Legislation

FERS Sick Leave and Federal Retiree Re-Employment Bills

by Norma Powell

HR 958 is drafted to insure FERS employees sick leave is creditable in the same manner as CSRS employees receive currently. FERS employees loose all sick leave balance credits when they retire or die. With HR958 under section 8412 or 8414 the computing of annuity would allow credit of unused sick leave days under a formal leave system no matter if the applicant be a survivor of the employee with survivor benefits or the retiring employee themselves. The days of unused sick leave will not be counted in determining average pay or annuity eligibility. All sick leave credits would be equal credit one day on the books equals one day credit.

S629 addresses the re-employment of retired employees. The proposed legislation would allow on a limited bases the agencies flexibility to employee many of it's skilled, knowledgeable employees. Currently employees returning on a part time basis are forced to take a pay reduction to offset their annuity. The proposed legislation would allow reemployment be limited to a maximum of 520 hours in the first six months following retirement, 1040 hours in any 12-month period and a total of 3,120 hours for any one employee. The employee would not be forced to take a reduction to offset their annuity. The annuitant would not receive additional retirement benefits. All retirement benefits are based upon their original service. It is projected that 60% of the federal workforce will be eligible for retirement in the next ten years.

List Of The Members Of The Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

HR 22 - A SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE ALERT

July 08, 2009 - HR 22 Scheduled for Full Committee mark up Friday July 10th

I am writing to you today to first of all thank you for all your hard work and dedication in bringing attention to HR 22 and securing an amazing 337 Co-Sponsors for this bill. As the Education organization our Legislative committee believes it is just as important to not only report to you but provide you with the material to educate your representatives as well. In that regard, a major step forward took place On June 24th when the Congressional subcommittee on Government Reform released to full committee an amended version of HR 22.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had scored this bill at 2 billion per year in costs. It has long been held that the CBO estimate is not accurate since NONE of the Postal Service funds comes from tax revenues nor is the USPS operations a part of the national budget. Coincidentally with the release of the Office of Inspector General’s report on June 19th that scored the bill more realistically, the subcommittee amended HR 22 less than a week later shortening the bills term from eight years to three years. The reasoning behind this was to allow for more ease of passage by Congress when HR 22 comes to a vote. With 337 Co-Sponsors for the original eight year bill this should help speed HR 22 through yet this fiscal year. The amended version that the House subcommittee approved would permit the Postal Service to realign its payments for the health benefits of its retirees.

This economic relief legislation for the Postal Service, is not a bail out. Without this legislation the Postal Service will reach it’s mandated debt ceiling and could very well have to inconceivably end operations. Unfortunately the CBO’s scoring delayed movement based on faulty financial reasoning. Of all the Government (or semi-government agencies) in the United States ONLY the U S Postal Service is self sufficient, operating totally tax free since 1983 as mandated by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 In fact the Postal Service is the best cash cow model of any Government agency, in addition to being the most trusted and utilized government agency in the world.

The reason this relief is needed because the Postal Service, despite continued cost-cutting, has projected losses of more than $6 billion this fiscal year, due primarily to the impact of the economic recession. HR 22 would help provide relief for three years at which time the economy hopefully will be on road to recovery along with the mailing industry. Keep in mind, HR 22 alone will not save the Postal Service but it does provide some "breathing room" and in effect could also be considered a JOBS bill as well.

The full committee has scheduled a mark up for HR 22 this Friday July 10th. League is making urgent call to all members to contact their representative on the Oversight committee. A list of the members of the committee is at the top of this webpage.

If they have co-sponsored HR 22, thank them for their support and update their Legislative aide on postal issues regarding subcommittee’s unanimous approval. Then request that their representative vote yes per the subcommittee’s unanimous approval. If they have not co-sponsored update their Legislative aide on postal issues regarding subcommittee’s unanimous approval and urge their representative to also vote yes again per subcommittee’s unanimous approval. It is vitally important that you emphasize subcommittee’s unanimous approval.

Securing the full committees approval will be the next vital step is seeing success for HR 22.

Thank You

For the National Legislative Committee, Bill Krejci

Current House Co-Sponsors are included on the current Co-Sponsors list (click to view PDF). Though we have a majority our work is not done. Continue to call upon those Representatives that have not yet signed on to HR 22 and prepare the way in the Senate by previewing your Senators on this subject. We still have a long way to go but we are making progress and that is due to all of YOUR efforts in contacting and securing commitments. THANK YOU! Keep up the great work and be certain to follow up and express your appreciation to your Co-Sponsors.

Once again this is the link I recommend for you to send out to your people. "Contacting the Congress" is a very up-to-date database of congressional contact information for the 111th Congress. As of March 17, 2009 there are 538 email addresses (of which 526 are Web-based email homepages), and 537 WWW homepages known for the 541 members of the 111th Congress. Traditional ground mail addresses and fax numbers (both DC and District) are also available for all current members of Congress. Click here http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

One of the reasons we write this update everyday to review this Bill's progress is to keep you, our membership, informed and to show you that it is YOU that can make a difference!

Thanks again,

Bill and Kathy

Legislative Co-Chair's

Legislative News

LEAGUE Goes One-On-One - Reviewing Legislative Concerns with the Postal Service

Marie Therese Dominguez is the new Vice President, Government Relations and Public Policy, at the Postal Service. Although she’s been on the job for only a matter of months, her background in legislative and policy work, and experience in both government and private sectors in transportation and the environment, makes her expertise an excellent match for what the Postal Service is about.

More Legislative News