at [email protected] and the service
will start immediately.
Federation President Bryant ended her talk with a
charming poem.
ADJOURNMENT
President Reilly called for a motion to
adjourn the meeting. Kris Reilly introduced the
motion; it was seconded by Dorothy Hebert, and was
passed unanimously to adjourn at 2:00 p.m.
LAST CALL !!
DAY AT THE RACES TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
You can sign up until Thursday, January 22,
2015, which is the day of our monthly chapter
meeting.
Those attending should drive East on Bell
Road to 19th Avenue , turn right and drive about ¼
mile to the next traffic light then turn left into Turf
Paradise. Park at Gate 2 and check in at the Turf
Club. Give the person at the gate your Group Name
which is NARFE Chapter 1789. Arrive at 11:00 a.m.,
lunch at 11:30. The first race is at approximately
12:55 P.M.
. Bring a friend – $24.00 per person will buy
you a great fun day.
Call Ernie at 623-584 3615
-------------------------------------------------------------------Membership- Josephine Sala
247 chapter members voting
22 national life members non voting.
18 national only non voting
INSTALLATION OF 2015 OFFICERS
Federation President Bryant administered the oath of
office for the 2015 Officers:
President – Daniel Reilly
Vice President – Vic Peterson
Secretary – Barbara Wrinkle
Treasurer – Marvin Stein
50/50
Marvin Stein conducted the 50/50. Of the $97.00
collected, $48.00 was distributed among three winners.
The other $49.00 will be contributed to the chapter
treasury.
NARFE Chapter 1789
2 new prospective members
We also welcomed new members Sadie Wright. Mary Ellen
Vitto recruited a new member Delores McCaslin
Sunshine Committee
June Robinson reports that our chapter sadly has lost the
following member;
Ruth Goldstein - Surprise AZ
Vice President and Program Chair- Vic Peterson
Upcoming programs are as follows: February meeting
02/26/2015 at the Foundation Building will be Sgt. Derick
Elmore from the Phoenix PD speaking on Silent Witness
3
January 2015
Program. April Meeting on 04/23/2015 at the Foundation
Building will be a representative from Hospice of the Valley
speaking on Hospice care.
LEGISLATIVE REPORT Vice President - Victor Peterson
The new congress will be in session on January 6. As most of
you know there will be a big change in the outlook as the
Republicans have control of the senate and they also picked
up some seats in the house. There will be new leadership in
the senate and all the committees in the senate will now be
under Republican control.
What does that mean for Federal Employees and Retirees,
probably big battles to maintain what we have in benefits ,
including our retirement and our FEHB.
All the old bills that were introduced in the last congress are
now dead, but there will be many new bills introduced. The
outlook is not good, as there are rumors of more attacks on
SS ( Social Security ), Federal Retirement, Medicare and
FEHB. NARFE at the National level will be watching these
very closely, and will be keeping us advised. If you are
connected to GEMS this is an outstanding way to keep up
on this. Also NARFE has a daily legislative update, during
the session, if you are interested send Jason Freeman an
email to let him know you want included on the update.
[email protected]. I will be keeping you all updated as
time goes on.
On the state level, the governor has not introduced his
budget yet, but the state in facing a half billion dollar budget
deficit, so that mean there will be drastic cuts. Many of
these will come to seniors programs which I will be keeping
a close eye on. There are a few bills on the state level that
have been pre filed, one of some interest is to realign the
state income tax codes, I will be watching this closely to see
if there will something could be attached to this to aﬀect
our membership. Remember stay active it is your earned
benefits that you are protecting.
Service Officer - Joan Babecki
The only calls I received this month were to make
reservations for our Holiday Party. This is always good news.
This Holiday Party brought out members we don't often see
at the chapter meeting. It was great to see a large turnout.
This should happen every month. Maybe we just get out of
the habit of attending the monthly meetings. Mark your
calendar for the 4th Thursday and again support your
NARFE Chapter. Thanks!
Alzheimer's Chair - Joan Babecki
Scientists say National Alzheimer's plan research milestones
must be strengthened. The U.S. Government has initiated a
major eﬀort to prevent and eﬀectively treat Alzheimer's
disease by 2025. However a workgroup of nearly 40
Alzheimer's researchers and scientists says the research
milestone in the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's
Disease must be broadened in scope, increased in scale and
adequately funded in order to successfully achieve this goal.
The Alzheimer's Association is the forefront of proving
support to individuals and families as well as lobbying for
increased funds for research. Dementia is a general term for
a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with
daily life, memory loss is an example Alzheimer's is the most
common type of dementia. Many people have memory loss
issues, however, this does not mean they Alzheimer's
another dementia. Ask your doctor to evaluate the person
and a neurologist should also be involved.
The Alzheimer's Association is the forefront of proving
support to individuals and families as well as lobbying for
increased funds for research. Dementia is a general term for
a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with
daily life, memory loss is an example Alzheimer's is the most
common type of dementia. Many people have memory loss
issues, however, this does not mean they Alzheimer's
another dementia. Ask your doctor to evaluate the person
and a neurologist should also be involved.
All members are encouraged to submit articles for Chapter 1789's Newsletter. Articles like birthdays, anniversaries and
passed members should be sent to our Sunshine committee? All others should be emailed to the newsletter editor ,
Ron Castaneda, [email protected], with the Subject - 1789 Newsletter submission. Articles of interest to NARFE
and Chapter 1789 will be considered. Submit articles for the newsletter by Monday following the chapter monthly
meeting.
NARFE Chapter 1789
4
FEDERAL EMPLOYEE DEFICIT REDUCTION
CONTRIBUTIONS
Federal employee pay scales were frozen
in 2010 by the President (and supported
by Congress) for two years (P.L.112-10).
Congress froze salaries a third year as
part of the FY13 funding package (P.L.
113-6). As such, federal employees did
not receive a pay raise in 2011, 2012, or
2013. Over ten years, the three-year
freeze will save $98 billion.
As part of the deal to extend the payroll
tax holiday and unemployment insurance
(P.L. 112-96), future federal employees
will pay more for their retirement
benefits, without any corresponding
increase in benefits. Employees hired in
2013 pay 2.3% more than those hired
before January 1, 2013. This provision,
at a savings of $15 billion over 10 years,
was used to offset the cost of extending
unemployment insurance.
In 2013, over 750,000 federal employees
were furloughed as a result of
sequestration. This cost federal
employees over $1 billion in lost wages
in 2013 alone.
Retirement contributions from future
federal employees were increased again
in the Murray-Ryan budget agreement,
which laid out a budget framework for
FY14 and FY15 (P.L. 113-67).
Employees hired in 2014 and,
presumably, beyond, will now pay 3.6%
more for their retirement than those hired
before January 1, 2013, without any
corresponding increase in benefits. This
saves $6 billion over 10 years.
For more information, please contact Jessica Klement, Legislative Director, at [email protected],
or John Hatton, Deputy Legislative Director, at [email protected].