NOTICE TO SURS MEMBERS
SURS Conducting Board of Trustees Election
Members Encouraged to Participate
The State Universities Retirement System is currently conducting an election to fill three seats on their Board of Trustees. SURS trustees serve six-year terms and are either appointed by the Governor or elected by their peers.
Two of the three available seats will be filled by participants in SURS. The other vacant seat will be filled by an annuitant. You must be an active participant to run for the participant seats and you must have your petitions signed by 400 active SURS members. You must be an annuitant to serve as an annuitant trustee and must collect signatures from 100 SURS annuitants.
Application packets including petitions are now available by calling Stacy Smith at 800-275-7877. Applications are due by Dec. 31, 2011. Petitions are due Jan. 31, 2012. Both should be returned to SURS, P.O. Box 2710, Champaign, IL 61825, when completed.
Election ballots will be mailed to all qualified SURS members on March 30, 2012, and must be returned by May 1, 2012. Winners will be announced on May 2, 2012.
The SURS Board of Trustees consists of 11 members: four appointed by the Governor, four active participants elected by the participants of the System, and two annuitants elected by the annuitants of the System. The Board meets quarterly in March, June, September and December. In addition to board meeting attendance and preparation, trustees are also required to meet certain annual ethics training requirements and are encouraged to participate in other educational conferences.
For more information visit www.surs.org and choose Board Election from the menu on the left.
The State Universities Retirement System serves over 200,000 members and sixty-eight employers throughout the state.
Health Care Reform Act
The “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA) enacted on March 23, 2010, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA) enacted on March 30, 2010, and the Mental Health Parity Act effective July 1, 2010 have brought many changes into the health care arena and many more will occur from now through 2018. The PPACA and HCERA legislation included over 2,500 pages of the “bare bones” and as with any piece of legislation, no specific information was included. President Obama charged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of the Treasury/IRS to develop the regulations, administrative guidelines and specifics for each of the numerous provisions included in the legislation. Of course, employers, insurers, providers, individuals and attorneys are requesting interpretations and answers to each of the provisions. Once final regulations are sent, a whole slew of other questions naturally arise. Health Care Reform will be an on-going process with compliance requirements developing over time.
Below are links to some of the main resource sites that host the most up-to-date information and status of final regulations. Remember there are, numerous layers of information for each provision, some of which have not even been discussed or written. So, if a provision compliance date is a few years out, chances are you will not yet find the depth of definitions and guideline layers for that provision.
DOL Posts Additional Guidance on Grandfather Rules
www.HealthCare.gov
www.healthreform.gov
www.irs.gov
www.dol.gov/ebsa/healthreform/
www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-PPACA.html
www.gallagherbenefits.com (Click on “Health Care Reform Update”)
http://healthreform.kff.org/
Changes in SURS Benefits for members employed after January 1, 2011
On April 14, 2010 Governor Pat Quinn signed into law Senate Bill 1946 (now Public Act 96-0889). This resulted in changes to the Illinois Pension Code affecting SURS benefits for new employees hired on or after January 1, 2011. Although this Act did not change pension benefits for current employees or annuitants, it is important for all of us to be aware of the SURS benefits that will be offered to all new hires beginning 1/1/11.
The Comparison in SURS Benefits Changes Worksheet, directly from the SURS web site, explains the benefit differences between Tier 1 employees (those employed prior to January 1, 2011) and Tier 2 employees (those employed on or after January 1, 2011).
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Rose Ferguson at ext. 3402 or you may contact SURS at 1-800-ASK SURS.
As we all know, it is incredibly important to stay informed on these changes and any other information regarding developing pension reform and issues. Visit www.surs.org or www.suaa.org
