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February 28, 2003 - 13,085 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation
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ASC - QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR THE PENSION INDUSTRY FOR OVER 20 YEARS ASC provides complete automation for the pension office, including: DC/401(k) and DB administration and valuation systems, sophisticated Compliance Testing, DV Direct Daily Valuation, Advanced Information Manager Database (AIM), and Single-Step Processing. All ASC Technical Support Members were experienced Pension Administrators or Actuaries before joining ASC-- and most have been with ASC for over 10 years.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
US Airways Payments to Departing Executives Anger Pilots Fighting to Keep Current Pension Plan
Excerpt: "US Airways' pilots union wants three former top executives to return $35 million in retirement benefits they received on their departures from the airline." (Washington Post)
GAO: Process Needed to Monitor the Mandated Interest Rate for Private Pension Plan Calculations
47 pages. GAO-03-313, February 27, 2003. Excerpt: "Congress intended that the interest rates used in current liability and lump-sum calculations should reflect the interest rate underlying group annuity prices ... In 1987, 30-year Treasury bond rates appeared to have both of these characteristics [but] new 30-year Treasury bonds [stopped being issued] in 2001. Actuaries and other pension experts have proposed a number of alternative interest rates ..." (U.S. General Accounting Office)
Judge Restrains Detroit Pension Board Members from Further Expensive Trips
Excerpt: "[The city of Detroit's] pension board members-- who racked up a travel bill of nearly $600,000 since 1999 traveling around the world-- now may only leave the state on board business with the permission of a judge, according to a court order issued Thursday. The temporary restraining order comes after The Detroit News reported Sunday that the city's pension board members were running up huge travel expenses." (The Detroit News)
Revamping Washington State's Pension System Carries High Stakes
Excerpt: " Legislators only have to look south to Oregon to see how troubles with public-employee retirement systems erode trust.... Oregon's pension system is the envy of public employees across the Columbia River because retirees can leave work making 106 percent of their working pay, with current rules perhaps pushing that to 120 percent." (Lance Dickie in The Seattle Times)
Critics Say New York State's Pension System Due for Reform
Excerpt: "The reforms, including giving new hires fewer benefits than current workers, are necessary, say groups such as the Citizens Budget Commission and the Manhattan Institute, to deal with the huge spike in retirement costs faced by the state and local governments. The higher bills are partly the result of a broad array of retirement benefits unanimously approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. George Pataki in the 2000 election year." (The [Albany, N.Y.] Times Union)
Pension Funding Obligations Leave New York State with Hangover from Good Times
Excerpt: "One big commitment came in 2000, when the state boosted the benefits of public employee retirees. With governments now groaning under the weight of a huge increase in their share of those pension costs, the benevolence toward retirees of three years ago is coming back to haunt taxpayers." (Newsday)
Greenspan Warns of Delay in Social Security Reform
Excerpt: "Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that delays in shoring up the financially shaky Social Security and Medicare programs could require 'abrupt and painful' adjustments when the baby boom generation begins retiring." (Washington Post)
Another Question is Answered in the Who's the Employer Q&A Column
At Q 11:2 of your book, you address the issue of what is a change in group membership that qualifies for a free pass of the participation and coverage requirements. You cite the Section 410(b) regulations that say, in part, "an asset or stock acquisition, merger or other similar transaction involving a change in the employer..." What does "involving a change in the employer" mean? (BenefitsLink.com)
CalPERS Runs Ad in Wall Street Journal Mocking Tyco for Reincorporating in Bermuda
Excerpt: "CalPERS, the largest U.S. pension fund, and several other pensions on Thursday stepped up their publicity campaign against Tyco International Ltd.'s Bermuda address with a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal that shows a man working from his laptop on a beach. The ad shows a postcard that reads 'Ahhh...Bermuda' and shows a businessman holding an umbrella with 'TYCO' stenciled on it. He also is sitting on a suitcase marked 'TYCO.'" (Reuters)
Oregon House Approves Revision to Life Expectancy Tables Used for Pension Calculations
Excerpt: "The Oregon House passed a measure Thursday to cut public employee pension costs by changing benefit calculations to protect those near retirement while shaving benefits for younger workers. The measure sent to the Senate on a 51-8 vote requires the Public Employees Retirement System to replace life-expectancy tables by July 1." (The [Salem, Ore.] Statesman Journal)
Study Recommends Removing Elected Officials from Milwaukee's Public Pension Plan
Excerpt: "The Select Committee on Milwaukee County Government, after nearly one year of study, made several key recommendations on improving county practices: ... Remove all county elected officials from the county's pension plan to avoid conflicts in voting on pension changes. If a pension is to continue to be provided to the supervisors, it could be a free-standing plan, a 401(k)-type setup or the State of Wisconsin pension plan." (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
GAO Testimony: Congress Should Consider Revising the Government Pension Offset 'Loophole'
Barbara D. Bovbjerg, director, education, workforce, and income security issues, before the Subcommittee on Social Security, House Committee on Ways and Means. GAO-03-498T, February 27, 2003. Excerpt: "I am pleased to be here today to discuss Social Security's Government Pension Offset (GPO) exemption. As you know, the GPO was enacted in 1977 to equalize the treatment of workers covered by Social Security and those with government pensions not covered by Social Security." (U.S. General Accounting Office)
Boehner-Led Committee Says Labor Department Supports 'Pension Security Act'
Press release. Excerpt: "Last year, the House passed the Pension Security Act by a margin of 255-163, with the strong bipartisan support of 46 Democrats. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats did not act on the Pension Security Act or any comprehensive pension protection bill before adjournment." (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce)
Links to Prepared Testimony of Witnesses on 'Pension Security Act'
February 13, 2003 hearing on 'The Pension Security Act: New Pension Protections to Safeguard the Retirement Savings of American Workers.' Includes opening statement of Chairman Sam Johnson; statement of the Honorable Ann L. Combs, Assistant Secretary of the DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration; Ed Rosic for the American Benefits Council; Scott Sleyster of Prudential Retirement Services; and Nell Minow of The Corporate Library. (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations)
The Declining Role of Social Security
Excerpt: "[L]ost in the debate [over Social Security reform] is the fact that even under current law Social Security will provide less retirement income relative to previous earnings than it does today. Combine the already legislated reductions with potential cuts due to closing the financing gap, and Social Security may no longer be the mainstay of the retirement system for many people." (Alicia H. Munnell, published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Associate - Insurance Services - Los Angeles, CA and Deerfield, IL
for Mullin Consulting, Inc.
in CA, IL
Trustmark/SRT Senior Administrator
for New England-based TPA
in
401(K) Administrator
for Caribbean Pension Consultants, Inc.
in FL
Relationship Manager
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Benefits Coordinator
for Global Steel manufacturer
in CA
Trust Reconciliation Specialist
for CO TPA Firm
in CO
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
What is the Price of Innovation? Policy Approaches to Manage Rising Pharmacy Costs
on February 25, 2003
presented by American Association of Health Plans
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
AHI's Benefits Alert Releases New Free Report: "Education Perks At Work"
(Alexander Hamilton Institute - AHI's BenefitsAlert.com)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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