If your chapter or federation chose you to represent them at the NARFE National Convention August 24-28, did they preregister you and pay your $75 registration fee? Some do. Some don’t. If they did, all ofyour convention materials will be waiting for you when you arrive at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando,

FL. If they didn’t and you didn’t, you’ll have to go to onsite registration, wait for your convention materialsto be prepared, and pay $90, instead of the $75 preregistration fee.There are some 50 to 60 members each convention who must visit onsite registration. Many say they

thought their chapters or federations preregistered them and paid their fee. Some members even become agi-tated because they have to pay the extra $15 charge. Avoid the hassle. If you are in doubt, contact your chapter or federation. Preregistration forms are avail-

able online and in several recent issues of narfemagazine. The deadline for preregistration is August 1.l

New Policy to Streamline Email CommunicationsTo Members and Officers

Agrowing number of NARFE members are opting out of receiving emails from Headquarters. Youmay have also noticed this trend in your federation and chapter as well. Members report that themain reasons for opting out are: receipt of far too many emails from all levels of NARFE; repeti-

tive information received from various levels of the Association; and information that seems irrelevant tothe membership at large − though it may be of great interest to very engaged members.Monitoring of and lobbying for legislative that impacts our members is NARFE’s central mission, so it

is imperative that we help ensure that those who feel their in-boxes are simply too full with NARFE emailswon’t delete or ignore important legislation-related messages. For this reason, Headquarters is adopting anew email message policy to address these objections. The new policy follows three simple rules:• Emails to a full membership list at any level of the organization should follow the policy adopted by

narfemagazine and NARFE Insider: All members may be sent emails related to legislation, advocacyand information of interest to federal employees and retirees. (Reminder: Partisan political messagesare never appropriate.) Any emails related to the business ofNARFE will go only to NARFE officers.

• Information sent by Headquarters to all members should not besent again to regional, federation or chapter lists.

• The body of each email should include a “To” line, announcingthe distribution list (i.e., NARFE Officers, Federation Officers,NARFE Membership, etc.). This will ensure that recipients knowwhich groups have already received the information.With this new policy, it is important to note that the Monthly Leg-

islative Update for Chapters, sent each month from the Legislative De-partment, should not be forwarded. The update should be used onlyas a tool for chapter and federation meetings and newsletters.A new and much-improved email system is being developed to re-

place NARFE’s existing Global Email Messaging System (GEMS).

Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

Volume 2, Number 4July 2014

National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association

Convention Preregistration: “Do I or Don’t I?”

In this issue …Convention Preregistration ................1

New Email Policy ....................................1

Calendar Photo Contest Winners ....2

FEEA Donations ......................................3

Legislative Update................................. 3

NARFE in the News ............................. 7

Passages ................................................ 10

NARFE Meeting MinutesNational Executive Board,June 11, 2014 ....................................... 10

Based on this policy, the new system will have a limited number of approved message types:From Headquarters:• Legislation/Advocacy (full list of email addresses)• narfemagazine surveys (full list of email addresses)• Headquarters messages to NARFE leaders (officer emails only)From Regions, Federations and Chapters:• Advocacy call to action and information of interest to federal employees and retirees (full list of emailaddresses)

• Messages to regional, federation or chapter leaders (officer emails only)At Headquarters, the Communications Department will review each GEMS message to ensure adher-

ence to this policy and make certain that the content is easily understandable to all recipients. We ask thateach level of NARFE develop a similar quality control practice. l

Front CoverLighthouseDennis Taylor, Riverside, CA - Chapter 188

Back Cover MagnoliaLinda Armstrong, Danbury, WI - Chapter 1581

September 2014Japanese Friendship Gardens, Phoenix, AZJean Curtis, Tucson, AZ - Chapter 1874

October 2014Tinker Nature Park, Henrietta, NYMaryBeth Andersen, Rochester, NY - Chapter 124

November 2014Bridge in Fall ColorRoger Hoff, Sutter Creek, CA - Chapter 1503

December 2014Frosted Blue SpruceJames M. Hamilton, M.D., Colorado Springs, CO -Chapter 241

January 2015Buffalo in Blizzard, near Cook Station, MOSharon Bahl, Independence, MO - Chapter 1164

February 2015Great Blue Heron, Blackwater National Wildlife RefugeHelen Louise Noyes, Herndon, VA - Chapter 1241

March 2015Ketchikan, AlaskaThomas Hodgson, Glade Park, CO - Chapter 351

April 2015Smithsonian Castle With Saucer MagnoliasRalph Northrop, Rockville, MD - Chapter 1127

May 2015Cactus Bloom, ArizonaJohn Kumke, Surprise, AZ – Chapter 1019

June 2015Big Island of Hawaii, near South PointCurry Horak, Colorado Springs, CO – Chapter 241

July 2015Danaus gilippus/ “Queen” ButterflyNorman Collin, Port Charlotte, FL – Chapter 2194

August 2015SunflowerBill Bredengerd, Bradford, PA – Chapter 1782

September 2015 Nowhere I Would Rather Be – Destin, FLAgnes Todd, Warner Robins, GA – Chapter 1020

October 2015Autumn in the CountryMarlene Washburn, Chambersburg, PA – Chapter 1063

November 2015Fall Colors in the North Carolina MountainsRobert C. Peterson, Summerville, SC – Chapter 1082

December 2015Christmas in Washington, DCPhyllis Maguire, Burke, VA – Chapter 893

through our eyes

2015 NARFE PHOTO CONTEST

WINNERS CALENDAR

Lighthouse Dennis Taylor | Riverside, CA | Chapter 188

Photo Contest Winners for 2014-15 NARFE Calendar: America Through Our Eyes

3 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

Help Avoid Confusion Over FEEA Donations

Staff at FEEA (Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund) has brought to our attention a prob-lem with check donations coming from some individual NARFE members as well as chapters andfederations. Checks are being made out simply to “FEEA” and mailed to FEEA Headquarters in

Lakewood, CO, with no fund designation. FEEA then has to take time to contact the sender and ask forinstructions. Multiplied many times over, this is creating a hardship for FEEA’s small office staff. When you send a check to FEEA, please specify which NARFE fund you are supporting by making

the check out to either “NARFE-FEEA Scholarship Fund” or “NARFE-FEEA Disaster Fund.” Also, pleasemake it clear in a letter accompanying the check who should receive credit for the donation, if it is otherthan what is imprinted on the check. In every issue of narfemagazine, a “Donate to NARFE Programs” page is included to make it easier

for members to give to various NARFE programs. To donate to the Scholarship or Disaster funds, use thecoupon on the donation page. Just check the box next to the program you want, fill in the amount andyour contact information. If you are sending the check on behalf of your chapter or federation or otherNARFE group, please enclose a note indicating that. You also may use the coupon to make a credit carddonation.Thank you for helping our friends at FEEA to better serve you! l

Protect America’s Heartbeat ToolkitYour legislative staff, with lots of mem-

ber feedback, revised the Protect Amer-ica’s Heartbeat (PAH) Toolkit. Recentlyupdated, the Toolkit remains a guide tosupport you in your work as you organizeand reach out to legislators, candidatesand the media. Please consider the Toolkita collection of levers to move a obstreper-ous Congress. The new, modular Toolkitcan be viewed in its component parts; butthe whole kit − ideally assembled by themembers in chapters sharing a congres-sional district − should be considered away to build a relationship with your rep-resentative, and – indeed − each of thecandidates seeking NARFE votes. Federa-tion legislative teams will need to use itstatewide to have the maximum impact onsenators and (in two-thirds of the states)Senate candidates.

Legislative UpdateBy Jessica Klement, Legislative Director, and Christopher Farrell, Legislative Representative

The PAH Toolkit for Massachusetts

Gateway to Congress:congressmerge.comAnother powerful gateway is

www.congressmerg.com. For example,click on this listing of the AZ congressionaldelegation. Each member’s name is a hy-perlink to a concise display of importantinformation, especially links to GoogleMaps of congressional district offices!To retrieve much more detailed biog-

raphical and contact information about agiven member of Congress, click on themember's name. (Below is a sample of asingle senator’s display (rich in hyper-links to maps).

Gear Up Now for “NARFE Grass-Roots Advocacy Month”The Summer Recess, August 1 through Labor Day, during this election year is NARFE Grass-Roots

Advocacy Month. Hopefully, you have booked your NARFE forums and meetings already. Incumbents,their challengers and candidates in open seats should have been contacted to meet with their NARFEconstituents/voters. Federation presidents, national legislative chairs and district officers need everyone’shelp to ensure a good turnout.

Harnessing Summer Recess, Stumping CandidatesIn remaining primaries or the general election, senators, representatives and hundreds of candidates

for Congress are already planning their schedules as they juggle fundraising activities, family vacationsand constituent/voter meetings. Why? Candidates for elective office are especially eager to please largeconstituent groups when facing the unknown of the first midterm election after decennial redistricting.This is why it is so important to hold multi-chapter candidate forums and/or NARFE-sponsored, late

Sample of Senator John McCain’s display

4 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

Arizona Congressional Delegation links on www.congressmerge.com

Hyperlinks to maps

primary debates before the largest possible NARFE au-diences. Your efforts will pay dividends for years tocome. The PAH Toolkit and legislative staff can makethis less daunting than it may appear.

Colorful State Maps Show CongressionalDistrictsUntil the end of September, National Atlas offers maps

of each state showing congressional districts in differentcolors. View and print congressional districts for the 113thCongress. Each map shows: 1) Congressional districts for the 113th Congress, and2) County boundaries. These maps are available in GIF and PDF file formats

that allow you to view and print them.GovTrack.us features interactive maps that use con-

trasting colors to distinguish between adjacent congres-sional districts. This site allows you to “drill down” tostreet-level detail, which is crucial for targeted advocacy.The URL to bookmark is https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/map.

More Accurate Inflation Measure IntroducedRep. Mike Honda, D-CA-17, introduced legislation, H.R. 4202, in March to base federal annuities, military re-

tirement and some veterans’ benefits on the CPI-E. More details are available on the sponsor's website and athttps://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr4202.

Consumer Price NewsOn June 18, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and

Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose to 234.216 in May, an increase of 0.33 percent from April. With four months remainingin the measurement year, the May index is 1.69 percent higher than the 2013 third-quarter average index (230.327).The 2013 third-quarter average is the reference figure for determining the 2015 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).More information is available on our website. The Social Security Administration has history at http://www.socialse-curity.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html.

FECA COLA and FECA LegislationFor Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) beneficiaries, the first five months of the calendar year

have seen a 2.2 percent increase from the December 2013 index (229.174). COLAs for FECA beneficiaries are deter-mined by each calendar year’s percentage change in the CPI-W. However, bipartisan postal overhaul legislation,S. 1486, would reduce FECA benefits for certain postal and federal beneficiaries.

Federation Counts: Potential Members, Current Members and Traceable eAdvocacyAssociation officers and members can use the information in the following table to track membership counts

and eAdvocacy activity by state/federation. Some of the counts are from public sources, and some are from pri-vate information sources. We think it is important to provide both in one table on a recurring basis so that federa-tions can track their progress. The public information lists the three groups eligible to join NARFE. These countsmatch those in the August edition of narfemagazine. The private (member-only) information are the counts ofNARFE members (from the most recent Monthly Membership Report and GEMS) − i.e., the number of NARFEmembers providing Headquarters with email addresses, the number of eActivists (Legislative Action Centerusers since January 2013) and the total number of eMessages (email messages generated by eActivists on the Leg-

5 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

Legislative Contacts

CLIP & SAVEPhoneToll-free (NARFE pays toll)NARFE Legislative Hotline (24/7): 877-217-8234U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 866-220-0044White House Comment Line: 888-225-8418

WebNARFE Site: www.narfe.orgNARFE Legislative Action Center: www.capwiz.com/narfeU.S. House of Representatives: www.house.govU.S. Senate: www.senate.govWhite House: www.whitehouse.govSenate: Web forms/e-mail address: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfmHouse: Write Your Rep:https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtmlLibrary of Congress Legislative Database: www.thomas.gov

Postal ServiceUSPS ZIP Codes in Washington, DCU.S. House of Representatives: 20515U.S. Senate: 20510

State # Retirees # Actives USPS FT/PT Chapters NARFE # GEMS eActivists eMessagesAL 59,081 39,865 8,672 24 4,224 1,164 375 2,680AK 8,058 11,758 1,464 3 802 326 92 527AZ 55,268 40,688 9,218 17 4,098 1,343 710 9,442AR 25,173 14,085 5,339 27 2,214 590 200 1,699CA 215,424 163,016 64,188 90 19,668 5,991 2,691 27,169CO 49,975 38,979 10,653 17 5,107 2,012 848 8,152CT 14,906 8,845 8,135 9 1,439 378 157 1,695DE 9,800 3,184 1,981 5 1,054 458 298 3,195DC 43,660 158,664 5,179 8 1,625 548 66 115FL 170,183 89,534 33,029 76 13,501 4,757 2,198 19,491GA 85,614 76,381 17,016 39 5,914 1,990 835 5,939HI 25,363 24,268 2,279 11 2,592 522 237 2,009ID 14,927 8,469 2,532 10 1,206 417 177 1,359IL 69,844 47,331 29,588 28 6,046 1,801 822 8,205IN 37,445 23,555 11,866 26 3,248 944 424 3,950IA 21,206 9,068 7,669 27 3,336 957 438 4,215KS 24,789 16,925 6,336 40 3,541 1,034 379 2,812KY 33,748 25,385 7,671 22 2,861 945 396 3,228LA 27,416 20,345 7,888 14 1,917 541 233 1,768ME 14,045 10,694 3,322 10 1,233 351 172 1,986MD 159,930 132,667 12,570 32 15,603 5,649 2,034 16,790MA 42,964 28,235 16,186 17 4,351 1,188 446 3,994MI 45,145 29,433 20,647 34 4,279 1,214 522 5,003MN 29,497 18,097 12,452 25 3,883 1,228 535 6,525MS 54,840 37,551 15,119 24 1,939 660 195 2,406MO 25,622 18,609 4,817 37 4,679 1,284 564 7,394MT 13,135 9,902 2,111 12 948 316 165 1,369NE 13,522 10,994 4,562 10 1,679 421 160 1,330NV 23,155 12,190 4,122 9 1,587 602 287 3,234NH 12,601 4,648 3,064 9 1,190 424 168 1,639NJ 54,758 25,440 21,887 22 5,772 1,852 805 7,440NM 28,420 24,298 3,105 21 2,223 807 376 3,746NY 96,268 66,065 43,949 30 8,493 2,259 1020 10,167NC 75,217 44,644 17,984 45 5,241 1,753 800 7,148ND 6,549 6,130 1,815 8 1,247 420 103 968OH 75,792 51,059 23,180 42 6,722 1,820 738 6,737OK 48,317 37,450 6,687 31 3,251 900 288 1,927OR 33,686 19,686 6,706 18 3,070 959 452 4,839Panama 8,807 42 6 1,405 50PA 109,609 65,141 28,585 47 12,253 3,109 1,244 11,266Phl. 2,453 93 8 333 17PR/VI 12,299 11,453 2,632 5 541 95 33 87RI 8,151 7,196 2,648 4 1,059 275 87 954SC 44,275 22,058 7,303 21 2,653 931 435 3,570SD 10,532 8,342 2,103 16 1,504 469 200 2,213TN 46,922 28,418 11,862 35 3,110 1,056 478 4,279TX 171,191 139,777 40,742 68 9,255 3,074 1,394 18,063UT 34,868 28,496 5,051 8 1,021 276 155 1,570VT 4,518 4,909 1,631 4 410 130 49 342VA 143,302 143,554 15,808 58 15,797 6,361 2,279 18,377WA 66,981 55,639 11,727 21 6,178 2,166 990 10,126WV 18,173 16,335 3,847 17 1,566 608 231 2,498WI 27,533 16,069 11,791 17 3,593 998 409 3,422WY 5,823 5,738 1,093 4 382 123 59 531Guam 2,592 2,801 104 1 121 23 1 2e-2363 - 1 21,693 13,660Other 17,142 50,780 123TOTALS 2,577,922 2,012,177 611,934 1,272 244,536 84,223 29,449 279,590

islative Action Center site since January 2013). Readers of the NARFE Insider are among those counted inthe two right-hand columns.

Save the Date for NARFE’s 2015 Legislative Training Conference!For long-term planning and budgeting purposes, chapter and federation lead-

ers need to be the first to know that the 2015 Legislative Training Conference willbe held from Saturday, March 14, 2015, through Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at theRenaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, VA. Reservations will be

accepted beginning October 1. With this much lead time, federations and chapters should budget now tomake sure they have the ways and means of helping their legislative leaders, especially CongressionalDistrict Liaisons, attend this biennial training conference, which culminates in Lobby Day on Capitol Hill.Full details appear in the September issue of narfe magazine.

Finding Congressional CandidatesGoogle is, of course, one way to find congressional candidates. Another is the Election and Candidates

module of NARFE’s Legislative Action Center (http://narfe.capwiz.com/narfe/election/home/). Anotherexcellent and frequently updated site is www.thegreenpapers.com. There you can find primary candidatesand primary results and links to candidate websites. A clearinghouse for candidate campaign finances iswww.OpenSecrets.org. The gateway to the races by state is: http://www.opensecrets.org/races/ l

7 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

Over the past few years, NARFE has enhanced its media outreach and, as a re-sult, has seen an increase in media presence at both the national and local lev-els. These results grew from efforts to increase awareness of the contributionsof federal employees to our nation, refute inaccurate perceptions about federal

pay and benefits, and voice our opposition to proposals to cut the benefits of active and retired federalemployees. Each issue of NARFE Insiderwill feature a selection of summaries of major media coverage, aswell as local news coverage generated by chapters and federations.

National Coverage● The Federal Eye column in The Washington Post featured a story on phased retirement on June 19, 2014.Reporter Lisa Rein quotes NARFE Legislative Director Jessica Klement: “This is a good policy that

NARFE in the News

Tuesday, AUGUST 5, 2014Kansas - Primary ElectionMichigan - Primary ElectionMissouri - Primary ElectionWashington - Primary Election

Thursday, AUGUST 7, 2014Tennessee - Primary Election

Saturday, AUGUST 9, 2014Hawaii - Primary Election

Tuesday, AUGUST 12, 2014Connecticut - Primary ElectionMinnesota - Primary ElectionWisconsin - Primary Election

Tuesday, AUGUST 19, 2014Wyoming - Primary Election

Sunday August 24- Thursday,August 28NARFE National Convention

Tuesday, AUGUST 26, 2014Alaska - Primary ElectionArizona - Primary ElectionFlorida - Primary ElectionOklahoma - Primary Run-Off ElectionVermont - Primary Election

Saturday, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014Guam - Primary Election

Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014Delaware - Primary ElectionMassachusetts - Primary ElectionNew Hampshire - Primary ElectionRhode Island - Primary Election

Saturday, SEPTEMBER 13, 2014US Virgin Islands - Primary Election

Tuesday, NOVEMBER 4, 2014GENERAL ELECTION DAY - NATION-WIDELouisiana - Congressional PrimaryElection

Key Remaining Election Dates

8 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

everyone was behind. It saves money. The people who want this really want to do it. So what’s theproblem?” Rein goes on to quote Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Press Secretary Nathaly Ar-riola who claims that the agency is “working hard on the rule” and hopes the regulation will be doneby the time the fiscal years ends in October. Rein writes that “rules to implement the law were on a fasttrack under former OPM Director John Berry” but that a December 2013 deadline “came and went.”

● In a June 9 edition of Federal News Radio’s e-newsletter, NARFE Legislative Director Jessica Klementcommented on the implementation of the phased retirement program. The legislation authorizingthis was passed by Congress in July 2012, and draft regulations were issued by OPM more than ayear ago. NARFE and other federal employee advocacy groups are concerned that the requirementthat potential recipients have 20 years on the job and be eligible for immediate retirement will dis-qualify otherwise deserving participants. “There’s no rhyme or reason for this,” said Klement. “So wefeel that in this age of austerity budgeting, you should be welcoming this provision, not limiting eligi-bility.” She also noted that the draft rules were vague about mentoring requirements and that federalagencies are being given too much leeway to waive the mentoring requirement − “the main purposeof this new law.” Other than specifying that phased retirees spend at least 20 percent of their sched-ules mentoring their successors, it makes no mention about the type of mentoring activities that areexpected.

● Law 360 (www.law360.com) reported on June 16 that NARFE has endorsed pending legislation (H.R.4621, The Combat Zone Tax Parity Act) aimed at addressing the shortage of civilian employeesneeded to work in combat zones. The incentive would come in the form of offering civilian workersthe same tax breaks available to active military personnel.

● Mike Causey in his June 17, “Federal Report” column on the Federal News Radio website predictsthat the next session of Congress will see continued efforts to cut retirement benefits (estimated bythe Congressional Budget Office to yield $162 billion in savings over a 10-year period) and reintro-duce the chained CPI. He cites NARFE Legislative Director Jessica Klement, who reminds readersthat “… moving from the current system to the so-called ‘chained CPI’ would reduce each future re-tiree COLA (cost-of-living allowance) by about 0.3 percent. While that’s not much on an annual basis,she said that for the average CSRS retiree (receiving $32,000 per year) it would amount to a $50,000loss over a 25-year period.”

● NARFE Legislative Director Jessica Klement was interviewed on Francis Rose’s “In Depth” programon Federal News Radio on May 27. She commented on the House’s approval of the Fiscal Year 2015National Defense Authorization Act and its five-year extension of the Dual Compensation Waiver forthe Re-employed Annuitants’ Provision of the act. “Agencies have special needs, and sometimesthese are temporary and time-sensitive,” noted Klement. “Training new employees or outside con-tractors can take months,” she said. “So re-employed annuitants can come back, do the job for a spe-cific need – not to be in place of a specific hire – and then go back to being retired.” She is optimisticthat the bill will make it through the conference committee process once it is passed by the Senate.

● NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin was quoted on the same subject in Jack Moore’s Federal NewsRadio blog on May 22. Beaudoin referred to the fact that before the direct hiring authority wasgranted by the legislation, getting the OPM’s approval to rehire retirees was “often a slow process[and prevented] agencies from rehiring annuitants to meet their immediate needs.”

Local Coverage● While the Federal Report’s Senior Correspondent Mike Causey was on vacation, Marc Harris − presi-dent of eNARFE Chapter 2364 in Florida − served as guest columnist on June 30. In his essay, heshared the frustration of many NARFE members and retiring feds with the delays in implementingphased retirement:

9 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed the "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Cen-tury Act,” which included a phased retirement option for federal employees. The act is in-tended to give federal employees an incentive to remain in the workforce as part-timeemployees to mentor younger colleagues while earning partial retirement benefits.

As we near the second anniversary of the act becoming law, regulations implementingphased retirement still have not been issued.

Prior to my retirement from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 10years ago, I worked on teams that developed regulations, policies and procedures. Two yearswas not out of the ordinary for regulations when several agencies were involved and a highnumber of public comments were received on the draft regulations.

Unfortunately, once the regulations are issued, it takes agencies varying amounts of time toput policies and procedures in place.

With more and more federal employees eligible for retirement every day, and with the Con-gressional Budget Office estimating that phased retirement will decrease direct spending by$427 million and increase revenues by $24 million from 2013 to 2022, it is imperative we getphased retirement implemented now. Every day it is not available wastes money, negativelyimpacts agency operations — and employees continue to retire. I fear many employees willnot wait for implementation and will retire when eligible, leaving gaping holes in the opera-tion of many vital programs.

So Happy Anniversary to the "Moving Ahead for Progress Act," and let's get moving on im-plementation!

● The Leaf Chronicle reported thatNARFE Chapter 870 inClarksville, TN, celebrated its50th anniversary with the pres-entation of a certificate and apicnic at Liberty Park and Ma-rina on June 12, 2014. Picturedare Ronni Reid, Secretary;Helen Calhoun; Marcia Allen;Sharon James; JoAnn Gilbert;Lora Whitney, Treasurer; DaisyPickett; Ginny Winters; DaleSimms, Alzheimer's Chair;Wanda Ferrell, LegislativeChair; Walter Mayer; SandraSimms, President; and JerryWhitney, Service Officer.

● In a June 28 Letter to the Editor of The Salinas Californian, Forney A. Lundy of NARFE Chapter 1496characterized phased retirement as a “win-win” that’s “good for agencies, workers and the taxpayersthey serve.” In the letter, Lundy writes about the frustration that accompanies the long delay in thepolicy’s implementation:

Federal employees and government agencies seeking to take advantage of this option areleft waiting on the sidelines. I’ve served my country as an Air Traffic Controller for almost 40years, the last 10 right here in Monterey/Salinas. It would have been nice to have this optionwhen I retired. I would have been able to mentor the person who replaced me.

10 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

Benny L. Parker of Arlington, VA, died May 4 at the age of 87. Parker joinedNARFE in 1984, following his retirement in 1981 from the Department of Commerce.He was employed for a time at NARFE Headquarters in the Budget and Finance De-partment. Parker ran for the office of National Treasurer in 1990, was elected andserved two terms. He was a member of Metro Northern Virginia Chapter 1665.Benny Parker is survived by his wife, Mary; a son, Andrew; and three grandchildren.

Rolland M. Hamilton, NARFE California Federation Past President, 1983-1984, passed awayMay 30 in Walnut Creek, CA, at the age of 89. He had been a member of NARFE since 1976. He alsoserved as federation executive vice president 1982-1983, federation secretary 1979 – 1982, andfederation newsletter editor 1984–1990. Hamilton was a member of the Mt. Diablo Chapter 0531where he served as chapter president in 1979 and as legislative and NARFE-PAC chair since 1987.He was a registered parliamentarian and member of the National Association of Parliamentarians.Hamilton was a retired Navy Captain and a member of the Civil Engineers Corps. He was retiredfrom the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in San Bruno, CA.

Paul E. Sams of Whispering Pines, NC, died April 8 at age 75. A NARFE member since 1993,Sams’ 35-year federal career was spent in the U. S. Postal Service. Sams served as president of theNorth Carolina Federation from 2010-2012, and was a member of the Federal Retirees Task Force inWinston-Salem. He was an active participant in church and community activities and enjoyedtraveling and spending time with family. Sams was a member of Sandhills Chapter 1895. He issurvived by his wife, Judith; a daughter, Julee; and several grandchildren.

Gerald H. Brown, a former Nevada Federation president, passed away in March at the age of96. A member of the Reno Chapter, he had been a NARFE member since 1979.

Passages

Call to OrderMoment of SilencePledge of AllegianceRoll CallPresentation of the Agenda

Present:

National OfficersPresident Joseph A. BeaudoinVice President Paul H. CarewSecretary Elaine C. HughesTreasurer Richard G. Thissen

Regional Vice PresidentsRegion I Arthur PikeRegion II Evelyn KirbyRegion III Donald StewartRegion IV Paul E. JohnsonRegion V Carol R. Ek

Region VI Jerome S. SmithRegion VII Frank ImpinnaRegion VIII Helen L. ZajacRegion IX Lanny G. RossRegion X William F. Martin

StaffNARFE Parliamentarian Paul LambLegislative Director Jessica KlementDirector of Communications Margaret CarterDirector of Membership Bridget Boel

GuestsDC Federation President Linwood WatsonDC Federation President Jackie LoweIL Federation Chapter 1309 Member Greg MiksaMD Federation Treasurer Dick StrombotneSC Federation President Kathy HensleyFL Federation Past President Ken ThomasVA Federation Past President Bill ShackelfordAmelia Carew

NARFE National Executive Board Meeting Minutes Wednesday, June 11, 2014, NARFE HQ, Alexandria, VA

11 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

National President (NP) Beaudoin called the meeting to order and introduced guests.

The first order of business was to present three motions based on feedback from members and discussions re-garding the Future of NARFE (FON) recommendations. They are as follows:

Motion #01-06-14, SUBJECT: “Modify Existing Motion 03-02-14 Relative to Five Regions.” Motionmade by Regional Vice President (RVP) Ross and seconded by RVP Zajac that “We amend something previ-ously adopted by striking out “2014” and inserting “2016.” Vote: 12 yeas and 1 nay − Passed

Motion #02-06-14, SUBJECT: “Resolution Withdrawal.” Motion made by RVP Smith and seconded byRVP Zajac that “the NEB withdraw from consideration by the delegates to the National Convention, Bylaw Res-olution No. 14-03, titled ‘Eliminate Mandatory Chapter Membership’.” Vote: 11 yeas, and 2 nays − Passed

Motion #03-06-14, SUBJECT: “Resolution No. 14-01.” Motion made by RVP Smith and seconded by RVPRoss that “the NEB recommend that resolution No. 14-01 ‘Developing the Vision for Future NARFE’ be voted onby ballot at the National Convention.” Vote: 12 yeas and 1 nay − Passed

Margaret Carter, editor of narfe magazine, reported that in the past two years the magazine has conducted 17online surveys as a way to provide input to writers working on feature stories. Member response has been ex-cellent. The five surveys receiving the greatest number of replies were on working past retirement age, TSP op-tions, federal life insurance, second careers and how much money do you need to retire.

Jessica Klement, legislative director, presented a legislative update focusing on the top legislative issues cur-rently facing NARFE:

• Postal reform is stalled in the Senate, in part, because of NARFE’s advocacy. FECA is one of the biggeststalling points.

• Re-employed annuitants provision in Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Appropriations Act has a five-yearsunset at expiration (October 2014). Rep. Connolly’s amendment to extend for another five years was suc-cessful; working on finding a Senate sponsor.

• Federal Employee Combat Zone Tax Parity Act (H.R. 4621) was introduced by Rep. Robert Wittman, R-VA.Hopeful on floor action with this bill.

• Smaller priorities include opposing five-day mail delivery, advocating a 1.8 percent pay raise, gaining cospon-sors for the CPI-E bill.

No big budget fights until FY2016, which allows a break from the action. However, fights that have occurredover the past four years will surface again (i.e., Chained CPI, retirement contributions, and possibly Federal Em-ployee Health Benefits Program).

Klement provided a recap of grass-roots action over the past year, provided a media recap of the past fivemonths, and discussed suggested options for NARFE-PAC to increase member contributions and decrease ad-ministrative costs.

She announced that the Legislative Conference is scheduled for March 14-17, 2015, with the same registrationrate of $175 as last year. The registration form will appear in an upcoming issue of narfe magazine. The agendamay be designed differently than in previous years.

Bridget Boel, director of membership, provided a membership marketing briefing highlighting the most currentefforts in recruitment:

• Google Remarketing Testing will take place in June. Those who visit narfe.org pages (most likely prospectivemembers) will see a NARFE advertisement offering free “FAQs About Your Federal Benefits” white paper.

• Online Lead Generation – New white paper offer is “How Much Money Do You Need to Retire?” The leadgeneration campaign continues to be very successful overall with 27,500 prospects gained since the begin-ning of the program in 2013 and 17.6 million impressions from January through April 2014.

• Updated posters to be available on the web. Half-page posters specifically for postal employees and suitablefor bulletin boards are being developed. “Generic” versions will also be available.

• FedWeek Webinar Sponsorship. FedWeek has begun a series of webinars targeted to current federal employ-ees. NARFE will sponsor these as part of its online lead generation efforts. All webinar promotion will include

12 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

NARFE as the sponsor; the webinar PowerPoint material will explicitly identify NARFE as the sponsor. Thefinal page of the PowerPoint presentation will be dedicated to a NARFE “Learn More and Join” promotion andall attendees’ contact information will be entered into our prospect database.

• Advertising Plan – Postal Publications. Commencing with the September 2014 issues, NARFE ads will run inthe print publications of the following associations: National Association of Postmasters of the United States,National League of Postmasters, National Association of Postal Supervisors and National Rural Letter CarriersAssociation. Quarterly rates are currently being negotiated.

State of Membership:

• Response to OPM mailing continues a five-plus year decline.• Despite the OPM response, 2012 recruitment efforts produced 25 percent more new members than in 2011and 2013 produced another 15 percent more than in 2012.

• Member deaths continue to be the greatest contributor to membership decline with a conservative estimateof more than 68,000 reported and unreported deaths since October 2010.

• Despite increases in new memberships, there are not enough new members to offset the deaths.• Lapsed-member mailings have been exceptionally successful. While overall response has been exceptionallygood, response from the treasure trove has begun to fatigue.

• Developing a large in-house database of prospective members is our strategy for large-scale recruitment.This is a relatively slow process.

• Online-generated prospects are joining at a rate of 8 percent (outstanding rate).• Membership decline has slowed each month over the past 16 months.• When and where membership levels out remains an unknown.Boel discussed a new GEMS (email blast) policy. The problem is that too many members are opting out of anyand all NARFE emails in large numbers. A new email policy has been developed for Headquarters, federationsand chapters, with approved email categories and quality control measures.

National Treasurer Thissen provided a brief update of the 2014 budget, stating that the Association continues tooperate in the black. He also provided information regarding upgrades/repairs to the Headquarters building.

RVP Ross briefly discussed the National Convention orientation session, which is scheduled for 2-3:30 p.m. onSunday, August 24.

NEB members and guests viewed a DVD provided by RVP Ross on the history of NARFE, which was created forNARFE’s 75th Anniversary.

Linda Parsons, human resources director, and Ken Doyle, director of membership systems management, briefedthe Board regarding certain procedures for National Convention registration and the number of delegates andattendees registered so far.

National Secretary Hughes updated the Board on two actions items:

(1) Recommendation that members who reinstate dropped members be officially recognized/acknowledged. National Secretary (NS) Hughes stated that it is impossible to determine if the urging of a member triggersa lapsed member to reinstate. There are several approaches for soliciting reinstatements. Additionally, thereis no vehicle to capture membership IDs of a “reinstate recruiter.” (Do not recommend cluttering forms bycreating one). Finally, if we could determine that a member was responsible for another’s reinstatementand had a vehicle to capture the information on all of the many potential reinstate efforts, there is no fieldon the database to retain the information.

(2) NS Hughes to develop procedures for closing chapters not affiliated with a federation. NS Hughes distributed a draft policy for NEB review and comment. Once the policy is finalized, it will beincluded in the F-10, “Chapter and Federation Officers Manual” (draft policy on file).

Dan Hidayat, IT director, introduced the two new additions to the IT staff: Jason Gao, senior application devel-

13 NARFE Insider Quarterly News for NARFE Leaders

oper and “Will” Nguyen Thanh Tran, junior web developer.Parliamentarian Paul Lamb provided information on voting and parliamentary procedure at the convention. Hereminded the Board that there would be two voting times. The first time, on Tuesday morning, will be a vote onResolutions 14-01, Developing the Vision of NARFE and 14-06, Reducing National Officers to two. The vote onWednesday morning will on the National Officers.

All recommended bylaw amendments will be voted on by ballot. Voting for all bylaw amendments recom-mended for rejection will take place on the floor of the convention on Monday afternoon.

Unfinished business:

NS Hughes provided a recap of the membership workshop held during an NEB meeting, July 9-11, 2013, in Or-lando, FL. Although the Board provided a lengthy list of recommendations to confront NARFE’s membershipcrisis, only the top four were reported out at the Federation Presidents meeting during the same time frame andprinted in the July, August and September 2013 edition of the Recruitment and Retention Journal.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned.

**The next scheduled NEB meeting will be August 22, 2014, at the Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando, FL.

Elaine C. HughesNational Secretary

NARFE Insider is posted on the website, www.NARFE.orgThe following members receive NARFE Insider for NARFE Leaders: Officer codes 1-Chapter President, 2-Chapter Vice President, 3-Chapter Secretary, 4-Chapter Treasurer, 5-Chapter Secretary/Treasurer, 6-Chapter Legislative Officer/National, 7-Chapter MembershipChair, 8-Chapter Public Relations, 9-Chapter Service Officer, 11-Chapter Editor, 12-Chapter Alzheimer’s Chair, 13-Chapter NARFE-PACOfficer, 14-Chapter Financial Secretary, 15-Chapter Other, 16-Chapter Net Coordinator, 17-Chapter Legislative Officer/State, 20-Federation President, 21-Federation Executive Vice President, 22-Federation Vice President, 23-Federation Secretary, 24-FederationTreasurer, 25-Federation Secretary/Treasurer, 26-Federation Legislative Chair/National, 28-Federation Legislative Chair/State, 29-Federation PR, 31-Federation Service Officer, 33-Federation Membership Chair, 34-Federation Editor, 35-Federation Alzheimer’s Chair,36-Federation NARFE-PAC Coordinator, 37-Federation Immediate Past President, 38-Federation Other, 39-Federation ExecutiveCommittee, 40-Pre-Retirement Speaker, 41-Federation Net Coordinator, 42-FEEA Coordinator, 43-Federation Area Officer, 44-RegionalAlzheimer’s Coordinator, 45-Regional FEEA Coordinator, 49-Regional Vice President, 50-Immediate Past Regional Vice President, 51-National Officer, 52-Past National Officer