President’s Message

Will we have May flowers? I've seen many around so far and just love this time of year. Hope you have been able to

enjoy the beauty of Spring. Ted Johnson gave a great, informal yet informational meeting in March. Sorry we did not

see some of you there! By the time you get this we will have also had our April meeting on the local charity, The

Sophia Elizabeth Foundation. In May and June we will collect back packs and school supplies for the foundation. If

you can’t make the meeting, send a gift card so they can get what they need (If you can of course.) We are trying to

do some payback to our community and the world around us. We said goodbye to our hard working Ulysttyne

Williams at our last officers meeting. She has been dedicated to helping our club in so many ways. Good news is she

will stay a member of our chapter. Best of luck Ulysstine in your new adventures in Las Vegas!

▪ Roxie Patterson, President

National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association

Antelope Valley CHAPTER 877 Lancaster, California

Executive Board

Legislation

Introduced to

Change TSP Withdrawal Options:

Sens. Portman and Carper, have introduced

the TSP Modernization Act, which would

provide more flexible withdrawal options for

TSP accounts. The bill would allow multiple,

partial post-separation withdrawals that

participants can time to their individual

needs. Currently, participants who have

separated from federal service are allowed

only two post-separation withdrawals (in

the form of a lump sum payment, a stream

of monthly payments or annuity payments).

For participants who are still working and

are older than age 59½, the bill would allow

multiple age-based withdrawals. Current

rules allow only one age-based withdrawal

for those still working.

The bill also would add flexibility to the TSP

by allowing the election of quarterly or

annual payments and permitting periodic

withdrawals to be changed at any point

during the year. Payments could be stopped

while allowing the account balance to

remain in the TSP. Currently, periodic

payments can be selected only in monthly

intervals, can be adjusted only once per year

and cannot be stopped unless the

participant withdraws the entire remaining

balance. Finally, the bill would eliminate the

withdrawal election deadline. Currently,

participants are required to make a post-

separation withdrawal election by April 1 of

the year following the year in which they

turn age 70½ and are separated from

federal service. This requirement too often

is conflated with the requirement to begin

taking required minimum distributions the

same day, which leads to withdrawals of the

full TSP balance. The Employee Thrift

Advisory Council, of which NARFE is a

member, supports the improvements in

withdrawal flexibility. NARFE recommends

you send a letter to your legislators asking

them to support the bill.

Fiduciary Rule Applicability Date

Delayed 60 Days:

The Department of Labor (DOL) published a

final rule to extend by 60 days the

applicability date for defining who is a

“fiduciary” when providing retirement

investment advice, delaying the full

implementation of the “conflict of interest”

or “fiduciary” rule to June 9, 2017.

President Trump signed a presidential

memo directing the Labor Department to

review the rule to determine whether it

should be rescinded or revised. This delay is

one of the first steps in a process that could

lead to the demise or substantial alteration

of the rule. However, based on the release,

it appears that the DOL does not anticipate

any additional delays beyond 60 days in

setting the definition of who is a fiduciary

and establishing the standards of conduct

necessary to ensure the adviser is acting in

the best interests of the client.

The DOL also does not expect to complete

its review of the fiduciary rule within the 60-

day delay period. The full review is

ATTENTION MEMBERS I NEED YOUR HELP! I have

written in the past months about the changes NARFE HQ

has implemented as a result of the Optional Chapter

Membership decision at the National Convention in

2016. The National Board decided to send out renewal

notices giving members the opportunity to join either as

a National Member only, or continue to pay a small

extra local fee to continue to belong to a chapter. In our

case that extra cost is $5 per year. The way the renewal

form is constructed it gives preference to the National

Member option. The result is that in the first two

months this has been implemented we have had four

members transfer out of the chapter to National

Member status. I don’t know if they made this decision

deliberately or accidentally. But it means they will no

longer receive any communication from us through our

newsletter on issues relevant to our area and our

congressional districts. Nor will they get notifications

regarding our meetings.

So I am asking you to do is this: When you get your

renewal notice pay close attention to the two options

and be sure to check the one that maintains your local

chapter membership. Five dollars is a small price to pay

for a year’s worth of access to our newsletter and the

information we provide at our monthly meetings. If

local NARFE chapters continue to lose members it will

be impossible for us to continue operating at the local

level, and I believe that will have a severe impact on

NARFE’S ability to continue its mission. As we have seen

recently the huge attendance at Congressional Town

Hall Meetings across the country is having an effect on

the political positions of representatives of those

Districts. All politics is local. If you are considering

changing your membership to drop support of the local

chapter I would appreciate a word from you on your

reasoning. You can reach me at (661) 943-4897 or

Linda_Ingram@verizon.net. Thank you!

▪ Linda Ingram, 2nd VP

Chapter Newsletter May - Jun 2017

Legislative

President Roxie Patterson

(661) 948-1979 POOF1967@aol.com

District VIII VP Linda Ingram (661) 943-4897

1st VP and Legislation

Randy Scott (661) 256-3507

2nd VP and Membership

Linda Ingram (661) 943-4897

Secretary and Webmaster

Nancy Bergren (661) 722-2913

Treasurer Betty McLaurin

(661) 942-0658

Services Gary Darcy

(661) 238-5561

Public Relations Leslie Underwood

Social & Sunshine VACANT

Programs VACANT

Alzheimer’s VACANT

Historian VACANT

Editor Stacey Norris

(661) 350-5043

Membership

Legislative Action Center - http://www.narfe.org/legislation/votervoice.cfm

www.narfe.org/chapter877 www.facebook.com/groups/AVNARFE0877

MAY 9th - E-Board & Committee Meeting 10:00am, Betty McLaurin’s home

16th - Membership Meeting 12:00pm, Greenhouse Café

Speaker: Retired Sgt Major Mike Kufchak, Veterans Affairs, IBEW Local Union 11, LA County

Topic: Helping veterans in and around the Antelope Valley.

**We will also have a dedication to all the NARFE members that have passed away.

JUNE 13th - E-Board & Committee Meeting

10:00am, Betty McLaurin’s home

27th - Membership Meeting 12:00pm, Greenhouse Café

Speaker: TBD

Topic: Personal Safety and Security Possible topics include street crimes, home protection, car safety, pros and cons of weapons. Check our Facebook page for further details as we approach June 27th and watch for the official reminder email. https://www.facebook.com/groups/AVNARFE0877/

Upcoming Events

scheduled to take place during the transition

period before the second phase of the rule is

set to begin in January 2018. Fortunately for

TSP participants, the rollover advice portion

of the rule is set to begin June 9, and will be

enforceable. Thank you to those who wrote

to the DOL in support of the rule during the

notice and comment period. NARFE supports

the rule and is concerned by continued

attempts to undo it.

Postal Reform Bill Approved by

House Oversight Committee:

On March 16, the House Committee on

Oversight and Government Reform held a

markup and ultimately approved the Postal

Reform Act of 2017, HR756, without

addressing the concerns of the 76,000 postal

retirees who would be forced to enroll in

Medicare under the bill. NARFE opposes this

bill on the grounds that it would force

current postal retirees onto Medicare in

order to keep their federal health insurance

coverage. Changing retirement benefits after

retirement sets a terrible precedent, and all

members of the federal community should

be alarmed. NARFE has proposed a simple

alternative – allow those 76,000 retirees,

who automatically would be enrolled in

Medicare, a small window of

opportunity to opt out. An opt-out

period would allow postal retirees to

maintain choice when it comes to their

earned health benefits, crucial for those

who are living on fixed incomes and

who have previously declined Medicare.

Under this legislation, postal retirees

who are not currently enrolled in

Medicare would face an additional $134

per month or more in premiums. While

the Postal Service stands to financially

benefit from this enrollment, the cost to

Medicare is upward of $8 billion. NARFE

strongly urges its members to contact

their legislators and ask them to oppose

the Postal Reform Act of 2017 in its

current form. Remember, this bill sets a

dangerous precedent for ALL federal

retirees. A letter can easily be sent by

going to the NARFE Legislative Action

Center.

Make Your Voice Heard in

Congress:

NARFE members are encouraged to use

the new, easy-to-use NARFE Legislative

Action Center to send letters to

members of Congress on a variety of

NARFE issues, sign up for action alerts

and track NARFE-related bills and votes.

▪ Randy Scott, 1st VP

(Continued from page 1)

May 2017

S M T W Th F S

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

June 2017

S M T W Th F S

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

NARFE Participates in Alzheimer’s Association’s 2017 Advocacy Forum:

Recently, representatives of NARFE joined more than

1,300 advocates from around the country at the

Alzheimer’s Association’s 2017 Advocacy Forum to ask

Congress for increased federal funding for Alzheimer’s

disease research. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause

of death in America, and is the only disease of the “top

10” that cannot be prevented, slowed or cured. NARFE is

proud of its status as a Zenith Society member of the

Alzheimer’s Association, having raised more than $12

million to date to fund Alzheimer’s research. During the

three-day conference, attendees learned more about the

detrimental effects that Alzheimer’s has on individuals

living with the disease, their loved ones and caregivers.

To wrap up the conference, Capitol Hill was “painted

purple” by advocates who informed legislators and their

staff about what Congress can do to help end this terrible

disease.

The Senate Special Committee on Aging also held a

hearing titled “The Arc of Alzheimer’s: From Preventing

Cognitive Decline in Americans to Assuring Quality Care

for Those Living with the Disease.” Panel witnesses

urged Congress to support Alzheimer’s research and

requested that the National Institutes of Health receive

increased funding for Alzheimer’s research for fiscal year

2018.

A video of the hearing is available at:

https://www.aging.senate.gov/hearings/watch?hearingid=3EB936B9-5056-A066-6056-65C9C60A3361