AARP:NRTA Conference
National
Retired
Teachers
Alliance
RTAC First Vice President Louella Preston and RTAC Board of Directors
member and Webmaster Roy Coleman, represented RTAC at the AARP:NRTA
2015 National Advisory Conference in Washington, D.C. from September 28
through October 1, 2015. As RTAC was one of the founding members
of AARP:NRTA in 1945, Louella and Roy were all expense paid guests of
AARP:NRTA. Representatives from 45 states participated with the
representatives from Alaska traveling the farthest. While all other
attendees represented their respective state’s retired educators, RTAC
was the only organization that represented a city school district’s
retired educators. Illinois retired educators from outside of Chicago
were represented by Mary Shaw, the Illinois Retired Teachers’
Association’s Legislative Representative.
Although RTAC currently employs two legislative advocacy organizations
which focus on Springfield legislation, this conference emphasized
advocating at the federal level. Louella and Roy participated in
eight different programs that focused upon the impact which current and
proposed Federal legislation has on retirees. Since Illinois is
one of about a dozen states where retired educators do not participate
in Social Security, both Roy and Louella were particularly interested
in these presentations. (See AARP:NRTA WEP-GPO Information
and/or our Social Security
Fairness Page.) They also had the opportunity to meet and
interact with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (Illinois -9th) and our two
U.S. Illinois Senators – Richard Durbin and Mark Kirk. Louella and Roy
anticipate utilizing the information they acquired at the meetings to
identify strategies in which RTAC can engage to increase our
involvement in the 2016 elections at the local, state and federal
levels.
Photos of our representatives meeting with various legislators and
NRTA officials are here.
Below are links to much of the material we received along with
suggestions
as to how to approach our legislators and encourage them to support our
goals.
AARP:NRTA
PowerPoint Presentations:
Advocacy
Overview
NRTA
Advocacy Conference
Retirement
on the Rocks
Pension Reform:
In
General
Pension
Litigation
AARP:NRTA WEP-GPO Information
Talking Points:
NRTA/NIRS
General Pension-Related Talking Points here: http://1drv.ms/1NJY8Va
NRTA/NIRS Pensions and Overall Retirement Security Talking Points here:
http://1drv.ms/1NJZ1x4
Helpful
Websites:
National
Institute on Retirement Security, www.nirsonline.org
National Association of State Retirement Administrators, www.nasra.org
National Council on Teacher Retirement, www.nctr.org
National Conference of State Legislatures, www.ncsl.org
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, http://crr.bc.edu
Center for State and Local Government Excellence, www.slge.org
Additional Resources:
Pensionomics 2014: Measuring the Economic Impact of DB Pension
Expenditures (July 2014)
NIRS created state fact sheets that highlight the economic impact of
pensions in your state. Click on the map and print off your state
fact sheets. http://www.nirsonline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=88
Still a Better Bang
for the Buck: Update on the Economic Efficiencies of Pensions (December 2014)
NIRS research finds that pension plans are a far more cost-efficient
means of providing retirement income as compared to individual defined
contribution accounts.
http://www.nirsonline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=871&Itemid=48
NYSRTA
Advocacy Request and Information on Student Testing
For those of
you who attended our closing dinner on Wednesday, September 30th,
you’ll recall Angelo Grande, President-elect of the New York State
Retired Teachers Association (NYSRTA), requesting your engagement on
H.R.
452 and S.
1025, federal legislation pertaining to student
testing. Summaries of those bills can be found by clicking the
bill number.
Angelo can be reached
at aigrande@yahoo.com with any questions.
Go
to the Social Security
Fairness page
Go to the RTAC Advocacy page
Go to the RTAC Pending
Bills page
Go to the RTAC Home page