ACSS urges its members to attend the next board meeting, April 15-17 in San Diego. This meeting will be one of the most intense and productive we have held. Instead of brief Friday committee meetings and a two-day board session, this weekend will consist of in-depth committee workshops designed to further our strategic planning and corporate restructuring. We will identify issues most important to our members and find more avenues to advocate for them. We will discuss legislative and political planning, strategies for membership development and ways to better organize and structure chapter activities. Click for a schedule of workshops or to make hotel reservations. The deadline for the ACSS discounted  room rate is March 23.


Lobby Day, ACSS' most effective annual event for getting excluded employees' message to our legislators, is Wednesday, March 16, with training starting the evening before. For our members who are attending, we have posted a schedule and other helpful information on our Lobby Day page along with a Lobby Day flier containing the same information in pdf format.

ACSS has added an online registration form to our Lobby Day page. You can use the form to sign up for Lobby Day and request a hotel reservation. ACSS will pay for a one-night hotel stay. Lobby Day, our most effective legislative action day, is March 16 this year. With a new governor and new legislators, it's more important than ever that members participate in this event.

DPA PML memo: Long-term disability premiums for excluded employees will decrease beginning Jan. 1. Long-term disability insurance is optional and employee-paid.

CalPERS has scheduled a special election to fill a seat on its board of administration that was vacated by the resignation of Kurato Shimada in late August. The newly elected official will serve through January 15, 2014. Ballots will be mailed April 21, 2011, to all eligible active and retired members permitted to vote in the election. Candidates have until January 6, 2011 to submit candidate statement forms.

The CalPERS board has approved changes to its health plan benefits in compliance with the new national health care reform laws, which CalPERS supported. One change: You'll now be able to enroll your dependent children up to age 26. For more CalPERS information, see pressroom@calpers.ca.gov.

The CalPERS board of administration today approved changes in CalPERS' health plan benefits to conform with the national health care reform laws passed this year.

ACSS President Arlene Espinoza and Director-at-Large Frank Ruffino urge members to vote for Jerry Brown for governor in ACSS' video, "Vote for Your Job," posted in the Jerry Brown section of our Web site. Check it out.

ACSS Senior Labor Relations Representative Bonnie Morris held a phone conference with Julie Chapman, DPA's deputy director for labor relations, about the future pay plan for excluded employees. DPA yesterday issued a memo explaining the program, but Bonnie asked for clarification for ACSS members on some points most often questioned. Read ACSS' information here. Read the DPA memo here.

The three leaders of ACSS Republicans for Jerry Brown, along with PAC chairman Frank Ruffino and Chapter 513 president Arlene Ryan, met with the candidate Sept. 12 in San Diego. Brown sat with the ACSS contingent listening to their concerns and asking about their state jobs. He made it clear he opposes furloughs and wants to work with supervisors to resolve their issues. In the photo, from left: Sandy Dressel, Todd D'Braunstein, Brown, Ruffino and Jerry Fountain.

The CalPERS Benefits and Program Administration Committee is expected at today's meeting to consider increasing the cost of purchasing additional retirement service credit. The full board will take up the committee's recommendation tomorrow (Sept. 15) and, if the increase is approved, implement it as early as the following day, Sept. 15. CalPERS members who submit their applications for ARSC before the new rate is adopted will lock in their purchase at the current rate. Board agenda is here. Cost increases are displayed here. Application information is here.

If you want to enroll in CalPERS health care, add new dependents or otherwise change your coverage, you must do so between Sept. 13 and Oct. 8. Adult children now can be covered until they are 26. Coverage will be effective Jan. 1, 2011. CalPERS premiums will increase an average of 9.1 percent. For more information, check the CalPERS open enrollment Web site and open enrollment news pdf.

ACSS members: ACSS' October quarterly board meeting is being moved to Sacramento from Palm Springs. Dates: Oct. 15-17. Call 1-800-HOLIDAY or 916-446-0100 for reservations (use "ACSS group" to get the room discount). Please reserve by Sept. 10. If you made a reservation in Palm Springs, you will need to cancel it. ACSS cannot cancel individual reservations.

Mike Carbahal of Chapter 504 has started a chapter Web site you might want to check out, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CHAPTER504/. This is a great way to enhance communications within the chapter and between chapters, as our Strategic Plan is requring.

ACSS met today with the Department of Personnel Administration to present our demands for this budget session on behalf of our members. Read the report from that meet and confer here.