PRIME TIME Volume 34, Number 4 Dec 2015/Jan 2016

RETIRED EMPLOYEES OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

The only officially recognized organization representing SB County Retirees

HOLIDAY LUNCHEON

Monday Monday, December 14, 2015

11:00 a.m. Social Hour 12:00 p.m. lunch

Arrowhead Country Club 3433 North Parkside Drive San Bernardino, California

PLEASE JOIN US!

RESBC Officers — 2014-16

Wes McDaniel, President

Argie Brogdon, 1st Vice President

Sue Shuey, 2nd Vice President

A.B. Brand, Treasurer

Coby Hinkle, Secretary

Tom Potter, Past President

RESBC EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETINGS

Monday, December 7, 2015

1l:30 a.m Location: Mi Cochina Restaurant

27961 Highland Ave Highland, CA

Monday, January 4, 2016 (TBA)

RESBC GENERAL MEETINGS Mark your calendars!

REMINDER: No meeting in January

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Meeting will be held in Hesperia. DETAILS IN THIS ISSUE

(please see page 5)

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

ON TO THE FUTURE

The year was 1973 when we started SANBAG (San Bernar-dino Associated Governments) with 13 cities and 600,000 people in the County, and the Board of Supervisors governed the bal-ance of the world’s largest county. Now we have 24 cities and over 2,000,000 residents! And, we also have Omnitrans and Metro-link, and the 71 and 210 (remember when we called it the 30?) freeways, and brand new shopping centers (plus a few dead ones). But, we also suffered huge losses: Kaiser Steel, the Santa Fe shops, and George and Nor-ton AFBs which created devastat-ing job departures. On the other hand, thousands of our students now attend CSUSB. And, so it goes, with the yin and yang of change. And, with RESBC as well. The November meeting (as I write this), albeit in a different location,

will be the last of our several-year pattern of regular speaker-oriented gatherings. And, the December 14 Holiday Luncheon at the Arrowhead Country Club will continue our long-standing twice yearly celebrations at the venue … which we do plan to continue! But, after that, we embark on a brave new world of traveling shows, beginning with a Victor Valley gathering, hopefully at-tracting many of our fellow retir-ees who have not been making the trip down the pass. This meeting will be held February 16. So, hang on for the ride! Wes McDaniel President

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ONE

AND ALL!

Prime Time—Dec/Jan 2015-16—Page 2

San Diego SACRS Conference by Dawn Stafford

Retirement Board of Trustees Elected by Retirees

In mid-November I attended the fall State Association of County Retire-ment Systems (SACRS) Conference in San Diego. Every one of the twenty 1937 Act systems, and nearly the entire Board of every system, participate in these conferences. They are extremely valuable, and attendance is further encouraged because they fulfill the mandatory education requirement under the state law for trustees. There were several great presentations. Some of them I will write about in future arti-cles. On the second day there was a presentation on pension initiatives, and I decided I need to give this sub-ject priority in this month’s article. The presentation was titled “Voter Empowerment or Member Impair-ment? A Candid Conversation about Pending Pension Initiatives”. It fea-tured Carl De Maio, former San Diego city councilman and author (with former San Jose mayor Chuck Reed) of two pending pension initia-tives, Attorney Harvey Leiderman, and Amy Brown, editor and publisher of the Public Retirement Journal. I invite your attention to the article in the September/October 2015 issue of the Journal about the proposed initiatives, which is much more de-tailed than this article. These initiatives, the Voter Empow-erment Act of 2016, and, what the authors describe as the “backup”, the Government Pension Cap Act of 2016 must qualify for the November 2016 ballot with 580,000 signatures. Fortunately that ballot is expected to have a heavily Democratic turnout, and will contain left-leaning causes, such as tax measures and the rec-reational use of marijuana. Waiting for 2018, though, would cost more money because more signatures would be required to qualify. Carl outlined the first initiative as requiring that there can be no en-hanced benefit without a vote of the people, and no new hire may be en-rolled in a defined benefit (DB) pen-sion plan unless the voters of the

jurisdiction approve it. This puts the onus on local government to sponsor an initiative to allow us to keep doing what we are doing – offering the lower PEPRA benefits to new em-ployees. The second initiative “Cap” prohibits any agency from contributing more than eleven percent of base com-pensation for new general member employees and thirteen percent for new safety members, unless voters specifically approve a higher limit. Benefits include Social Security, DB and defined contribution (DC) contri-butions, retiree health care, and any form of deferred compensation pro-vided by the employer. All combined may not exceed eleven or thirteen percent. The charming Mr. De Maio used analogies like Ponzi schemes and drug pushers to describe DB plans and benefits. You really had to be there! Amy Brown pointed out that less than one third of private sector employees have a DB plan – the have nots are voting for a plan to decimate the public sector. The av-erage 401K account is $25,000. People are more scared of poverty than death. When the legislature provided for benefit enhancements, such as increased percentages at lower ages, plans were well funded. Now we have PEPRA. In Amy’s opinion, which I share, we should be focusing on the new Secure Choice plan, which will provide DB plans for private sector employees. Attorney Harvey Leiderman at-tempted to lay out pros and cons. He pointed out that demographics are bad for DB plans, with the ratio of actives to retirees decreasing, along with mortality rates. Also, economics are bad for DB plans – return rates are lower and volatility is higher. Low inflation persists so inflation will not bail us out. On the other side, Harvey noted that systems are reducing risk. New em-ployees are paying higher contribu-tions. Medical subsidies have been cut (as we know!). Pension spikers, like the former Vernon CEO, have

been tracked down. PEPRA has re-duced benefits: there is no more em-ployee pickup and there is a cap on compensation with no replacement benefit plans. Carl responded that, in his opinion, PEPRA has been gutted. It can be changed at any time and he feels it has not gone far enough. Amy mentioned that West Virginia closed its DB plans and replaced them with DC plans. The loss of new members increased the unfunded liability, which greatly increased the cost. Subsequently, that state rein-stated the DB plans. Harvey stated that closing DB plans reduces cash flow, which may go negative. Contributions increase, and rates of return decrease, trigger-ing the destruction of the plan. Under current law, employers who withdraw from a plan must pay their share of unfunded liability. This ini-tiative prohibits retirement boards from charging any sort of termination fees or accelerated payments on existed unfunded liabilities for em-ployers terminating a retirement plan. This drops the cost of un-funded liability on the county. Carl’s response is that the initiative is step one to fix the “crisis”. He sug-gests dealing with legacy debt by pooling, etc. Sounds like the initia-tive could trigger a crisis. As far as putting a measure to a vote, in Sacramento County, it costs $400,000 to $600,000 to put a meas-ure on the ballot. The initiatives con-tain no provision for paying for elec-tion costs. Proponents and oppo-nents have to pay to get their mes-sages out, in addition to the time delays and the administrative costs of having an election. Under PEPRA, employers and em-ployees share the normal cost of benefits right down the middle, but employers retain the responsibility for unfunded liability. The “Cap” ini-tiative requires employees to pick up half of the cost of unfunded liabilities as well. How do you apply that when someone quits or retires? Do you

continued on Page 3

SYMPATHY CARDS are sent to families of our members when-ever we are notified of a death. GET WELL CARDS are also sent to our members who are experi-encing health problems. Please call Carol Ceniceros at 909-731-2856, or you may e-mail her at: carolnray7@gmail.com, if you know of someone who would be cheered by receiving a card from RESBC.

There are always many things to do when you move to a new address. One of the most important is to let the Retirement Board know your new address so you won’t miss re-ceiving your pension check. On their change of address form is a place for you to sign that authorizes them to release your new address to RESBC. It would also be wise to send RESBC a letter, or postcard, telling us directly that you have moved.

Mail changes to: RESBC, PO Box 2323, San Bernardino, CA 92406-2323.

BEYOND RETIREMENT

(through 11/20/2015) In Memoriam

Lloyd Brommer Marvin Carter

M. Lorene Coons Robert Cordy Fellix D’Amico David Durdines Patricia Galanis

Charles Giannotti Karon Hewitt

Lee Keller Esther Kroeker Charles Land

Michelle B. McLucas Joan Ann Mellen Sweeter

Patricia Norman-Salamone Roger Peterson

Mary Powell Mills Quarles Ben Raddatz

John Reinschmidt Glenn Shelhamer

Mark Sligh Valerie Small Wilman Taylor Jessie Vega

To live in the hearts we

leave behind is not to die.” ~Thomas Campbell

Prime Time—Dec/Jan 2015-16—Page 3

send the Pension Police after them? Death and disability benefits are not addressed in the initiatives. Most local agencies currently provide them to safety employees through their pension system. The initiatives seem to suggest that employers may continue participating in a pension system solely with respect to the provision of death and disability benefits. The cost of maintaining death and disability benefits for safety employees, along with an al-ternative 401K style benefit, may likely cost more than the current DB system. And now the advantage of pursing a disability retirement is much greater than under the current system, greatly increasing the num-ber of disability applications. Someone pointed out that these ini-tiatives will apply to judges’ retire-ments, so good luck in the courts!

”Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and under-stand each other, we may even become friends.”

~~Maya Angelou

Dawn Stafford — continued from Page 2

Spinach/Mushroom Strata

2 T butter (salted or unsalted) 1 medium onion, chopped 8 oz sliced mushrooms 1 10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry Salt and pepper, as desired 8 slices hearty white bread, cubed (about 7 cups) 1.5 cups shredded Swiss cheese 2 cups milk (regular, soy, al-mond) 5 large eggs 1 T Dijon mustard Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 2.5 quart baking dish with cooking spray. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium/high heat. Add onion and mush-rooms; cook, stirring, until soft and golden, about 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Add spinach, mix well, and season as desired. Spread about 1/3 of the bread cubes on bottom of baking dish, then 1/2 of vegetable mixture, and 1/3 of cheese. Repeat with 1/3 of bread, remaining vegeta-bles, and another 1/3 of cheese. Top with remaining bread and cheese. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and mustard. Season as desired. Pour over strata.

Press down on bread mixture with back of spoon to moisten. Bake until strata is set and center is puffed and golden, 45-50 minutes. Serve immediately. Sausage , ham, chicken, or bacon may be added prior to baking if desired. Enjoy!

Benefit Bits by John Michaelson

Medicare Reminder - If you are on Medicare and are thinking of chang-ing providers, you only have until December 7 to make the change for next year. CalPERS Long-Term Care - Finally the lawyers have submitted to the court the request that this be consid-ered a class action suit. A hearing was held November 23. The judge’s tentative ruling is favorable, but, CalPERS lawyers have been given the opportunity to submit a further brief and a final ruling is not ex-pected until January or February. I have been told that the link that fol-lows addresses settlement and if policy holders would want to con-tinue the policy. www.calpersclassactionlawsuit.com Balance of CRCEA Fall Confer-ence Report Genealogy Research - This presen-tation was way more interesting than I expected, and any of you into doing genealogy research would really have enjoyed this. First, she sug-gested recording everything you know, or find, in your research, and be sure to document where you got the information. Some of the most productive sources she has found include (and some can be found online) are the US census which started in 1790 and is done every ten years. Other good sources include land records, noting that prior to the Civil War, about 85% of white males owned land. Other sources include immigra-tion, military, cemetery, birth, mar-riage, death, and court records. One I would not have thought of is ship passenger records. If you know the name of the ship on which an ances-tor came to the US, you may learn more. As far as websites go, she feels the best overall is www.familysearch.org. Others she mentioned include; wiki.familysearch.org (provides info on websites for specific events or an area), myheritage.com (good for relatives from Europe), Relative Finder (shows famous people you

Senate Committee on Public Retire-ment. The major part of the discussion was on the Reed Initiative which I re-ported on last month. A release is expected by early December by the State Attorney General as to the title and summary for the initiative. Stay tuned! On a positive note, they said that a newly elected assemblyman, Chad Mayes, has been named the republi-can House Minority Leader, and seems to have a very good under-standing of Public Retirements and particularly 1937 Act systems such as ours (they consider him a future friend of ours). For those of you who don't know Chad, he is the former Chief of Staff to San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Ruther-ford, and, while she was previously a member of our Retirement Board, he usually attended most retirement meetings to support his boss. I, and other board members of RESBC, found Chad to be a very sharp young man and genuinely interested in our issues and always open to hallway conversations. Chad represents from Yucaipa out east to the Yucca Valley area. The panel agreed that the major fo-cus on public retirement in the com-ing year will be the issue of retiree health care costs. As you probably know, where this is currently a bene-fit, it is not funded in the same ad-vanced way that regular retirement is. Most often it is done on a "pay as you go basis" meaning the employer only pays the current years costs of the benefit in the year it is due. Ad-vocates for Public Retirement reform have used the cost of the future years health insurance to add to the "unfunded' liability of those systems such as CalPERS. Proponents will then use this to force employers to, at minimum, include all the future year costs in their projections and then use that as pressure to reduce, or eliminate, the benefit all together. Questions or comments to John Michael son at j ohnmichael -son1@verizon.net or 909-821-2279.

are related to) and overall helpful is the Family History Center. Water Problems in California - This next speaker presented some inter-esting facts and opinions on current water issues in California. I was not always sure which of his points were facts as opposed to his opinion. He stated that, historically, 70% of the water used in the state is used by farmers and northern Californians and only 30% is used by southern California. He added that 20% of electrical power consumed in the state is used to move water. He fur-ther added, that in his opinion, 90% or more of the benefit of the water tunnels being proposed by the state will go to farmers. A PBS Frontline film was next. It was a special that asked the ques-tion "Will your IRA or 401k insure a safe Retirement? It was a well done documentary on the process, over the last 20 or 30 years, of how busi-ness decided to get out of providing real pensions (much as our system) and move to IRA and 401k like sys-tems that took the burden off busi-ness and put it on the individual to ensure the individual has an ade-quate retirement. Until the early 2000s the market performed very well and almost hid the problems of individual investment and what var-ied impact the swings of the stock market could have on the desire for a steady, reliable retirement return. Other problems pointed out in the documentary included the often hid-den fees that brokers and Wall Street charge on these types of ac-counts. While many advisors pushed Mutual Funds for investors, it pointed out that, over time, Index funds (with lower costs) have done just as well as any other type of in-vestment. Overall, it once again re-minded me to be thankful we have the type of retirement system we do. The always interesting Legislative Session was last. A panel discus-sion included the CRCEA legislative consultant Amy Brown, Karon Green consultant to the state Assembly Committee on Public Retirement and Pam Schneider, consultant to the

Prime Time—Dec/Jan 2015-16—Page 4

Prime Time—Dec/Jan 2015-16—Page 5

PLANS HAVE BEEN MADE!

RESBC GENERAL MEETING WILL BE HELD IN THE HIGH DESERT!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

1:30 p.m. — 3:00 p.m.

What is the Retired Employees of San Bernardino County (RESBC)?

What is the California Retired County Employees Association (CRCEA)?

How do these local and state retiree organizations work together for mutual benefit?

How do these organizations pertain to you?

Sheriff’s Station 15840 Smoketree Street

Hesperia

Tour of station available after meeting for those interested.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Prime Time—Dec/Jan 2015-16—Page 6

Highlights—Executive Board Meeting

November 2, 2015

December 7 Board Meeting will be held at Mi Cochina, Highland.

February 16 General Meeting will be held in Hesperia.

Beginning February, the book exchange will be discontinued.

By-Laws will be discussed at the December 7 Board Meeting.

Highlights - RESBC General Meeting

November 23, 2015

Richard McInnis presented an interesting program on the his-tory of how San Bernardino County got its boundaries, to where the county today encom-pass more than 20,000 square miles.

Gwen Ortiz enjoyed a birthday in November.

Joseph Siler and Coby Hinkle won the $10 door prizes.

QUESTIONS FOR THE BOARD OF RETIREMENT?

Any questions you may have concern-ing your pension, or retirement, must be answered by SBCERA (Retirement Board). Please call 909-885-7980, or toll free 877-722-3721. There is also information on the SBCERA website: www.sbcera.org Address is: 348 W. Hospitality Lane, 3rd Floor, San Bernar-dino, CA 92415-0014.

NEW MEMBERS (through 11/20/2015)

Danny Able Katharine Albert

Ernest Arlotti Peggy Barnes

Santander Barros Christy Berry

Bruce Bonnett Patrick Briggs Diana Bristow

Natasha Broome William Brown

Brenda A. Busch Deborah Cazarez Laurie Cervantes Gloria Chaission

Fred Cole II R. Marlene Evans Ray Goldsworthy William Gonzales

Eva Gonzalez John C. Grimm

Virginia Hellerud Janet Hensley Joy Hollinger

Kathryn Hopkins Nina Jamsen Marily Kraft Ronald Lay

Kathleen LuBrant Julia Macias

Toni McDonald Everett Miller

Anthony Mistretta Patricia Nance Ethlyn Obland Martha Ochoa Regina Owens

Challen Peterson Barbara Pike Debra Plackitt

Ivy Portias Virginia Ramirez

Lynden Rodriguez Rikki Schneider

Virginia Silva Steve Taw

Janice Tibbs Jacob Tucker

Hortensia Villalobos John Walsh

Jessie Zalazar

TREASURER’S REPORT

October 2015 10/1/15 84,341.85

Revenues Dues 4,891.00 Interest 16.89 Total Revenues 4,907.89 Expenditures Recruitment 610.20

Administration Door Prizes 20.00 Postage/ Box 200.00 Supplies 23.59 Other 15.99 CRCEA Dues and Fees 75.00 Conference 297.00 Newsletter Printing 4,040.50 Postage 2,354.00

Total Expenditures 7,636.28 10/31/2015 81,613.46 PERB Designation Balance 41,654.51 Checking Account 4,387.90 Savings Account 31,838.76 CDs 45,010.20 Petty Cash Fund 376.60

81,613.46

A.B. Brand, Treasurer

Membership: 4,891

“There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces dan-ger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.”

~~L. Frank Baum

Questions regarding supplemen-tal insurance programs? Please contact: Pacific Group Agencies, Inc. Member Services Administration 25876 The Old Road, #11 Santa Clarita, CA 91381 800-511-9065 fax: 800-549-0059 e-mail: RESBC@pgagencies.com www.pgagencies.com/resbc

RESERVATION — RESBC HOLIDAY LUNCHEON MONDAY, December 14, 2015

Arrowhead Country Club, 3433 N. Parkside Drive, San Bernardino

MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO: RESBC (DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY, December 9, 2015

MAIL TO: RESBC, P.O. Box 2323, San Bernardino, CA 92406-2323

Number of Reservations at $20.00 each _________ Total Enclosed ____________________

Please list names and the department from which each member retired; also list names of guests.

Please check meal choice for each attendee:

NAME/DEPT___________________________________________ _____ Turkey

_____ Pasta Primavera (veg)

NAME/DEPT___________________________________________ _____ Turkey

_____ Pasta Primavera (veg)

GUEST________________________________________________ _____ Turkey

_____ Pasta Primavera (veg)

GUEST________________________________________________ _____ Turkey

_____ Pasta Primavera (veg)

DATE:

Monday, December 14, 2015 LOCATION: Arrowhead Country Club 3433 North Parkside Drive San Bernardino TIME:

No-host Social Hour starts at 11:00 a.m. Lunch will be served at noon.

COST: $20 per person

MENU:

Turkey with all the trimmings. The vegetarian choice is Pasta Primavera. All lunches come with salad, rolls and butter, cof-fee or iced tea, and dessert.

EXTRA FUN:

Our own Ho-Ho-Hoing

Santa Claus.

Sharing the holiday spirit

with friends.

Door prizes and the de-partment roll

call.

PLANS FOR OUR HOLIDAY LUNCHEON HAVE BEEN SET. PLEASE JOIN US!

RETIRED EMPLOYEES OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

P.O. BOX 2323 SAN BERNARDINO CA 92406-2323

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

DATED MATERIAL

PRIME TIME is published monthly from September through June (with a combined December/January issue) by the Retired Employees of San Bernardino County, P.O. Box 2323, San Bernardino, CA 92406-2323. Please send changes of address to the address above. Monthly dues are paid by payroll de-duction only. For information and/or a payroll deduction form, please con-tact Membership Recruitment Chair Gwen Ortiz at: gwenlynn77@aol.com PRIME TIME mailing list: Dora Goffman dgoffman63@aol.com Wes McDaniel, President, RESBC 909-499-3489 mcdcon@jps.net Virginia Adams Editor, PRIME TIME 909-790-7199 lvlyva@msn.com

NOTICE: The information pre-sented in PRIME TIME is believed to be from reliable sources. How-ever, no responsibility is assumed by RESBC, the Editor, or the writ-ers, for inaccuracies in articles pub-lished.

Spouses of deceased RESBC Members are eligible to become Associate Members of RESBC. If you would like more information, please contact our Membership Recruitment Chair Gwen Ortiz by writing her at P.O. Box 2323, San Bernardino, CA 92406-2323, or via e-mail: at gwenlynn77@aol.com.

Privacy Statement:

RESBC is very aware of the need for the privacy of its members and is committed to protecting your per-sonal information. The only infor-mation RESBC has about you is your name, mailing address, and payment of membership dues. RESBC does not sell or share our member list. RESBC does not dis-close any of this information about our members to third parties. The companies with which RESBC does business, such as LFG Solutions (for mailing PRIME TIME) and Pa-cific Group Agencies (supplemental insurance) are obligated to keep your information confidential.

RESBC MISSION STATEMENT

As a voluntary non-profit associa-tion, the singular goal of the RE-TIRED EMPLOYEES OF SAN B E R N A R D I N O C O U N T Y (RESBC) is to support and cher-ish the obvious need to maintain and improve our quality of life during retirement. The focal points of RESBC are to: keep its members informed and knowl-edgeable about retiree issues and concerns; provide programs and information on topics that will give members insight into the challenges affecting seniors; and focus on benefits retirees have earned, and, in the process, fos-ter friendship and positive rela-tionships among all retirees.