meet the candidates - calrta members · pdf filearea iv – pat seaman ... the next few...

California Retired Teachers Association: Your partner in pension protection

VOLUME 32 | ISSUE 5 | APRIL 2017

CalRTA Elections

CalRTA Increasing Division Support page 10

Meet the Candidates

See page 4

A First-Aid Refresher page 19

alCalifornia Retired Teachers Association




CALIFORNIA RETIRED TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

State OfficersPresidentKen Hewitt

President-ElectIrene Wetzel

SecretaryJesse PerryTreasurer

Peter Paolino

Area DirectorsArea I – Betty Silva

Area II – Georgianna LightArea III – Chuck Denonn

Area IV – Pat SeamanArea V – Richard Benitez

Area VI – Carol Luhring | Jim MahoneyArea VII – Greg Barker

Area VIII – Barbara GeraArea IX – Ron BreyerArea X – Judy Smith

Area XI – Kathy O’Leary Area XII – Lois Selna

State Committee ChairsBudget & Finance – John Gera

Bylaws – Harlan McWhorterCommunications & Technology –

Jim SterlingGovernment Relations – Lynn Lindsey

Membership Recruitment & Resources – Steve Click

Nominations & Elections – Jeanette Goar

CalRTA Business OfficeEditor

Angelique Hill, CAE, IOMManaging Editor

Debbie Pate-NewberryDesign

Carrie Dennis DesignPrinting

BURKS Printing & Promotions

APRIL2017

Send address changes to the Business Office1750 Howe Avenue, Suite 630 | Sacramento, CA 95825 | 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. | 916-923-2200 | E-mail: [email protected]

CalRTA CONTACT (ISSN O885-0267) is published five times per year by California Retired Teachers Association. Annual subscription is $4.50 paid by membership dues of $54 annually. Periodical postage paid at Sacramento, CA, and at additional mailing offices. Copyright 2017 CalRTA. All rights reserved.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: CalRTA Contact | 1750 Howe Avenue, Suite 630 | Sacramento, CA 95825

Unsolicited submissions for CalRTA Contact become the property of CalRTA, and can only be returned if accompanied by a self-addressed envelope containing sufficient postage.

Website AddressesCalifornia Retired Teachers Association | www.calrta.org

State Teachers’ Retirement System | www.calstrs.comMedicare | www.medicare.gov

FEATURES03

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CalRTA’s mission is to protect and advocate for retired and active educators’ pensions and other retirement benefits and to support education in our communities.

Objectivesn To promote, protect and advocate for the interests of retired public

California educators,n To safeguard the State Teachers’ Retirement System,n To study and promote or oppose state and national legislation

affecting the interests of retired educators, andn To promote and safeguard public education systems.

President’s Message

Meet the Candidates

Government Relations Updates

CalRTA Heads to Washington!

CalRTA Increasing Division Support

Pension Watch

The Scoop

Division News

Bylaws Amendments

A First-Aid Refresher

2 n Contact | www.calrta.org

APRIL 2017 n 3

CalRTA stands firm in its mission to speak up boldly in support of public education, and teachers in retirement and in classrooms.

Our Next Chapter …

This is the day for a clear understanding of how great the work of CalRTA is.

The election of our new President was a significant departure from what we have known as “politics as usual” in America. And in CalRTA we have learned over the years that politics, local or national, has a distinct effect on public schools. With this major vote for national change, we may see, at the state level, those challenges to pub-lic education of 2016 become more bold and aggressive in the coming year. State and national funding for public education, which eventually affects public retirements, will certainly be challenged in state legislatures and courts from coast to coast.

However, here is what I see clearly: CalRTA stands firm in its mission to speak up boldly in support of public education, and teachers in retirement and in classrooms. A political turn to the right or to the left does not turn us sideways. We will move straight ahead.

Also, you have seen that in good times or tough, we rise up as Americans who believe strongly that all our children, without discrimination, must be guided wisely and lov-ingly in their education to be prepared to take their rightful place in our community. Today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders fighting for our nation, our democracy, and the preservation of our freedoms.

If at any time governments fail to support us in our calling, then we will indepen-dently, as our founder Laura E. Settle did, spend ourselves in greater measure, mak-ing certain that the question “How are the children?” will always be met with a proud and even defiant answer in California, “The children are well.”

I call on every member of our Association, and every prospect who will stand with us in future days, to vigorously embrace this work of ours, as we have chosen to do. Let there be in us no longer that fear of what is happening in the rest of the world. And let us replace fear with a renewed courage to stand and speak up.

As I end my term as your state president, I humbly thank you for allowing me the op-portunity to serve, to lead and to eagerly face the future knowing we’ll stand together to fight for the children and our collective future. Y

Ken Hewitt, CalRTA President

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

KEN HEWITT CalRTA President


CalRTA to Elect New Leadership in May... Meet the Candidates

t its meeting in May, CalRTA’s Delegate Assembly will elect state officers for the 2018-2020 term. Can-didates will be elected to the positions of President-Elect, Secretary and Treasurer. Nominations for these three offices were declared closed by Nominations and Elections Committee Chair Jeanette Goar on February 15, 2017, in accordance with CalRTA standing rules. There are two candidates for Secretary.

The other candidates are running unopposed.

Jim Mahoney Division 8, Area VI

In 2012, Jamie Matthews, the Mayor of Santa Clara, while ad-dressing the CalRTA conven-tion, commented: “Nobody should spend their lifetime dedi-cated to the future of this coun-try, and then have no future for themselves.”

I agree. The next few years will test both the resolve and strength of our organization and its membership. We will see recurring political efforts to distort and revise our re-tirement programs, reducing our financial security and that of our future members. We must work together to ensure this does not happen.

We need to build a vibrant and innovative leadership team, one that creates new partnerships and establishes fresh connections with other concerned groups. We must listen to our members and marshal their abundant abilities to ac-complish our common goals.

Our challenges will be great, but we have the talents to overcome those who would misrepresent us as “livin’ large” with “6 figure” pensions (don’t we wish!). I have served at many levels in CalRTA and possess the energy, organizational knowledge and commitment to help lead this struggle to ensure financial security for our present and future educators.

I ask for your confidence and support.

Dr. James L. Mahoney, Ed.D.

President-Elect Secretary

Chuck Denonn Division 67, Area III

In June of 2011, Chuck Denonn completed a 20-year career as a teacher. Raised in New York, he first came to Sacramento in 1968 as a Second Lieutenant to work at McClellan Air Force Base. Af-ter assignments in Vietnam, South Dakota, Chicago, and Alabama, he returned to California in 1982 as the USAF Admissions Counselor for Northern California. He finished his career at Beale AFB, retiring to Roseville as a Major.

In 1989 he began a new career as a public school teacher. Although mainly a math teacher, he has also taught social studies, geography, computers and all the subjects taught to Opportunity School youth. For nearly two decades, he has been a local, state, and national leader in the fight for teacher rights. He has served as both Secretary and Vice President of the Grant Teachers Association and was Grievance Chair for many years.

He served three terms on the State Council on Education and has been elected more than a dozen times to repre-sent local teachers at the NEA Representative Assembly. He served one term on the NEA Resolutions Committee. He served twice as the chairperson of the Grant District’s mathematics textbook adoption committee.

A Vietnam veteran, Chuck’s military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters, and the Humanitarian Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters. Chuck has been recognized by his local chapter as the As-sociate Advocate of the Year. He is a rare multiple winner of the Theodore Bass Teacher in Politics Award. His capi-

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APRIL 2017 n 5

CalRTA to Elect New Leadership in May... Meet the Candidates

Treasurertal-area peers gave him the W.H.O. [We Honor Our Own]. He belongs to many civic and community organizations including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Mensa Society, and the Sacramento Area Math Educators Association. A graduate of Binghamton University with a B.A., he has a Master’s Degree in Eco-nomics from South Dakota State University and a Master’s in Education from Chapman College.

Chuck currently serves as CalRTA Area III Director and CalRTA Division 67 President.

Susan Goff Division 1, Area VIII

I seek the office of Secretary of CalRTA because I wish to be a part of the strong leadership team that aims to support public edu-cation, to enhance and protect retirement benefits, and to build the increased membership numbers needed to accomplish those tasks.

My qualifications for leadership in CalRTA include: n Membership since 1987, allowing me a unique per-

spective of CalRTA’s history;n Three years as a representative of one of CalRTA’s

long-time benefit providers;n 14 years as Executive Director of CalRTA;n 12 years as an active volunteer, serving as newsletter

editor, membership chair, secretary and president of Division 1;

n 10+ years as Area VIII representative to the Member-ship Recruitment and Resources Committee.

I am committed to supporting the goals set forth by Presi-dent-elect Irene Wetzel and the Strategic Plan adopted by the Board. I will seek ways to further engage Divisions in this plan so that membership will grow and the organiza-tion will thrive.

I recognize that it is critically important that all CalRTA re-cords, both recent and historical, be accurately and secure-ly maintained. This will be my major goal, as well as to work to be a positive and productive member of the Board.

Peter PaolinoDivision 37, Area I

As CalRTA Treasurer these past 4 years I can look back on many im-provements that have been insti-tuted in our financial policies and procedures. The most important of which is ending the large yearly budget deficits. This past year our budget ended with over $100,000 in surplus. This was accomplished by staff, lead-ers, Areas, and Divisions, all working together.

In my final 2 years as your treasurer I will complete the Fis-cal Policy Manual, bringing together in one place all of the CalRTA financial policies, procedures, bylaws, and standing rules. There remains more work to be done on streamlining and reorganizing our financial operations as we move ahead into the future, and I will be directing attention to those is-sues also.

There are exciting new programs starting up that will bring in new members, guaranteeing CalRTA’s continuance as the #1 organization serving retired educators. Y

The summary of the most recent CalRTA Board meet-ing is posted to the CalRTA website at www.calrta.org. Once you log into the members-only section, click on “Boards & Committees,” then go to the Board of Directors page. If you’d like to read the summary from the latest CalSTRS meetings, check under “Seeking Information” on the top menu bar, then “CalSTRS/CalPERS” and “CalSTRS Meeting Reports.” Our thanks to Pat Geyer, CalRTA Liaison, for supplying the information.

CalRTA and CalSTRS Board Meeting Summaries Online


LYNN LINDSEYGovernment Relations

Committee Chair

DAVID L. WALRATH Legislative Advocate

By David L. Walrath, Legislative Advocate, and Lynn Lindsey, Government Relations Committee Chair

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATES

Political but Not Partisan When we say CalRTA is “political but not partisan” we mean we’ll advocate in the political world on issues such as CalSTRS full funding or Social Security fairness. We’ll focus on Sacra-mento for state issues and Washington, D.C., for federal.

We will advocate on ballot propositions and legislation but not endorse the authors. For example, we helped pass Proposition 30 in 2012 but didn’t endorse nor campaign for Governor Jerry Brown (who strongly sup-ported Proposition 30) when he ran for re-election in 2014.

We have made the distinction of advocating on issues that affect all retired educators ver-sus candidates for elective office. If CalRTA were to become partisan and support or op-pose candidates, we wouldn’t be reflecting our entire membership.

But that doesn’t mean we’ll ignore members’ request for more information to assist them in making their own decisions. Based on members’ requests the Government Relations Committee will start developing a state and federal voting records scorecard for consideration by the Board of Directors. If adopted the scorecard would be available for the 2018 elections. More details to come.

New WEP/GPO Repeal Bill in CongressRepresentative Rodney Davis (R-IL) has introduced the Social Security Fairness Act of 2017 (H.R. 1205), which fully repeals the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). Every two years, new bills are introduced and the old bills no longer exist. It’s on the website with 77 co-sponsors (22 from CA), referred to Ways & Means on February 27: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1205? Please thank your Representative for co-sponsoring this bill if he/she is one of the 22 California co-sponsors listed on the following page, and encourage your Representative to become a co-sponsor if not.

Based on members’ requests the Government

Relations Committee will start developing a state and federal

voting records scorecard for consideration by the Board of Directors. If adopted the

scorecard would be available for the 2018 elections.

APRIL 2017 n 7

By David L. Walrath, Legislative Advocate, and Lynn Lindsey, Government Relations Committee Chair

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATES CalRTA has adopted a platform that gives clarity on support or opposition on legislation affecting many of the issues where some bills have been introduced.

However, the platform does not address every issue. Con-sequently, the Government Relations Committee will be meeting in March to review legislation that has a signifi-cant effect on retired educators, if that legislation has not already been covered by a position directed by the already adopted legislative platform. The full listing of legislation with support or oppose positions will be provided after the Board of Directors reviews and approves the position rec-ommendations from the Government Relations Commit-tee for both those bills addressed by the platform and those bills that need additional review because the issue has not been addressed in the platform.

More Federal Issues for CalRTAThe new Administration was elected to be a change agent and to implement the campaign promises made by candi-date Donald Trump, and now President Trump. Because many of those promises will have both positive and nega-tive effects on California’s retired educators, the new federal actions on education, health care, Social Security fairness, and other issues affecting seniors will have more impact than the previous four or more administrations. This means CalRTA will be providing more frequent up-dates as the changing Washington, D.C., political scene moves from campaign promises to actual legislation and implementation. Stay tuned for action alerts and other communications from CalRTA. continued on page 8

Rep. Aguilar, Pete [D-CA-31]Rep. Bera, Ami [D-CA-7]Rep. Brownley, Julia [D-CA-26]Rep. Calvert, Ken [R-CA-42]Rep. Chu, Judy [D-CA-27]Rep. Costa, Jim [D-CA-16]Rep. Davis, Susan A. [D-CA-53]Rep. Eshoo, Anna G. [D-CA-18]Rep. Garamendi, John [D-CA-3]Rep. Lee, Barbara [D-CA-13]Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-33]Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-19]Rep. McNerney, Jerry [D-CA-9]Rep. Napolitano, Grace F. [D-CA-32]Rep. Roybal-Allard, Lucille [D-CA-40]Rep. Royce, Edward R. [R-CA-39]Rep. Sanchez, Linda T. [D-CA-38]Rep. Sherman, Brad [D-CA-30]Rep. Speier, Jackie [D-CA-14]Rep. Swalwell, Eric [D-CA-15]Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-41]Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-21]

2017 State LegislationOn February 17, 2017, the Legislature completed action on submitting new legislation for the 2017 legislative year. Combined, the State Senate and State Assembly intro-duced more than 2,000 new pieces of legislation. CalRTA has adopted a platform that gives clarity on support or op-position on legislation affecting many of the issues where some bills have been introduced. For example, CalRTA already has a platform position to support legislation on single-payer health insurance. Because 2017 legislation has been introduced on single-payer health insurance, this means the CalRTA Government Relations Committee does not need to review this bill since the adopted platform already has given direction to support the legislation.


GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATES continued from page 7

When individuals and companies can’t afford to continue

investing or expanding, they cut spending, causing a chain reaction

affecting individuals and companies.

The Importance of Defined Benefit Retirement SystemsWhile defined benefit (DB) retirement systems are usually discussed in terms of retirement security, this article will discuss defined benefit systems in terms of their ability to mitigate effects of economic downturns and provide eco-nomic stability.

Goods and services consumption is responsible for about 60 percent of the United States domestic economy. This means the economy depends on individuals and corporations pur-chasing goods and services. If individuals and corporations cannot afford to purchase enough goods and services, then there is less need to produce goods and provide services and two outcomes will occur – lower incomes and lower employ-ment. Lower incomes and lower employment will result be-cause employers will cut work hours and jobs until they only produce the amount of goods or services they can sell.

This is the historic business cycle of growth and recession as there are changes in demand and the ability to purchase goods and services. The situation either cycles down in a recession or cycles up during economic growth. Because individuals and companies are always deciding whether they are able to invest and expand because the economy is growing, or need to save and cut back because their in-come is shrinking, the economic cycle is never static.

Why does the economy change from growth to recession? When individuals and companies can’t afford to continue investing or expanding, they cut spending, causing a chain reaction affecting individuals and companies.

Since economic downturns always happen, how can they be kept to a minimum? If downturns are part of the business cycle and will occur, is there a way to mitigate how deep the downturn will be and the damage to people and firms that can occur in the downturn portion of the business cycle?

Yes. If downturns feed on themselves – less demand and ability to consume leading to less income and higher un-employment leading to even less income and ability to consume – then income maintenance mechanisms should provide the ability to maintain the purchase of new goods

and services and thereby mitigate the depth of a downturn measured in economic harm to individuals and corpora-tions. When enough individuals and companies have a steady, reliable income, the chain reaction slows.

Most people are familiar with various means of ensuring steady income – government programs such as unemploy-ment insurance and food stamps. These programs mean in-dividuals are able to still buy goods and services, regardless of where the business cycle is. This level of ability to pur-chase goods and services mitigates the effects caused by the business cycle and protects individuals and families from serious economic harm during the downturn.

The mitigation of the business cycle is one of the reasons these government programs were created during the Great Depression. These programs, however, may not be as effec-tive in the future.

As more and more people retire, the ability of retirees to con-sume goods and services becomes more important. For the purposes of this article I will divide the income sources for retirees into three sources: Social Security as direct income; Medicare, other state or federal health care services and other services as in-lieu income and income from retirement savings; and defined benefit plans. While there are many ar-guments for protecting the value of Social Security and Medi-care benefits because not protecting those benefits can create harm to the benefit recipients as well as to working individu-als, domestic corporations and the United States’ consump-tion driven economy, this article will just look at the effects of different types of retirement saving on the ability to maintain consumption during an economic downturn.

APRIL 2017 n 9

alRTA members are traveling to Washington, D.C., to voice their opinions and explain our concerns, while at the same time local members will be educating staff at District offices in California. The initial focus – the removal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and Govern-ment Pension Offset Social Security penalties – has expanded to include protecting public edu-cation and health care.

Other public service employee groups, including NEA, will be advocating on April 27. The Social Security penalties im-pact various groups in every state. The groups will visit the related Congressional committee members and carry signs in front of the Capitol.

Follow the action in Washington via the CalRTA Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/CalRTA/). We’ll post photos, vid-eos and even live stream. Mark your calendars!

For more information, visit: http://calrta.org/lobby-day/ Y

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CalRTA Heads to Washington!CalRTA Lobby Day is April 26 and an Alliance event

with other organizations is April 27

Defined contribution plans, 401(k), medical savings ac-counts, Individual Retirement Accounts, Deferred Com-pensation Plans and variable annuities generally do not provide a guaranteed payout, but are volatile based on the status of the investment funding them. Fixed income an-nuities and the income (but not necessary the principle) from bonds are less volatile after purchase but the income to purchase could be volatile if the income is from a more volatile equities market.

Volatile assets that provide a larger asset value and guar-anteed greater income during economic downturns would provide the speedy and reliable income needed for mitigat-ing economic downturns. They would be counter-cyclical compared to equities. Unfortunately, there are not many such counter-cyclical assets.

Defined benefit plans that are vested and guaranteed are counter-cyclical. Even if asset values decline, the payment to retirees continue and can grow if there is a guaranteed cost-of-living adjustment. It is this counter-cyclical ben-efit that is so important in a consumption-driven economy. The consumption income maintenance programs devel-oped when the domestic economy was less driven by do-mestic consumption probably will not be as effective in the new economy as defined benefit or other counter cyclical guaranteed income programs for retirees.

In addition to all of its other benefits to individuals and the economy, the counter-cyclical provision of the CalSTRS vested deferred benefit also protects workers’ jobs and in-come during economic slowdowns and recessions. Y


CalRTA Increasing Division Support

etworking has always been a key to suc-cess. Divisions sharing ideas is the best way to recruit and maintain members, streamline functions, and stimulate lead-ership involvement.

Knowledge banks and libraries are being developed to help Divisions involve the youngest generation of members, Baby Boomers. The CalRTA Strategic Plan includes devel-oping new resources with input from Divisions via Areas Directors and State Committees. Please share your Divi-sion successes so we can learn from each other! I’d love to hear from you!

In the meantime, here’s an overview of what we’re work-ing on:

Libraries nDivision Outreach & Growth StrategiesnAdvocacy ParticipationnPlanning Retirement & Retiree InformationnPre-Retirement Events Content & DeliverynLeadership Development

Implementation Techniques nEase of electronic availability nSharing via “buddy system”nInclude coaching and mentoringn Increase services to exchange ideas: Area workshops,

webinars, blogs, surveys

Delivery Servicesn Websites: State, Area, Divisionn Social media: Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, etc.n Email distribution: “Power of Email”

• Connection for Members/Supporters• CalSTRS Watch (Current educators)• Advocacy Updates (members & public)

n Webinars (meetings, broadcasts & recorded)n “Ask a Retired Teacher” Programn Publication: Contactn Expert Volunteers

Nn Area Leadership Team (Director, Committee Repre-

sentatives, Presidents)n State Committee Messaging Loop with Divisionsn Annual Convention • Presidents’ Workshop • Area

Workshopn Division Newsletters (electronic/printed) Y

Knowledge banks and libraries are being developed to

help Divisions involve the youngest generation of members,

Baby Boomers.

By Irene Wetzel, President-Elect


Fighting Back …CalRTA sends Op-Ed to Orange County Register

We continue to see misguided op-ed pieces criticiz-ing public pensions based on misleading research. Here’s a recent response by CalRTA:After reading your editorial, “Two-thirds of teachers are ‘pension losers’” I asked myself, why would a researcher in Ar-kansas care about teacher pen-sions in California? And why do pieces like this always end with a call to switch pensions to 401(k) plans? The answer is follow the money. CalPERS and CalSTRS are big pots of money and Wall Street wants it. That’s why big money like the Arnold Founda-tion funds “research” and tries to sway public opinion.

Defined benefit pensions like CalSTRS are designed for the long-term participant. And that’s a win-win … teachers end up with better, secure retirement benefits and students learn from experienced teachers dedicated to their profession.

At a recent CalSTRS Board meeting the School Employers Association of California testified that strengthening pen-sions helps schools face “a severe teacher shortage” and of-fer a recruiting incentive.

UC Berkeley compared CalSTRS to an ideal defined con-tribution plan and found that 6 out of 7 California teachers (86%) are better off under the CalSTRS defined benefit pen-sion and would lose significant retirement income under a 401(k). The media should stop playing into big money’s hands and start looking out for teachers AND their students.

PENSION WATCH

Americans Overwhelmingly Support State-Facilitated Retirement Savings Plans

75 Percent Support State Efforts as Congress Considers Blocking Retirement Savings PlansThree-fourths of Americans believe that efforts across the states to give working Americans access to individual re-tirement accounts is a good idea. This support has grown

as states begin to roll out these savings programs for Americans without workplace – provided plans – up from 71 percent in 2015 to 75 percent.

These state-facilitated retirement savings programs have strong bipartisan support. Some 72 per-cent of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans sup-port these state retirement plans, while 83 percent of Democrats are supportive. The support also holds steady regardless of Ameri-cans’ gender, income and age.

These poll findings were part of a new national public opinion report released by the National Institute on Retire-ment Security (NIRS). “The election served as a wake-up call that Americans are angry about economic insecurity, and we’ve known for years that working families are extremely anxious about their retirement prospects,” says Diane Oakley, NIRS ex-ecutive director. “Today, nearly half of the workforce is shut out of any re-tirement plan. State legislatures are acting to address this issue and ensure that all workers can save money directly from their paycheck for retirement,” Oakley said.

Defined benefit pensions like CalSTRS are designed

for the long-term participant. And that’s a win-win …

teachers end up with better, secure retirement benefits and students learn from

experienced teachers dedicated to their profession.

APRIL 2017 n 13

States are successful incubators of solutions to address key challenges American families face. But, some members of the U.S. House of Representatives want to use the Congres-sional Review Act (CRA) to overturn a Department of La-bor rule that provided legal clarification for state-facilitated savings plans. “If Congress votes to shut down state efforts through the CRA, it would harm generations of workers struggling to save. Such action would deny 40 million working families the most important first step in preparing for retirement – paying themselves first by making contributions to a retire-ment accounts from their salary,” Oakley explained.

continued on page 14

According to the Federal Reserve Bank’s Survey of Con-sumer Finances, 40 million working-age households have no money in retirement accounts. Compared to 1979 – shortly after Congress passed The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 – workers’ access to employer-sponsored retirement plans remains flat, with a slight decline to 55 percent. Aware of the future challenges that families and state bud-gets will face given the nation’s retirement crisis, states are acting now to expand access to retirement savings options for private sector workers.


PENSION WATCH continued from page 13

CalSTRS Cuts Hundreds of Misreported PensionsBy Ed Mendel, calpensions.com

Triggering at least two lawsuits, CalSTRS has cut the pensions of hundreds of retired teachers because extra work or pay was misreported as earnings for pen-sions, not for a 401(k)-style indi-vidual investment benefit with a guaranteed minimum return.

An annual audit sample last year found overpayments to 87 re-tirees from 18 school districts totaling $237,854. The pensions of the retirees will be cut to the corrected amount and overpay-ments will be recovered by an additional 5 percent cut.

CalSTRS is an unusual “hybrid” that not only has a standard pension, providing monthly payments for life, but also a tax-deferred individual investment plan, the Defined Benefit Supplement, that has a minimum guaranteed return based on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds.

Annual audits by CalSTRS, stepped up in recent years, are finding that the retirement contributions earned by teachers for extra work or pay is reported by some school districts as going to pensions rather than to the supplement, resulting in an overpayment.

In many well-publicized cases of improper pension increas-es called “spiking,” the final pay that helps determine the monthly pension amount has been padded by various means, often for managers.

But most of the overpayments for misreporting found in the California State Teachers Retirement System audits are for employees working on a pay scale bargained by unions. And in two publicized cases, employers made the error while try-ing to cut costs.

Read the entire article online at https://calpensions.com/2017/02/13/calstrs-cuts-hundreds-of-misreported-pensions/. Y

APRIL 2017 n 15

n Avoid posting a full frontal picture of yourself on so-cial media sites. A con artist can copy the image and use it to create a photo ID that can be used to steal your identity.

n Review and set privacy options for each of your social media accounts. Go to privacy settings and restrict your information so it can only be viewed by people you select. Check your privacy settings regularly.

n Don’t post things you may want to delete later. Nothing you post online is every truly gone if you delete it. So think twice about the pictures or comments you share before you share them.

n View your profile as others see it at least once a month. On Twitter, log on, click your picture, and select “View Profile.” On Facebook, simply click on your name to view your profile as others see it. Y

THE SCOOPNews for California’s Retired Teachers

Don’t post things you may want to delete later. Nothing you post online is every truly

gone if you delete it.

CalSTRS Board Takes Action on “Experience Study” ResultsAt its February meeting, the CalSTRS Board of Directors adopted the following assumptions from the recent Expe-rience Study dealing with CalSTRS funding status:

n Lowered inflation from 3.0% to 2.75%n Lowered real wage growth from 3.75% to 3.5% n Lowered the investment rate of return from an expected

7.50% to 7.25% for the 2016 asset evaluation and then down to 7.0% for another valuation based on 2017 assets.

Because funding for the Supplemental Benefit Mainte-nance Account (SBMA) is tied to the estimated invest-ment rate of return, the adopted assumptions will put pressure on CalSTRS’ ability to maintain full purchasing power protection; however, the 2016 valuation is not ex-pected to affect CalSTRS’ ability to maintain the current 85% purchasing power protection. (Currently the oldest retirees whose benefit has fallen below 85% of original value receive a financial supplement from the SBMA de-signed to bring their retirement up to that 85% threshold.) Testifying on behalf of CalRTA, Legislative Advocate Da-vid Walrath raised concerns with the 2017 valuation as-sumptions because of the pressure that could be placed on maintaining the 85 percent purchasing power protection.

The CalSTRS Board will hear the valuation information in April after CalSTRS staff can calculate the effect from the changed assumptions. (This information wasn’t available as of presstime.)

From AARP Fraud Watch Network …

5 Things Never to Post Onlinen Never post personal information, including your Social

Security number (not even the last four digits), birth-day, place of birth, home address, phone numbers, or personal account information. Any of these can be used to open bank or credit card accounts – or even loans – in your name.


DIVISION NEWS

From left to right: Margaret Marko (92); June Langer (93); Betty Mills (96); Betty Bray (90); Pat Adams

(90); Richard Ashley (90); Beverly Osborn (90); Oliver Osborn (92); Dorothy Kaufman (100); Sadie Patterson (94); and Evelyn Blocker (97). Present but

not pictured was Bill Alves (94). Not present: Veronica Cook and Marguerite Steele. Very recently

passed was Jeannie Garrison (101). In the background: President Charles Gehrke.

Bob Gonzalez, Division 83 – Yolo County and Area III Communications & Technolog y Representative, and

( far right) Pat Turner, President of Division 83 present a $100 teacher grant to Diana Evans who’s taught for

23 years in Washington USD in West Sacramento in Special Education.

Division 4 – San Diego members Vi Huprich (far left) and Gini Pedersen (far right) present Ashley Campbell with

Representative Susan Davis’ Friend of CalRTA Award. Representative Davis wasn’t able to meet but Ashley took

notes about CalRTA issues so she could update Representative Davis, who has been very supportive of CalRTA in the past.

Division 74 – Tumbleweed’s January luncheon was a special gathering, especially for those members who have reached the privileged age of 90+ years. Betty Mills, one of the Division’s own 90+ members and Immediate Past President, spearheaded the effort of identifying and contacting the 14 members, 12 of whom attended the luncheon. In addition, the Tum-bleweed Division includes several 100+ members.

Each person received a beautiful calendar with photo-graphs made by Division member Ken Nyborg. Carol Nyborg provided encouraging instructions about how to open the case each calendar came in. “It’s not really that complicated,” she said.

President Charles Gehrke extended congratulations on behalf of Division 74. “Each of you represents the best of what our profession is all about,” he said. “You set standards that hold true through today and that will continue in the future. Thank you for your years of dedication to education and to CalRTA.”

To further honor these special folks, President Gehrke pledged to personally pay for luncheons for the remain-der of this calendar year for all members who are 90 years or more. “If that doesn’t motivate everyone to live longer,” he said, “I don’t know what else would!”

Division 74 Celebrates “90-Somethings”

APRIL 2017 n 17

Division 8 – Kern County is entertained by the Centennial High School Chamber Choir at its

February monthly luncheon.

Maureen Oliva ( far left) and Marcia Yaussi ( far right) from Division 69 – East County San Diego had fun

delivering a grant check to winner Debbie Gibson from Boulder Oaks Elementary. Y

Division 73 – El Dorado County, held its annual

Soup’s On event February 15. John Lescroart, New

York Times best-selling author, was their guest speaker. After his talk,

they served their famous homemade soups. The

event was well attended by Division 73 members as well

as other guests from Area III, including Area Director

Chuck Denonn.


Bylaws Amendments

T he following is the bylaw amendment that will be voted on by the CalRTA Delegate Assembly in May of 2017.

Deletions are presented as strikethrough text.Additions are presented as underlined text.

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The CalRTA business office has moved to a new location. Please note our new address:

1750 Howe Avenue, Suite 630Sacramento, CA 95825.

The other contact information has remained the same.

Why wait for the mail?

CalRTA Business Office Has Moved

Proposal from the Board to be presented to the Delegate Assembly 2017

BYLAWS

ARTICLE VIII

STANDING COMMITTEESSECTION 10. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:A. Composition: Elected State Officers shall constitute the

Executive Committee. The Parliamentarian, Executive Director and Chairman of the Area Directors shall be non-voting members.

Rationale: According to Robert’s the parliamentarian is a consultant who advises the president and other officers, committees, and members on matters of parliamentary procedure. Parliamentary law gives to the CHAIR ALONE the power to rule on questions of order and procedure. A small or-ganization should rarely require the services of a Parlia-mentarian.

For large assemblies, such as the Delegate Assembly, where the transaction of business is apt to be complex it is advisable to employ a Parliamentarian. The Board has employed a Parliamentarian in the past. Therefore, the Board proposes that the position of Parliamentarian be eliminated from the Executive Committee. Y

APRIL 2017 n 19

A First-Aid Refresher

ere are a few reminders of some basic first-aid tips that can prepare you in case an emergency strikes, whether at home or on the go.

Basic SuppliesA properly stocked first-aid kit can ensure fast and appro-priate treatment for loved ones’ minor injuries. It is impor-tant to have a first-aid kit for your home, car and a suitcase with which you regularly travel so you’re prepared no mat-ter when or where an injury occurs. First-aid kits should be kept out-of-reach from younger children, as well as chil-dren and adults with cognitive disorders, to prevent poi-soning or misuse of contents.

Although you can find pre-packaged first-aid kits at drug stores and online, many families prefer to tailor their own kits based on their family’s individual needs and prefer-ences. According to the Mayo Clinic, a basic first-aid kit should include a mix of medical supplies – including ban-dages, cold packs and antiseptics; medications – such as pain relievers, cold medicines and antihistamines; and emergency items – such as medical consent/history forms, a flashlight and batteries.

Be sure to set a reminder on your calendar at mid-year and end-of-year to check your kits for low or expired medicines and supplies.

Wound TreatmentEveryone is susceptible to minor cuts and scrapes, which should be cleaned immediately to prevent infections and treated once bleeding has stopped. Antiseptic solutions are used for first aid to help prevent infection in minor cuts, scrapes and burns. They are effective against a broad range of microbes. A range of first-aid antiseptics can be found at drug stores for caregivers to tailor to their families’ prefer-ences and needs.

If a wound is more severe and bleeding heavily, place a clean cloth or sterile bandage over the wound and apply light pres-sure. As necessary and if possible, elevate the wound above the heart to further reduce heavy bleeding.

H If the cut appears to be deep, won’t stop bleeding or if a frac-ture is suspected – which is often an injury concern in the el-derly – it is best to seek medical attention immediately.

Addressing Burns and ScaldsChildren and aging adults are also at risk of scalds and burns from kitchen accidents involving hot objects and liquids. Dai-ly preventative measures – such as placing hot objects on stur-dy surfaces and setting the temperature of water heaters at a safe level – can lower the risk for external burns and scalds.

In the event of a minor burn, clothing and jewelry should be removed from around the burn site and the burn should be rinsed with cool water until pain is eased. Burns should be dressed, as needed, with a non-adhesive dressing. Aloe vera lotion or gel and over-the-counter pain relievers can help in providing relief and reducing pain. Medical atten-tion should be sought for burns that are large and blister-ing, as these can bring greater risk for infection.

Understanding the Signs of InfectionUnderstanding the common signs of infection is important so wounds are properly cared for and greater health risks are kept at bay. These signs can include swelling, redness, pain and oozing from the site of the wound. You should seek medical help if any of these signs appear.

Although everyone should be mindful of the risks for in-fection following an injury that pierces the skin, caregivers of aging adults should be extra careful as elderly are often more susceptible to infection, especially those with con-comitant illnesses.

First-aid EducationTo ensure that you are adequately prepared to care for wounds or burns at home, you may want to consider taking a first-aid training course. Organizations like the American Red Cross offer local and online first-aid classes to provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to be a well-equipped and effective caregiver for yourself and your loved ones. Never-theless, seeking the advice of a medical professional should always be considered if you are uncomfortable or unsure of the correct steps to take following an emergency. Y

Pass It On! Please share this publication with other educators after you’ve read it.


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