Harlan Ledford - Educator & Retired Business Teacher from WHS, age 86 died March 10th.

Mr. Harlan Edward Ledford, age 86, of Chestnut Drive, Blowing Rock and a former resident of Boone, died Wednesday morning, March 10, 2010 at Blowing Rock Hospital. Born August 2, 1923 in Bakersville, NC, he was a son of the late Ransom and Esther Sparks Ledford. Mr. Ledford was a US Army Veteran having served during WWII. Harlan was a graduate of East Tennessee State University where he obtained a Masters of Education Degree. He taught business classes at Elizabethton High School and retired from Watauga High School where he taught business and typing for 35 years. Mr. Ledford was a member of Foscoe Christian Church where he taught Sunday School and was an Elder. Surviving are: one daughter, Lori Hill and husband Bob of Boone, one son; Gary Ledford and wife Jackie of Lincolnton; six grandchildren; Brian Ledford, Erin Whitworth, Luke and Matt Fowler, and Sierra and Dylan Hill, four great grandchildren; and one sister Margaret Hamm of Chattanooga, Tennessee. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife Bernice Edwards Ledford, one sister; Helen Richardson and one brother Ransom Ledford, Jr. Funeral services for Mr. Harlan Edward Ledford will be conducted Friday evening at 7:30 at the Foscoe Christian Church. Officiating will be Minister Ken Caswell and Minister Dan Burke. The family will receive friends Friday evening prior to the service at the church from 6 o'clock until 7:30. Flowers are accepted or memorials may be made to the Foscoe Christian Church, 8834 NC Hwy 105 South, Boone, NC 28607. Graveside services and burial for Mr. Harlan Edward Ledford will be conducted Saturday morning at 10:30 at Happy Valley Memorial Park and Gardens in Elizabethton, Tennessee

Glenn Asby "Andy Reece" died at the age of 75

Mr. Glenn Asby "Andy" Reece, age 75, of Dutch Treat Road, Banner Elk, died Tuesday night, December 8, 2009 at Carolina's Medical Center. Born January 7, 1934 in Watauga County, he was a son of the late Asa L. and Kate Swift Reese. Mr. Reese was a graduate of Appalachian Teacher College and received his Master's of Education from Duke University. He was a retired educator, having taught at Bethel Elementary School, Cove Creek School, Watauga High School, and Appalachian State University. Andy was a baseball coach at Watauga High School and Principal at Blowing Rock Elementary School. After retirement from the local school system, Andy worked for the North Carolina Association of Educators as the Uniserve Director. He served in the US Army during the Korean Conflict and was a member of Beaver Dam Baptist Church. Andy was also a former member of the Watauga County School Board, having served ten years, including a term as Chairman.

Surviving are: his wife; Brenda Reese, four children; Butch Reese and wife Debbie of Vilas, Debbie Reese and fiancé Ronnie Carter of Vilas, Tina Jameson Brown and husband Charles of Valle Crucis, and Scott Jameson and wife Jennifer of Elk Park, five grandchildren; Joshua Reese of Boone, James Ward and fiancé Liz Ammerman of Boone, Macie Brown of Valle Crucis, and Hunter and Dakota Jameson of Elk Park, three great grandchildren; Jessica, Jordan and Richard of Boone, his brothers and sisters; Norman Reese of Conover, Kathleen Reese of Vilas, Richard Reese and wife Lou of Boiling Springs, Gladys Shoun of Sylvania, Ohio, Betty Shoun of Vilas, Clint Reese and wife Maude of Fuquay-Varina, and Dorcas Hodges of Vilas, two sisters-in-law, Jody Dugger of Burnsville and Barbara Reese of Ringgold, GA. He was preceded in death by his parents; Asa L and Kate Swift Reese and two brothers; Asa L. Reese and Lance Reese.

A celebration of life for Mr. Andy Reese will be conducted Monday evening at 7 o'clock at Austin & Barnes Funeral Home Chapel. Officiating will be Mr. Keith Reese and Mr. Mitchell Yates. The family will receive friends Monday evening prior to the service from 5 o'clock until 7 at Austin & Barnes Funeral Home. Flowers are accepted or memorials may be made to the Watauga Education Foundation for the Kate Swift Reese Scholarship Fund, Post Office Box 2658, Boone, NC 28607. Online condolences may be sent to the Reese family at austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com Austin & Barnes Funeral Home & Crematory is serving the Reese family.

Next Meeting December 17

The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel

Vol.XII, No.3 December 2009_ntn1066@hotmail.com
December Meeting
Noon, Thursday, December 17, 2009
Deerfield Methodist Church
Cost per meal is $10, payable to Watauga Unit, NCRSP

Our holiday meeting will be considerably brighter for the sight of YOUR shining face and for the presence of The Steel Magnolias, a very special musical group from Ashe County. You certainly won’t want to miss their performance.
As we do each year in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday in early March and the Read Across America program which honors him, we ask that you bring a new or gently-read children’s book to the December meeting for distribution to Watauga County children through the Santa’s Toy Box Program. Do NOT bring books that have been marked in. On the subject of Read Across America, if you would like to volunteer to read to kids, select an appropriate volume, put the first week of March on your calendar, and call your favorite elementary school.
Please, please, please bring as much non-perishable food as you can to the meeting for the Hunger Coalition. Powdered milk, soup, oatmeal, pasta products, canned fruit and vegetables, ANYthing non-perishable will be acceptable. Don’t forget those medicine bottles, either, and this month, please include all those annoying little plastic bags from the grocery store and Wal-Mart and every other shop in town. We can recycle them!
If your caller has not reached you by Sunday, December 14, call Margaret Sigmon, 264-2036, immediately to make your reservation.
RAFFLE! The raffle for Steve Breitenstein’s incredible apple pie brought nearly $100 to our scholarship fund – a new and very impressive record. In December, we have a handmade wooden bowl filled with seasonal goodies you’ll love. As usual, each ticket is $1 or six for $5. Raffle money always goes into the scholarship fund. By the way, if you have mailed your dues and not made a donation to the scholarship fund, you can always do that – and donations to the scholarship fund are tax-deductible if you itemize.

President’s Message
At this time of the year, Christmas memories come cascading into my thoughts. Most of them are filled with joy, some with sadness, and others are bittersweet. Memories of my beloved mother seem especially poignant as I think of the stories that she would tell to us, to her students, and to worshippers at our church. One of her favorites was The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke. It was written in 1896 and tells of Artaban, the fourth Magi. In preparation of his journey to seek the Messiah, he sells his possessions and buys three precious gems, a sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl, to present to the Christ Child. However, as he hastens to join the other three wise men, he is delayed when he stops to minister to a dying man reaches Bethlehem too late to give his gifts to the Christ Child. Hearing that the family has fled to Egypt, he chooses to sell his sapphire to buy camels and provisions to cross the desert. As Artaban continues his quest, he takes time to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to heal the sick. He uses the ruby to save the life of a child and all he has left is the pearl. For thirty-three years searches fruitlessly for the Promised One. Hearing that He might be there, Artaban climbs a hill to Golgotha, but along the way he encounters a young woman being tormented by soldiers. He trades the luminous pearl for her life. Many years later, as Artaban lies dying, he hears a sweet voice saying, “Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it to me,” and he understands that he has at last found the Messiah he has sought for so long.
As I am retelling this story, I see each of you like the “Other Wise Man,” giving your time to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to heal the sick. You give so freely of your time, your resources, your energy and your enthusiasm. The smiles, laughter, friendship, and contributions to our organization and community bring light to the darkness and bless each other and all of us.
May the blessings of this season be yours as you have blessed me,
Beth

Among Us Cats – Did you get the answers to our October quiz?
floating off the coast of California, Santa Catalina; sang “Morning Has Broken,” Cat Stevens; lives in a library, catalogue; causes change, catalyst; crawls on the ground, caterpillar
And Exactly How Old Are You?

The State NCRSP Office is doing a survey to determine how many of our members are over 80 years old. Even if you provided this information to Dot at the October meeting, please do it again. Call her at 264-3621 and give her your name and birthdate. You can leave the information on her answering machine or even send her an email at dot24@bellsouth.net.

Wintertime Instant Russian Tea Mix
4 cps sugar + 3 cps Tang + 2 cps instant tea, plain + ½ large pkg Kool-Aid or Country Time lemonade powder mix (approx. 1/3cp) + 2 tsp cinnamon + 2 tsp ground cloves
Mix together and store in airtight jar. To use mix 2 large tablespoons with hot water in cup. Makes a LOT. Perfect for small gifts and to warm your insides on a wintry day.
Computer Talk
ü Our fabulous and informative Watauga County NCRSP blogspot is http://wataugacountyretiredpersonnel.blogspot.com/. Lee Stroupe updates this site often with new photographs and copies of The Red Pencil and other goodies you’ll want to read.

ü For NCRSP, the website address is www.ncrsp.org. If you are trying to reach Pam or Dave Deardorff, their numbers in Raleigh are 800-662-7924, extension 244 for Pam and 242 for Dave.

ü Dot Barker has calculated the savings to our unit when we send The Red Pencil to you via email. Each copy we don’t have to mail saves us approximately $1, and that mounts up. Currently we have seventy-one names on our email list, including our state officers and district president, and that means we don’t spend $71 per issue on printing and mailing. If you would like to receive your newsletter by email, please send a note to Nanci at ntn@skybest.com. Thanks so much!

Remember that our state insurance will pay for an eye exam before January 1, 2010!

Did You Know…
that your volunteer hours are valued by the State of North Carolina at approximately $20 per hour, or approximately ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR? When you report your hours, you aren’t patting yourself on the back or asking to be congratulated and admired (although you certainly are admired and to be congratulated!); you’re telling our legislators just exactly how much we retired school personnel continue to be of value to the quality of life in our state. You are helping our lobbyists to safeguard our retirement benefits every time you report those hours. Bring your completed form to the December meeting or mail it to Eula Mae Fox, 199 Watauga Dr., Boone NC 28607, by December 31. You’ll find ANOTHER copy of the form at the end of this newsletter.
Membership Matters!
Membership is a topic that just won’t go away, and it shouldn’t. We need every single member we can attract and we need new and present members to be aware of the benefits of their membership and participation. At present, we have 114 members in our unit, 80 of whom are on payroll deduction and 36 of whom pay their dues by check, and 8 new members this year.
In a change in policy, NEW members only, not present or past members, may join NCRSP on a pro-rated basis if they are on payroll deduction. If you have colleagues who have been thinking of joining us but did not come to the August or October meetings, please let them know that they can join now or at any time during our year by paying the pro-rated sum. Call Dot Barker, 254-3621, for specific details.
On the subject of membership, we were delighted to welcome three retired teachers from Avery County at our October meeting and hope that Lola Young and Johnny and Carolyn Canupp will return to be with us and will bring their colleagues from our neighboring county!
Spreading the good word of the activities of our unit at the District III convention were Beth Carrin, Eula Mae Fox, Dot Barker, Sue Aldridge, June Mann, and Roland Moy. Our membership was well represented!
A Christmas True or False Quiz
___1. Poinsettias are quite poisonous if eaten and should be kept out of reach of children and pets.
___ 2. According to tradition, the first historical personage to decorate a fir tree with lights (actually candles, in those days) to celebrate Christmas was Martin Luther.
___ 3. The character "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was originally created as a holiday promotional gimmick for the Montgomery Ward department store chain.
___ 4. "Xmas" is an abbreviation for Christmas because in Greek, the language of the New Testament, Christ begins with Chi, written as an X.
_ 5. The shape and color scheme of candy canes were originally intended to symbolize the purity of Jesus Christ and the blood he shed on the cross.
___ 6. Known to us today as "Santa Claus," the third-century monk St. Nicholas originally came to be associated with Christmas because he died in the month of December.
___ 7. The earliest commercially-made Christmas card was sold in 1843.
___ 8. The tradition of "decking the halls" with boughs of holly and other greenery originated from the need in bygone days to preserve plant life from harsh weather by keeping it indoors during freezing temperatures. the supernatural belief that bringing greenery in the house in midwinter would ensure its return in the spring.
___ 9. The tradition of hanging stockings by the chimney for Christmas was inspired by the legend of St. Nicholas, who is said to have provided dowries for three poverty-stricken sisters by dropping gold coins down their chimney and into the stockings they had left out to dry.
___10. Modern depictions of Santa Claus as a jolly, fat elf clothed in red and white with rosy cheeks and a twinkle in his eye owe their inspiration largely to Coca-Cola advertisements of the 1930s.

Christmas Quiz answers: 1. False 2. True 3. True 4. True 5. False 6. False. He was actually famous for his kindness to children and generosity to the poor. 7. True 8. False. Actually it was the supernatural belief that bringing greenery in the house in midwinter would ensure its return in the spring. 9. True 10. True. The other influences on our image of Santa Claus are the 19th-century cartoonist Thomas Nast and the Clement Moore description in his “Night Before Christmas.”

NCRSP Community Participation - Volunteer Hours 2009

Poem by Eugene Byrd

Retired English teacher and minister Eugene Byrd often writes poems and posts them on the bulletin board at church. Eula Mae Fox copied his latest creation.

If
Eugene Byrd


If your car breaks down,
Tow it.
If your boat hits a shoal,
Row it.
If your grass is still growing,
Mow it.
If you love a garden,
Grow it.
If you have a bad habit,
Throw it.
If your life is too fast,
Slow it.
If you are blessed with love,
Show it.
If you are filled with light,
Glow it.
If you succeed in the world,
You will know it.
And if I had a better mind,
I’d be a better poet!

Fall Meeting was well attended

October Red Pencil

The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel
Vol.XII, No.2 October 2009 ntn1066@hotmail.com___

October Meeting
When: Thursday, October 15, NOON, $10, check made payable to Watauga County NCRSP
Where: Deerfield Methodist Church
Why: To hear a report on current conditions for retired school personnel from Pam Deardorff, executive secretary of NCRSP and lobbyist, and her husband, Dave, who is a financial officer with the NCRSP office
With: staples and canned goods for the Hunger Coalition (powdered milk, peanut butter, soup), medicine bottles and plastic bags
all the lovely, noisy, loose change you’ve been collecting for the Scholarship Fund
a fistful of dollars to purchase tickets for a most special raffle [See below.]
If your caller has not reached you by October 11, phone Margaret Sigmon to make your reservation, 264-2036.
A Very Special Raffle
Once upon a time in the mountains, a young boy spent snow days with his grandmother, learning from her how to make fabulous apple pies from scratch. In fact, despite his successful career in education and his considerable skills as a husband, father, and craftsperson, among certain circles, this young boy has become known as the consummate pie maker. Fortunately for us, he has just joined the Watauga Unit of North Carolina Retired School Personnel, and in October, STEVE BREITENSTEIN is trading his football talents for his culinary talents and baking one of his famous apple pies just for us to raffle for the benefit of our Scholarship Fund. Tickets will be $1 each or six for $5. Be clever and save your dollars now for a chance on this rare treat.
Contributions/Suggestions/Email Edition of The Red Pencil, anyone? Change of email or snail mail address?

ntn1066@hotmail.com or snail mail to
Nanci Tolbert Nance, P.O. Box 188, Blowing Rock NC 28605

The Importance of Membership
If you have not renewed your membership in the Watauga Unit of NCRSP for this year, you will find the amount of your dues in the upper right corner of the mailing label on this newsletter. Your Horace Mann Accidental Death Insurance policy will end on October 31 if you do not renew your membership by that time.

If you are newly retired and have not joined yet, please make your decision now to join this vital organization. You need us, and we need you, too! In fact, we need every retired educator to be on our membership roster in order to strengthen our position as advocates for retaining and improving benefits for all retired school personnel in this state. Together, we have strength.

You can pay your dues at our October meeting or mail them to Dot Barker, 451 Poplar Hill Dr., Boone NC 28607. If you have questions, please call Dot at 264-3621 or Barbara and Roland Moy, 264-8811.

On the Subject of Membership: HELP!
Do you know any retired teachers in Avery County? Because their NCRSP unit has not been active for several years, we have received permission from District III to invite them to attend one of our meetings and even to join us. In this cause, your personal touch could be extremely effective. Through Phi Delta Kappa or Delta Kappa Gamma or another organization, you may know several retired educators in Avery County, and if you do, please give them a call and invite them to our October meeting to hear Pam Deardorff speak and to enjoy the fellowship of fellow educators.

Read any good labels lately?
General Mills is putting Box Top$ for Education labels (pictured above) on the bottoms of Kleenex, cereals, and all their other products and donating cash for each one you cut out to the school of your choice. So far, General Mills has donated more than $300 million dollars to classrooms across the country. At our meeting in October, La Verne will have a small plastic bag each of us for our collection and she will deliver the bags to schools. Check those General Mills products, folks!

District III Fall Convention
The District III Convention of NCRSP is in Morganton this year, at the First Baptist Church on October 16. This meeting is always interesting and informative, and the drive to Morganton on a beautiful autumn Friday should be a real treat. Cost of attending is $15. If you’re interested in being a part of this gathering, call Beth at 264-9227 after the 23rd of September but before the 26th and leave a message on her answering machine.

Our Scholarship Recipient Sends Her Thanks
It is with sincere gratitude that I thank you for your generous contribution to my continuing education at North Carolina State University. With your financial assistance I will be able to purchase my textbooks for both the fall and spring semesters. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Kathryn London
The ABC’s of the F L U
The regular flu and the H1N1, or Swine, Flu are NOT the same thing. All of us need to take the regular flu shot as soon as possible, but we retirees are not in the population most susceptible to the H1N1 flu. In fact, doctors believe that we may actually carry a kind of immunity to H1N1. At any rate, get your regular flu shot as you normally do and wait for further developments on the second shot. Experts now say that the supply of the H1N1 shots will be sufficient for our entire population.
ALSO, statistics say that 50% of people over 50 will have shingles, and we all know that’s not a happy thought. If you have not had the shingles shot, order it at Boone Drug at Deerfield, make an appointment to go the pharmacy, and BCBS should cover everything but $30. If you have any questions, check with the nurse downstairs at Deerfield.
Recording Those Volunteer Hours!
We all sound like broken records when we talk about recording our volunteer hours, but the subject is important and the process is really so simple that we must say it again. We are NOT tooting our own horns or showing off or bragging when we report the amount of time we spend in service to others. Instead, we are giving support to the assertion of the NCRSP that we continue to be a valuable resource to the quality of life in our state. Each of our volunteer hours is valued at more than $22, and the accumulated value of our service to the state is a matter for considerable personal and professional pride. Please, please, PLEASE keep up with your volunteer hours for this year.
Volunteer Hours 2009
A little email courtesy, please.
Do you love forwarding jokes and pictures of children and animals and warnings about viruses to your friends? If you do, stop it – UNLESS you remember one simple fact: every time you send an email message with all your friends’ addresses in the TO box, you’re exposing each one of them to a possible attack by computer hackers. You’ve given one person’s address to five or ten or fifty other people who may be total strangers, and that’s more than rude; it’s dangerous.
Sharing, however, is fun, and if you’re going to forward ANYTHING to a group, follow this simple procedure. Do it EVERY SINGLE TIME.

1. Create an entry in your address book for Unidentified Recipient and give it your own email address.
2. Locate the BCC box just below the TO and CC boxes at the top of a new email. If you can’t find it, ask someone to show you where it is, but do not send mass emails until you locate it.
3. Click Forward on the email you wish to share.
4. Type Unidentified Recipient in the TO box.
5. Type all your friends’ names in the BCC box. [BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copies.]
6. In the body of the message, highlight any personal information and the addresses of all previous recipients (Not everyone is as polite as you are.) and hit Delete. Now you have a clean message that contains only the material you wish to share.
7. Review quickly to see that Unidentified Recipient is in the TO box and your friends’ names/addresses are in the BCC box.
8. Hit Send.
9. Wait for your friends to thank you and to be impressed by your conscientiousness and kindness. You’re saving everyone a lot of trouble!

Green hints from SECU website:
Instead of sending old rugs, towels and blankets to the landfill, donate them to your local animal shelters.
As part of your pre-winter cleaning routine, make sure your refrigerator's condenser coils are cleaned so air can circulate freely. When dust and pet hair build up on the coils, the motor works harder and uses more electricity.
When the time comes to replace appliances and electronics, buy products that have earned the ENERGY STAR® rating. These products provide the features and performance you want while saving energy and reducing greenhouse emissions.
Ceiling fans can help keep you comfortable even in winter. Reversing the direction of the blades pushes warm air down into the room. Fans should turn counter-clockwise in the summer and clockwise in the winter.
The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed – anything more wastes fuel and increases emissions.
Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting or curtains.
One compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb is four times more efficient than a regular bulb, while giving off the same amount of light.
During the winter months, set your thermostat at 68 to 70°F during the day and 60 to 65°F at night.
Keep shades up in the winter and remove any obstructions to sun-facing windows to allow the heat of the sun to warm your home.

IN MEMORIAM
The members of the Watauga Unit of NCRSP sends our deepest sympathies to the family of Gaynelle Wilson, in whose memory we have added $25 to our scholarship fund.

At our August meeting:
Ben Strickland, chair of our Legislative Committee, gave us the latest information about our retirement and insurance. We are grateful for his careful attention to the details that matter so much to us!

La Verne Franklin, vice president of Watauga NCRSP, presents a handmade card to Sue Aldridge in appreciation of her years of service to this unit as our historian. Thanks to Sue, we have beautiful, organized scrapbooks filled with photographs, articles, and other memorabilia.
Please note that we will also vote to approve our operating budget at our October meeting.

image009.gif
26K View Download

Legislative Summary of 2009

Summary of Legislative Changes Affecting Retired School Personnel

The “long session” of the General Assembly convened January 28, 2009 and adjourned August 11, 2009. The Assembly will reconvene for the “short session”
on May 12, 2010

Appropriations:

Senate Bill 202: (Session Law 2009-451) Appropriations Act
• Appropriates $29 million for 2009-2010 and $160 million for 2010-2011 to the State Retirement Trust Fund. The $29 million moves the State contribution rate from 3.36% to 3.57%, and the $160 million appropriation moves the contribution rate from 3.57% to 4.93%.

• No Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for retirees or state employees.

• Appropriates $132 million for 2009-2010 and $276 million for 2010-2011 to the State Health Plan. The state will continue to pay premiums for active and retired employees: $287.20/mth for Medicare eligible retirees, up from $272; $377.22/mth for non-Medicare eligible retirees, up from $346.38.

State Health Plan

Senate Bill 287: (Session Law 2009-16) State Health Plan (SHP)
Ratified April 23, 2009, this law appropriated $250 million to cover the shortfall for 2008-2009 and outlined a comprehensive plan to fund the SHP for 2009-2011 and set new initiatives. The law:

• Eliminates the PPO Plus Option (90/10 Plan) effective July 1, 2009.
• Adds a Comprehensive Wellness Initiative for all non- Medicare eligible members: Smoking cessation plan effective July 1, 2010 and weight management plan effective July 1, 2011.
• Increases cost for certain branded prescription drugs by $5. For branded prescriptions with generic equivalents, members will pay the generic co-pay plus the difference between the cost for the generic and the branded drug. (Generics stay the same---$10)
• Requires that coverage of non-acute specialty medications, excluding cancer medications, be provided by a specialty pharmacy vendor and may impose a co-payment of 25% of the cost of the drug (not to exceed $100) per prescription per 30 day supply. Description of specialty drugs is included in the bill but must be a drug that exceeds $400 per prescription.
• Requires prescriptions to be dispensed on a 30 day supply, instead of 34 day supply.
• Eliminates (January 1, 2010) the routine eye examinations.
• In the Standard Plan (80/20) PPO: Increases the in-network annual deductible to $600 (from $300) and the annual coinsurance maximum to $2750 (from $1750). Increases the in-network primary care co-pay from $20 to $25 and the in-network urgent care co-pay from $50 to $75. Increases the in-network specialist co-pay to $60, except for mental health/substance abuse services, chiropractic services, physical, occupational and speech therapy services which will be $45. Increases the in-network and out-of–network inpatient co-pay to $200 from $150. Different amounts apply to the PPO Basic Plan (70/30).
• Clarifies ‘eligibility’ definitions/coverage
• Includes contract provisions between Plan and third party administrator and pharmacy manager and calls for independent audit.
• Creates a Blue Ribbon Task Force to review the governance of the SHP “and to make recommendations for changes that will ensure the ongoing financial stability of the Plan….”
• Sets the premium rate increases at 8.9% for 2009 and 8.9% in 2010 for those who pay for dependent coverage such as spouse/child or family.
• Maintains fiscal year plan instead of moving to a calendar year.

House Bill 1274: SHP Blue Ribbon Task Force and SHP Changes
• Makes technical changes to the Blue Ribbon Task Force (created in SB 287) and other changes to the SHP, including a provision regarding prescription drugs which states that SHP members shall pay the lesser of the copayment price or the pharmacy’s cash price to the general public for a particular prescription. Pharmacies may be removed from the pharmacy network for violation of this provision.

State Treasurer/ Retirement

• Senate 691 (Session Law 2009-283) includes the Treasurer’s Governance and Transparency Act of 2009. The Transparency Act increases the Investment Advisory Committee from five to seven members by adding two additional public members with experience in large investment programs. It also outlines how the State Treasurer must discharge her duties regarding the retirement systems and if the Treasurer’s investment authority is ever broadened by the General Assembly, the treasurer must provide an annual report on the use and results of this new authority.
• Senate Bill 703 (Session Law 2009-98) State Treasurer Investments
This law expands the set of assets in which the pension funds can invest.

• Senate Bill 658 (Session Law 2009-378) Modifies the membership of the Supplemental Retirement Board by requiring that one of the Governor’s appointments be a state or local government retiree. The law also covers retirement provisions for furloughed local governmental employees.
Retire/Rehire (Return to Work)

• The General Assembly did not extend the Return to Work provision for teachers, thus the current law allowing reemployed retirees to work exempt from the earnings cap in the NC Public Schools or ‘double-dipping’ will no longer be allowed, starting October 1, 2009. For more information visit: www.ncae.org
• House Bill 94 (Session Law 2009-11) changes the definition of retirement to clarify that unpaid volunteer service (answering phones, monitoring halls and cafeteria, etc.) in a local school administrative unit is allowable during the six months after retirement.
• Senate Bill 204 (Session Law 2009-137) allows retirees in the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System to return to full time employment as Nursing Instructors with a State-supported community college or a State-supported university and continue to receive their pension, for a maximum of three years. The law requires these retirees to have a six month break in service before being rehired. Additionally, the employing entity must certify that it has a shortage of qualified nursing instructors and has made a good faith effort to fill positions with qualified instructors who are not retirees. The law expires June 30, 2013.
(Prepared by NC Retired School Personnel—August 11, 2009)