Federal Governmental Relations

Leigh Snell, Director of Federal Relations
Washington, DC

Phone: (540) 333-1015
Email: lsnell@nctr.org

Federal E-NewsBlog

The Federal E-News blog provides important information on the issues and events in Washington, DC that may impact NCTR Members. View.

Federal Webinar Scheduled!!

June 20; 3pm-4pm (ET)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

After years of consideration, debate, and controversy, new pension accounting standards issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) are finally here.  GASB Statement No. 67, “Financial Reporting for Pension Plans,” takes effect for pension plan fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2013 (fiscal years ending on or after June 30, 2014).

While much attention has been given to the political consequences of these changes, there are also a multitude of practical effects on plan policies and procedures that will result.  What are some of these, what do they portend, and how are public plans, their boards, and their staff dealing with them?  For answers to these and other important questions concerning the implementation of the new GASB rules, be sure to join Leigh Snell, NCTR’s Director of Federal Relations, and his special guests, Rob Wylie, Executive Director of the South Dakota Retirement System; Paul Zorn, Director of Governmental Research for Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company (GRS), and Karl Greve, Chief Financial Officer at Colorado PERA, on Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 3:00 PM EDT.

This webinar is intended to stay out of the technical weeds regarding the GASB changes and focus more on the procedural challenges that are presented to NCTR embers.  Register now, as attendance is limited.

Important Federal Alerts and Information

Federal Update - March 20, 2013:

Repealing the Employer Pick-Up

Overview of State and Local Government Defined Benefit Pension Plans

The Public Employee Pension Transparency Act (PEPTA)

Bipartisan Tax Reform Working Group on Pensions/Retirement Created

Congressman Tiberi is the Chairman of the important Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, which handles pension issues.  It was significant that when the House Ways and Means Committee held its only hearing on the Public Employee Pension Transparency Act (PEPTA) in July of 2011, it was not before Congressman Tiberi’s Subcommittee, which technically had legislative jurisdiction over the measure, but instead before the Oversight Subcommittee.  Some took this to suggest Congressman Tiberi might not be very supportive of the PEPTA legislation.   

Congressman Kind has been very receptive to public pension issues, and introduced legislation in the last Congress that would have provided a resolution of governmental plans’ problems with Normal Retirement Age regulations.  Also, at the Ways and Means hearing on PEPTA, noted above, Mr. Kind opposed the legislation and chided Republicans for their support, saying “You know, for the party that claims to be the party of less government in Washington and more responsibility at the state, proposing this one-size-fits-all approach is contrary to even, I think, your principles.”

According to Congressman Levin, the Members will be given a fair amount of leeway to determine the process of soliciting stakeholder input for their group.  In a conversation with Levin’s pension staffer, NCTR was assured that public pension organizations would be given an opportunity to have input once the Pensions/Retirement Group’s plans were formalized.  The groups will work in conjunction with the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, but are not expected to make policy recommendations or produce draft legislation.  Instead, each group is expected to provide a report to the full Committee, due on April 15th.

The creation of the groups is taken as another sign that Chairman Camp is strongly committed to tax reform, which he has called one of his top priorities.  However, it is reported that the House GOP leadership is leery of passing tax reform only to see it die in the Senate.  House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has been quoted as saying “Why go through all that effort if it isn’t going anywhere or why go through that effort if the outcome would be unacceptable?”

On the Senate side, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) reportedly hopes to release some kind of discussion draft or an options paper on tax reform sometime this spring. 

Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB):

General Information: The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is currently the source of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) used by State and Local governments in the United States of America. As with most of the entities involved in creating GAAP in the United States, it is a private, non-governmental organization.

• NCTR's Members' Response View

• Joint NCTR/NASRA Press Statement View

• Public Plan Response on Preliminary Views of Changes to Statements 25 and 27 View

• GASB Preliminary Views Employer Tool Kit View

Federal Related Items of Interest:

NABL Press Release Pension Task Force considerations for preparing official statement disclosure regarding pension funding obligations. Read more...

Pension Considerations provides guidance regarding the application of the federal securities laws to the preparation of official statement disclosure addressing the pension funding obligations of state and local governments to their public defined benefit pension plans. Read more...

More Faulty Pension Analysis Unhelpful to State and Local Recovery Efforts: Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh – whose analysis last year contained flawed methods reflecting an inaccurate understanding of public sector finance and operations read more...

Joint NCTR/NASRA Legislative Conference (March 5, 2012):

• Joint Legislative & Regulatory Briefing Materials View

• Follow-up Letter to Hill Visits View

• Quick Access to April 20 Blog Links:

  • Summary of Oakland IRS Town Hall Meeting. Read more...

  • Outline of Oakland Comments (Terry Mumford, Ice Miller) View

  • Possible Letter Format View

Legislative Alerts

• Update on IRS Governmental Plans Definitions Effort View

• The Public Employee Pension Transparency Act (“PEPTA” HR 567/S 347) Read more...

• NCTR along with others express strong opposition to S. 347 View

Webinar Presentations

Hosted by Leigh Snell, Director of Federal Relations, NCTR

April 29, 2013:

• Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update View presentation

  Al Campos, Federal Lobbyist, NEA and Leigh Snell, Director of Federal Relations, NCTR

November 29, 2012:

• Webinar on Social Security View presentation
  Presented by:
  Dr. Maryann Motza and Dean Conder, Deputy to Dr. Motza with the Colorado State Social Security Administration
• Coalition to Preserve Retirement Security (CPRS) View presentation
  Presented by:
  Tom Lussier, President of LGV&A, Executive Director of CPRS and Federal Lobbyist for CalPERS

June 6, 2012:

• GASB is Coming! GASB is Coming! What Lies Ahead? View presentation

Special Guest::
Presented by Paul Angelo & Kim Nicholl, The Segal Company

April 19, 2012:

• Unfinished Business View presentation
  

  • Ice Miller's Summary of IRS Notice that Addresses Normal Retirement Age Requirements for Governmental Plans View summary

  Special Guests:
  Mary Beth Braitman, Partner, Ice Miller
  Terry Mumford, Partner, Ice Miller

February 29, 2012:

• IRS Proposals for Defining Governmental Plans View presentation

Special Guests:
Mary Beth Braitman, Partner, Ice Miller
Terry Mumford, Partner, Ice Miller

December 14, 2011:

• New Proposed IRS Regulations Governing the Definition of a Governmental Plan
  Presentation by Ice Miller View
  Presentation by New York STRS Vew
  
  Special Guests:
  Mary Beth Braitman, Partner, Ice Miller
  Terry Mumford, Partner, Ice Miller
  Wayne Schneider, General Counsel, New York STRS

March 29, 2011:

• The Public Employee Pensions Transparency Act View presentation

  Special Guests:
  Paul Zorn, Director of Governmental Research
  Gabriel Roeder Smith and Company