Living power For all who have made a living and now wish to make a life Association North Carolina Retired Governmental Employees’ NCRGEA Board of Directors District 1 Edward J. Sheary, Weaverville Clifton B. Metcalf, Lake Junaluska, Treasurer District 2 Charles K. Beck, Lenoir Linda K. Story, Granite Falls District 3 Larry F. Kepley, Lexington Ben L. Neal, Clemmons District 4 Robert C. Atwater, Chapel Hill Thomas W. Lane, Butner District 5 John H. Manley, Jr., Rocky Mount Irene B. Pollard, Farmville District 6 Evelyn C. Gerdes, Charlotte Martha Sue Hall, Albemarle District 7 Beverly Stewart, Whispering Pines Frank Lewis, Lillington District 8 George B. Chapman, Raleigh George E. Currie, Raleigh Vann Langston, Raleigh, Vice President Michele Nelson, Raleigh, Secretary Linda S. Suggs, Morrisville, President District 9 Vacant Continued on Page 2 President’s Message - We Need You Involved in Our Strategic Planning Despite a world filled with tools to help us better communicate, we still often struggle to have sincere engagement with each other. Even for an association as large as ours, the largest public sector association in North Carolina and the largest retiree association in the United States, this is no exception. We’re mindful of this. And we’re working every day to find ways to better engage our membership, with our leadership team as well as with each other. This year, we are working on a long-term strategic plan. One goal of this effort is to increase member engagement by becoming more connected with government retirees, within their own com- munities. Our hope is that improved involvement will keep our membership growing, and more importantly, give our members the information they need to be active, engaged members of NCRGEA. While we’re in this planning stage, we welcome your thoughts and feedback on how we can best engage with you. You will also hear us ask you how to better engage at our summer focus group meetings and our fall district meetings. At our spring district meetings, we began surveying our attendees on this and will re- port back to you our findings as we continue hearing the voices of our members. We’d like to see you at our upcoming seven focus group meet- ings in late July. Go to Pages 10 and 11 for dates and locations, and to sign up to attend. On our advocacy front, we’ve spent many hours this legisla- tive session meeting with members and leadership. Our goal is to Volume 35, Number 3 May-June 2019
Transcript
LivingpowerFor all who have made a living and now wish to make a life
Association
North Carolina
Retired Governmental Employees’
NCRGEA Board of DirectorsDistrict 1
Edward J. Sheary, WeavervilleClifton B. Metcalf, Lake Junaluska, Treasurer
District 2Charles K. Beck, Lenoir
Linda K. Story, Granite FallsDistrict 3
Larry F. Kepley, LexingtonBen L. Neal, Clemmons
District 4Robert C. Atwater, Chapel Hill
Thomas W. Lane, ButnerDistrict 5
John H. Manley, Jr., Rocky MountIrene B. Pollard, Farmville
District 6Evelyn C. Gerdes, CharlotteMartha Sue Hall, Albemarle
District 7Beverly Stewart, Whispering Pines
Frank Lewis, LillingtonDistrict 8
George B. Chapman, RaleighGeorge E. Currie, Raleigh
Vann Langston, Raleigh, Vice PresidentMichele Nelson, Raleigh, Secretary
Linda S. Suggs, Morrisville, PresidentDistrict 9
Vacant
Continued on Page 2
President’s Message - We Need You Involved in Our Strategic Planning
Despite a world filled with tools to help us better communicate, we still often struggle to have sincere engagement with each other. Even for an association as large as ours, the largest public sector association in North Carolina and the largest retiree association in the United States, this is no exception. We’re mindful of this. And we’re working every day to find ways to better engage our membership, with our leadership team as well as with each other.
This year, we are working on a long-term strategic plan. One goal of this effort is to increase member engagement by becoming more connected with government retirees, within their own com-munities. Our hope is that improved involvement will keep our membership growing, and more importantly, give our members the information they need to be active, engaged members of NCRGEA. While we’re in this planning stage, we welcome your thoughts and feedback on how we can best engage with you. You will also hear us ask you how to better engage at our summer focus group meetings and our fall district meetings. At our spring district meetings, we began surveying our attendees on this and will re-port back to you our findings as we continue hearing the voices of our members. We’d like to see you at our upcoming seven focus group meet-ings in late July. Go to Pages 10 and 11 for dates and locations, and to sign up to attend. On our advocacy front, we’ve spent many hours this legisla-tive session meeting with members and leadership. Our goal is to
Volume 35, Number 3 May-June 2019
2 Living Power
President’s Message cont’d. protect the benefits you hold dear for future gen-erations of public servants. So far, we are receiving a positive response. We’ll keep you posted as the session progresses. As always, we hope these brighter, warmer days bring you a fulfilled and joyous summer. We’ll be back in touch soon. Meanwhile, please reach out to your legislators at home in your community. Let them know that you are a member of NCRGEA. Thank them for their support and let them know that you support the organization that is working to protect your benefits and the health of our won-derful retirement system. Linda S. Suggs, NCRGEA President
P.O. Box 1035, Roxboro, NC 27573
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Large Print To receive a large print version by email, send an email to [email protected] and request to be added to the Large Print List Serv. Be sure to include your name, mailing address and email address. Our large print version is also posted on our NCRGEA website www.ncrgea.com. We also provide a copy to Friends of the Blind for audio recording: www.friendsoftheblind.org.
NC Senate Members - Alphabetically by County .......... 8-9
NCRGEA Focus Groups ............................................. 10REGISTER for Focus Groups ..................................... 11Carolina Cruise & Tours .............................................................11
Sign Up to Receive Email Legislative Reports ..................12
IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS ..............................................12
Living Power is published to provide current information for NCRGEA’s membership. Newsletters are printed bimonthly and mailed to all members of NCRGEA. Your comments are welcome.
Editor: Richard E. Rogers, Jr.Managing Editor: Donna K. Riggs
For address changes, suggestions or comments, please contact:NCRGEA • 528 Wade Avenue • Raleigh, NC 27605919.834.4652 • 1.800.356.1190 • www.ncrgea.com
To receive Living Power newsletter electronically, please send an email to [email protected] and include your full name and the city where you live.
IN THIS ISSUE
Get your retiree friends to join NCRGEA!
3May-June 2019
This year, we are taking a fresh look at how we can best advocate for you at the General Assembly. With every legislative session we face similar chal-lenges. This legislative session, however, business as usual doesn’t work anymore. We are asking legislative members to look at incremental ways to safeguard our pension system with a goal to pro-tect for future generations our pensions defined-benefit plans rather than moving to defined-contri-bution (401K) plans. As an architect of the study to come up with sus-tainable solutions to protect our public pension, we hope to also develop ways to provide consis-tent, future costs of living adjustments (COLAs) for ALL government retirees. Senate Bill 403 - State and Local Government Pensions/PED Study was introduced by Senator Steinburg. Stay tuned for updates as this bill progresses, as well as updates on the subsequent study to come. Here’s a snapshot of other bills of interest: • Senate Bill 243 - Give Retirees a 5% COLA/Funds - Senator Waddell has filed a “go for the gold” cost of living adjustment bill, providing a 5 percent cost of living adjustment for TSERS. • Senate Bill 657 - Expand Property Tax Home-stead Exclusion Act - Senator Mohammed’s bill expands the homestead exclusion income cap from $25,000 to $35,000 for eligible property owners and allows the Department of Revenue to reimburse counties for lost revenue from the bill’s implementation. • House Bill 213 - Equal income tax treatment of retirees’ benefits will allow non-Bailey vested re-tirees to deduct from their adjusted gross income the amount received in the taxable year from local, state and federal retirement plans sponsored by Rep. George Cleveland. NCRGEA fully supports these bills and will advo-cate for their passage. As always, our most important charge is to fight for retiree cost of living adjustments. This year struggles continue, declining pension values and ever-tightening budget dollars will make our ef-forts more difficult than ever. Because of this, we are working with House and Senate bills to create additional legislation for a 1 % recurring cost of living adjustment AND a 1% bonus for retirees.
We’re also working with the State Treasurer’s office on roughly a half dozen administrative bills as part of the State Treasurer’s legislative agenda — in all, amounting to more than 85 pages of tech-nical and substantive statutory changes. We’re on guard to ensure any actions taken will not impact our membership and retirees negatively. State Health Plan One pillar of our legislative agenda is “keeping the State Health Plan healthy.” With increasing costs and access issues in our rural areas, this agenda item couldn’t be more important. The legislature, State Treasurer, as well as other stake-holder groups including NCRGEA, are working together to begin identifying proactive adjust-ments to keep this critical benefit for our active and retired public servants. While these groups may not all be in agreement now, all of us know we have to address the pending unsustainable cost to manage the State Health Plan. State Treasurer Folwell’s “clear pricing proj-ect,” limiting reimbursement rates for providers that average 182% of the Medicare rate has met both considerable opposition and support. Op-ponents of the State Treasurer’s plan, including many healthcare providers, doctors and hospitals, support -House Bill 184 - Study State Health Plan Design – that requires a study to comprehensively review health plan reforms over an 18-month pe-riod. In all, we’ve gone all in for this 2019 legisla-tive session. We look forward to shared successes and sharing more with you in the future.
Attention Member Spouses: Be an Associate Member! The spouse of any dues-paid active member can join NCRGEA as an “Associate Member” for only $25 a year. Associate Members can access all full member benefits of our Association and also be covered by our $10,000 Accidental Death & Dismemberment benefit. You can download the Associate Membership application from our website www.ncrgea.com or call our NCRGEA office to have one mailed to you 1-800-356-1190.
Mailing Address ChangeOur post office is moving so we will receive all mail at our street address.
NCRGEA528 Wade Avenue
Raleigh, NC 276705
10 Living Power
NCRGEA Regional Focus Groups
Register Early - Space is Limited!We want your input! Your NCRGEA Board of Directors is working on a strategic plan to grow membership, to become more involved in your communities, and to increase our legislative influence to benefit you. WE NEED YOUR IDEAS!!
We are getting member input during our Spring and Fall district meetings, and to ensure we get input statewide, we have scheduled focus group meetings in July and August. These two-hour meetings will differ from our regular district meetings—no exhibitors, no benefits presentations, no meals (sorry). We want to spend time talking with you and hearing from you!
Complete and return the registration form on page 11 and check the focus group you will attend. Or register on our website for REGIONAL FOCUS GROUP MEETINGS – www.ncrgea.com
Space is limited – register by July 5.
City, Date, Time Meeting LocationWINSTON-SALEM - Monday, July 22Time: 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Forsyth Tech Community College in the Robert L. Strickland Center (2nd Floor Auditorium) located at 1615 Miller Street in Winston-Salem. For directions, call: 336-723-0371
WILKESBORO - Tuesday, July 23Time: 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
The Walker Center at Wilkes Community College located at 1328 S. Collegiate Drive in Wilkesboro. For directions, call: 336-838-6100
ASHEVILLE - Wednesday, July 24Time: 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
AB Tech Conference Center located at 340 Victoria Road, Asheville. (Park in the free deck next to the conference center.) For directions, call: 828-398-7900
HICKORY - Thursday, July 25Time: 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Catawba Valley Community College in the Workforce Solutions Complex located at 1980 Startown Road on the CVCC campus in Hickory. For directions, call 828-327-7000
CHARLOTTE - Tuesday, July 30Time: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Goodwill Opportunity Campus located at 5301 Wilkinson Boulevard, Charlotte. For directions, call: 704-372-3434
HENDERSON - Wednesday, July 31Time: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Vance-Granville Community College in the Civic Center located at 200 College Road, Henderson For directions, call: (252) 492-2061
DURHAM - Thursday, August 1Time: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Durham Tech located at 1637 East Lawson Street in the Educational Resource Center Building, Room 5-100, Durham
RALEIGH - Monday, August 5Time: 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Raleigh Elks Lodge located at 5538 Leadmine Road, Raleigh. For directions, call: 919-787-5990
Space is limited – register by July 5.
Questions, call NCRGEA, 919-834-4652 or 1-800-356-1190
11May-June 2019
NCRGEA Regional Focus Groups Registration FormDetach and mail to NCRGEA, 528 Wade Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27605 by July 5, 2019.
Please check one. City, Date
Please check one. City, Date
______ WINSTON-SALEM - Monday, July 22 ______ CHARLOTTE - Tuesday, July 30______ WILKESBORO - Tuesday, July 23 ______ HENDERSON – Wed., July 31 ______ ASHEVILLE - Wednesday, July 24 ______ DURHAM - Thursday, August 1______ HICKORY - Thursday, July 25 ______ RALEIGH - Monday, August 5
PLEASE PRINT:
Member Name _____________________________________________________________________________
JULY 30 – VIKING PROMO - FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE RIVER CRUISE ALONG THE RHONE RIVER8 days 7 nights. Sail along France’s scenic Rhône River past some of the most beautiful vistas the French countryside has to off er. During your 8-day journey, explore the famed region of Burgundy and the lavender fi elds of Provence. Visit Gallo-Roman ruins in both Vienne and Arles; walk the cobbled streets of Arles to see how it inspired Vincent van Gogh. And visit the historic Papal Palace in Avignon, “City of the Popes.” Shore excursions included, meals and wine & beer at meal times. Price $2824 pp (dbl occupancy) Only $599 air add on for RDU & CHARLOTTE (Pre/post extensions available to Paris or Monte Carlo). Call today!
JULY 14-19 – BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! SUMMER RAIL & SAILVisiting New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont for 6 days 5 nights. See the very best of New Hampshire and Maine by Land, Rail and Sea! You’ll enjoy spectacular views with a train ride up the highest mountain in the northeast, and boat tours that take you past the lighthouses of Portland, Maine and travel up to Vermont to enjoy beautiful scenery, great cheese and of course maple syrup! AIR INCLUDED from RDU & CHARLOTTE $1998 pp (dbl occupancy)
SEPTEMBER 29 – DISCOVERING SAN ANTONIORelax Texas-style when you settle into your River Walk hotel on this 6 day 5 night San Antonio tour. Visit the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the legendary Alamo and Mission San José. Also visit Fredericksburg, TX to see the Pacifi c War Museum and the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, TX. AIR INCLUDED from RDU & CHARLOTTE $1769 pp (dbl occupancy)
NON-PROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE
PAIDRALEIGH, NC
PERMIT #2223
Association
North Carolina
Retired Governmental Employees’
528 Wade AvenueRaleigh, NC 27605
ELECTRONIC SERVICE REQUESTED
IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS
NCRGEA .............................................................................1-800-356-1190 In Raleigh Area ................................................................ 919-834-4652
Superior Vision ................................................................1-800-507-3800
NC Retirement Systems ................................................1-877-627-3287
Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program ...1-855-408-1212 In Raleigh Area .................................................................919-807-6900
NC State Health Plan .....................................................1-919-814-4400
Blue Cross/Blue Shield ..................................................1-888-234-2416
Amplifon Hearing Health Program ..........................1-877-806-7054
United Healthcare .........................................................1-866-747-1014
Social Security Administration ................................. 1-800-772-1213
State Employees’ Credit Union ..................................1-888-732-8562
Local Government Federal Credit Union ..............1-800-344-4846
NC Total Retirement Plans 401K/457 Plans ...........1-866-627-5267
Carolina Cruise and Tours ................................................919-889-4900Find Us on Facebook
Weekly Legislative Updates
NCRGEA members can get a weekly update on the status or progress of legislation that impacts retirees. You can sign up to receive NCRGEA Legislative Updates by email!
• Go to www.ncrgea.com.
• Click on: Sign-up to Receive NCRGEA Communications Electronically!
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