We’ve managed to suffer through another winter and now spring is in the air. The trees are beginning to blossom and the daily temperatures are getting out of the frigid winter highs. It is time to get out to the desert and wilderness and take in the beauty of Arizona. But first I have to complete my ASURA duties and so here is the February E-News.

Board meeting notes

• The meeting started with a bit of a surprise. Carl Cross, our Immediate Past President, reported that Larry Edmonds had resigned as President and as a member of the Board. Since the Vice President position is vacant, Carl also said he would shepherd the association up to the Annual Meeting, at which time the new Officers would take over.
  
  
  
  Note:  After the meeting Pat Schneider, Seminar Chair, volunteered to complete Larry’s one remaining year on the Board and her offer was happily accepted by the Board.
• During the January meeting it was agreed that the Annual Meeting would again have to be virtual and in February a tentative date of April 19th was selected. Mary Stevens, Carl Cross, and Barry McNeill have agreed to get the meeting planned and presented. Trudy Perez volunteered to be the meeting master of ceremonies. The meeting speaker is going to be Dr. Amanda Burke, Executive Vice President of the Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA).
• Joy Shearman, Co-chair with Jan Shore of the Scholarship Committee, reported that of the initial 43 applications, 23 past mustard and as expected the due date was moved to March 1 to try and get a few more acceptable applications. Joy also reported she had a nice response to her request for help in evaluating the submissions.
• Jeri Meeks, Chair of the Government / Legislative Council, reported on a number of legislative bills. But I thought the following three were interesting.
  
  
  
  Voting Rights – Speaker of the House, Rusty Bowers, nixed the election bill that had passed through the Senate. What Speaker Bowers has done is assigned the house voting rights bills to ALL committees, any of which could kill a bill. The bills also have to get through all house committees before the crossover date (100 days after the session begins) or they are again, dead. All that said, there are still opportunities to move Senate election bills through the Senate to the House (where, hopefully, they would again be assigned to ALL committees) or snuck through on strike all bills.
  
  
  
  Guns on Campus – This is Senate Bill SB1123 - disruption; educational institution; concealed weapon. The House also has an almost identical bill, HB2247. Although the Senate bill flew through committees without amendments, it was not put on the "consent calendar" because someone objected. So now it has to go to the Committee of the Whole (COW) for debate. The House bill has had a 1st and 2nd Read but no action after that. But, these bills can move quickly when someone wants them to. Definitely worth watching.
  
  
  
  Optional Retirement Programs – This bill revises a current law/AZ Revised Statute 15-1628. The current law says that ABOR can set up an Optional Retirement Program (ORP) for employees and guarantees that ABOR match funds - which will not be deposited into the employee's ORP until they have reached 5 years of service. If the employee does not stay at the university for 5 years, the current laws states that the accumulated ABOR funds go to the state. The revision states that the "unused" funds are "forfeited to the institution" to use for another employee.
• Mary Stevens, Chair of the Book Donation program reported that we had received over $4,000 last year from the sale of the books that have been donated. Half of this money goes to the Scholarship and half to the Video History Project. This program has proven to be very beneficial to us and Mary pointed that we will take books from anyone, even your neighbor!
• The desire for another in-person event was raised and the Luncheons and Special Events Committee tasked with making this happen. Mary Stevens, Partha Dasgupta, and Trudy Perez got right on it and have already sent the first announcement for the March 15 Spring Fling in the Park. This should be fun.

Time to vote

You have all received your Board Member Ballots and we have received over 100 but that is not everyone. So now is the time to take a few minutes and vote as a way to show your appreciation for the candidates’ willingness to help guide ASURA. Let’s see if we can get over 200 returned ballots! The easiest way to vote is to send an email to asura@asu.edu with the names of the candidates you wish to vote for. If you would rather send in a paper ballot, one is available on our ASURA website Board of Directors Ballot

Short candidate bios for Jo Ellen Alberhasky, Bev Buddee, Partha Dasgupta, Terrie Ekin and Bill Stasi are available at Board of Directors Ballot.

Tax time

During the discussion of the Book donations Bill Stasi, long time ASURA member and volunteer as well as a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) volunteer for over 10 years, mentioned that members who take the standard deduction may be eligible to use the Federal / Arizona Deductible Charitie form, which allows for an additional deduction beyond the standard deduction.

• Federal Deductible Charitable contributions are defined as “CASH” in addition to Standard deduction. Single filers maximum is $300.00; the maximum for Head of House and Joint filers is $600.00.
• Arizona Deductible Charitable contributions are defined as Itemized Schedule “A”

Bill’s best advice was:  Consult your tax professional.

Color version of spring "Prime Times" is available

Enjoy the color version of the spring Prime Times which is now available on our website (select “Pubs” from the main menu and then Prime Times in the “News Column”).

Scams

Jack Burns, Social Security Public Affairs Specialist in Arizona, prepares a monthly report which is shared with the Pre-retirement Committee who pass it on to its distribution list. Jack has given the committee permission to use his material in the E-News. The following article on scams was prepared by Jack.

Scammers are always finding new ways to steal your money and personal information by exploiting your fears. The most effective way to defeat scammers is to know how to identify scams and to ignore suspicious calls and emails.

One common tactic scammers use is posing as federal agents or other law enforcement. They may claim your Social Security number is linked to a crime. They may even threaten to arrest you if you do not comply with their instructions.  Here are three things you should do:

• Hang up right away or do not reply to the email.
• Never give personal information or payment of any kind.
• Report the scam at oig.ssa.gov to immediately notify the law enforcement team in our Office of the Inspector General.

You should continue to remain vigilant of phone calls when someone says there’s a problem with your Social Security number or your benefits. If you owe money to us, we will mail you a letter explaining your rights, payment options, and information about appealing.

There are a few ways you can identify a scam call or email. Remember that we will never:

• Threaten you with benefit suspension, arrest, or other legal action unless you pay a fine or fee.
• Promise a benefit increase or other assistance in exchange for payment.
• Require payment by retail gift card, cash, wire transfer, internet currency, or prepaid debit card.
• Demand secrecy from you in handling a Social Security-related problem.
• Send official letters or reports containing personally identifiable information via email.

If you do not have ongoing business with our agency, it is unlikely we will contact you. Again, if you get a suspicious call claiming to be from us or law enforcement about Social Security, you should hang up and report it right away to our Office of the Inspector General at oig.ssa.gov