RELAC Newsletter
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Mar/Apr 2021 Vol 56-2 63 Years of Your Pension and Health Care Watchdog Dedicated Service to L.A. www.relac.org • e-mail: [email protected] • (800) 537-3522 County Retirees President’s Repeal of the Windfall Message Elimination Provision and by Brian Berger Government Pension Offset Gaining Ground in Congress As a new face for this space, maybe I should start by Dave Muir, Past President with a simple “Hello.” There have been encouraging new developments You have been seeing Dave Muir’s picture and his in efforts to repeal the unfair Windfall Elimination informative messages for seven years. He decided Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset it was time to take a step back...a tiny bit. No one (GPO). A recent Forbes magazine article reported gets a break on the Board. Yes, Dave is still a member of the RELAC Board, that President Biden has promised to repeal both a member of its Executive Committee and continuing to direct major the WEP and the GPO. responsibilities where he will be a guiding voice and a conscience to all Go to https://www.google.com/amp/s/www. of us on this Board. Thank goodness I have his phone number. forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2020/12/07/why-joe- biden-should-reform-not-repeal-the-windfall- As a reminder, RELAC was started in February 1958. Its purpose was elimination-provision/amp/ to read the article. to preserve and promote the general welfare of its members. It has done so ever since. Our most important mission today is defending The “Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force our pensions and health benefits against the relentless attacks of their Recommendations” includes a section entitled “Guaranteeing a Secure and Dignified Retirement.” critics. Three of our directors serve on the LACERA Boards of Retirement Therein, it is stated: “We will eliminate penalties and Investments, helping to ensure retirees’ interests are secure. RELAC for retirement benefits that unfairly punish also works with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the educators and other public sector workers.” California Retired County Employees Association. Our commitment is exclusively interested in protecting and improving retiree benefits. I will Continued on p.4 save mention of the many programs, including the charitable programs we support, for subsequent articles. Information about our various Former RELAC Director Simon activities regularly appears in our bi-monthly newsletter, available online Russin, 76, Dies of Natural Causes at www.relac.org, which is gaining a growing following. by Judy Hammond, Newsletter Editor The COVID crisis has changed all our lives and for the Board I can only say Former RELAC Director Simon that we feel and share whatever challenges or sometimes heartbreaking Russin III, who served on the consequences you may have suffered. Just getting tested or getting the LACERA Board of Retirement vaccine has been challenging, no matter where you live. Life without for 30 years and the LACERA the easy physical sharing of space with family and friends who are not Board of Investments for 21 years, has died at age 76. part of your immediate home is simply hard. For those of you/us who have family scattered across the country, the telephone or computer The cause of death was not becomes all we have. announced, but the family The RELAC office and staff have also had to make significant said he died peacefully at his adjustments. The office itself gets a thorough regular cleaning and Arcadia home on Jan. 5, surrounded by family and longtime companion Lupe De La Rosa. masks are mandatory for staff and any visitors. What used to be three staff plus a supervisor in the office every day is now one per day with Russin began working for the County in 1970 and three working at home. Since the office gets a large amount of mail and was chief environmental health specialist with the calls every day, that has been a challenge. Provision of preprogrammed Department of Public Health when he retired in laptops for home use by staff has helped. If you have not noticed a January 2013. Five months after retirement, he significant difference, it is because of the hard work, often stretched was appointed to the RELAC Board of Directors out over seven days, by the office manager, Sheila Simpson, and the to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Ray staff, Norma Nieto, Selina Johnny and Brenda Stephens, as well as the Guyovich. various Board members who run committees which depend on office staff for support. Continued on p.4 Investment News from LACERA by JJ Popowich Board Assistant Executive Officer, LACERA by Joseph Kelly RELAC Director, LACERA Board of I hope everyone is staying healthy and enjoying their Investments Trustee retirement. At the end of January, there The last few years I’ve kept you all up to date on how our was much press coverage on March Madness season is going. January is in the middle groups of investors who were of the annual March Madness retirement season. That’s the driving up the market price time of year when most people call and visit LACERA to of GameStop, a video game retire. Members like to retire on or before March 31 so they retailer. Last year Wall Street hedge funds noted retail can qualify for any cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that companies were struggling, as lockdowns prevented become available on April 1. So far this year, we have had 1,169 members submit people from going into stores. The hedge funds retirement applications. Last year at this time, we had about 1,305 members retire. determined that GameStop was in financial trouble The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our way of life, including how we and they bet that it, and other companies similarly provide service to our members. As I write this article, we have just emerged from situated, would likely go out of business. So, they sold the most recent stay-at-home orders issued by Governor Newsom. While stringent, the stock short. (A short sale is a transaction in which these steps were necessary to help address the spikes in cases and hospitalizations. the seller does not actually own the stock that is being We are also just beginning to see the ramp-up in getting people vaccinated. Earlier sold but borrows it from the brokerage firm through this week on lacera.com, we posted links to all of our healthcare insurance partners’ which he or she places the sell order. The seller then websites with information on how members can get vaccinated. Personally, I am has the obligation to buy back the stock at some point planning to get my vaccination as soon as I can, to do my part in getting us all past in the future.) However, in January investors bought this tragic time and to brighter days. GameStop’s stock, sending its price through the roof – from around $30 per share to more than $340 per share While we go through this hopeful transition period, much of our staff continues in a week. This didn’t bode well for the hedge funds to work from home and provide services remotely. We have been working hard to that thought the stock price would decline. When time develop plans and make physical modifications to our offices to allow us to safely came for them to buy the stock to cover their short open for business again. Although I can’t say specifically when that will be, I can sales, they had to buy the stock at very high prices, assure you that we are ready to restart service in the Member Services Center as and they lost a lot of money. soon as we get the greenlight. Did this impact the retirement trust’s investments One of the projects we have been working on is our paperless initiative -- a at all? No, it did not. Here’s why. LACERA’s Board goal to add convenience and options for members who wish to receive LACERA of Investments (the “Board”) is responsible for communications via e-mail and who prefer to conduct business electronically. establishing LACERA’s Investment Policy Statement Last June we provided you a new option to submit documents by uploading them (IPS). The IPS defines the framework by which LACERA through your My LACERA account. (This is the quickest and most secure way to manages the assets of the trust to fulfill its mission: to submit documents to LACERA.) produce, protect and provide the promised benefit. The document provides the primary guidance for Now we are giving members new options to receive certain communications and LACERA’s investment activities by outlining the documents. In December and January, we began notifying all members with a valid philosophy and structure of LACERA’s investment e-mail address that certain documents were available for viewing online in the My program, describing the general process by which LACERA Document Center. (If you didn’t receive an e-mail from us, you may want assets are managed, and defining the key roles and to check and update your My LACERA profile.) You can now opt in to access your responsibilities in LACERA’s investment program. annual benefit statement and automatic deposit receipts through the My LACERA Imbedded in the IPS are the Board’s Investment Beliefs. Document Center and discontinue receiving the physical document via mail. You The Investment Beliefs articulate assumptions about will receive an e-mail notification when your documents are ready for your review. how capital markets operate and investment styles.