This month has turned out to be a very busy month what with the opening of the croquet season and ASU Baseball.

January ASURA Board Meeting

A few comments from the meeting

• ASU Day at the Capital
  
  Bill Stasi, Jeri Meeks, and Tara Roesler represented ASURA and had a table at the event (a few pictures). President Crow stopped by and complimented the work done by ASURA.
• Presentation at the Academic Senate – Jan Thompson
  
  Jan reported that ASURA has been invited to make a presentation to the Academic Senate on March 2. Jan will be presenting an overview of what ASURA is and does. This invitation is a first.
• Live Streaming of ASURA Seminars – Bev Buddee
  
  Bev reported that the February seminar was streamed live using Zoom. This became necessary when the room capacity was reached early in the registration period. The March seminar will also be streamed using Zoom. You will get further information about this when the second announcement comes out.

House Bill 2124

Tara Roesler, an ASURA Legislative Liaison, brought House Bill 2124 to the attention of the Board. The bill was an attempt to keep people from using temporary addresses when they register to vote. The bill was poorly written and confusing and appeared to have some negative impact on retirees. The Board voted to actively oppose the bill. Luckily there were some rational legislators at the bill’s hearing because the bill was killed.

Note / Reminder:  If you ever plan to write to your state legislator about some issue be sure to use an email other than asu.edu, e.g., gmail.com, cox.net, etc.

ASURA Board Member Elections

If you have not already voted in the ASURA Board Member Elections it is not too late. Voting ends Friday February 28; so, Don’t Delay, Vote Today.  Note: the problems we had earlier with mail sent to asura@asu.edu have been resolved.

Changes in AZ Tax Laws

The AZ tax law on charitable gifts has changed. If you take the standard deduction, there are now ways you can also claim additional charitable contributions and you may want to discuss this with your tax consultant. If your income is less than $56,000 you qualify for help from Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)