March 2021 Scoop

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Friday, March 5, 2021

SEANC makes case for budget needs with Cooper, legislators The General Assembly held more Appropriations Subcommittee meetings this week to hear Fiscal staff budget overviews and agency requests.

Chief budget writers are having preliminary budget discussions behind closed doors, and we are anticipating Governor Cooper's budget proposal sometime this month. SEANC President Jimmy Davis and Executive Director Ardis Watkins met with Governor Cooper this week to discuss pay raises and costof-living adjustments for retirees.

Another piece of COVID relief legislation passed this week. H196 includes $600 million for testing and other related needs and $390 million for public school and higher education institutions reopening. Rep. Joe John (D-Wake)

submitted an amendment that would have added hazard pay for frontline state employees and bonuses for teachers, but the amendment was voted down with no debate.

Watch this week’s Legislative Update for a full recap of this week’s events.

Behind the Scenes with SEANC SEANC is proud to highlight the leaders who work to provide the best services to our members every day.

Save with SEANC Insurance Reminder: You don't have to wait for open enrollment to take advantage of SEANC's Insurance programs. Visit seanc.org/insurance for more!

SEANC now offers two Final Expense/Whole Life insurance policies to members by Mass Mutual and Gerber Life. Final expense insurance is a type of whole life insurance designed to cover medical bills and funeral expenses when you pass. A final expense policy is also known as burial or funeral insurance and is popular with seniors.

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Save 20% off at Harry &

David An American tradition for nearly 80 years, Harry & David is the country's leading gourmet gifter, featuring handpicked fresh fruit, homemade treats and hand-packed gift baskets.

Now SEANC members can receive special discounts on a wide variety of Harry & David products. *Login to your SEANC profile is required to access promotional code.

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Membership

Want to help SEANC grow?

Every time you recruit a new member now through March 31, you and the new member will be entered in a drawing to win $250.

Contact SEANC Director of Member Relations Lynn Cote TODAY at lcote@seanc.org to arrange the recruiting/materials assistance you need.

Recruiters will receive $20 for every new member recruited.

Referral Member Program: Send us the name and contact information for a possible new member. If they sign up, you get $20!

Contact Us

If you would like printed copies of the Membership Guide and Insurance Guide, please contact Director of Member Relations Lynn Cote at lcote@seanc.org.

Benefits

Apply for the Leadership NC Scholarship Ready to take the next step into a leadership role in your job, your community or SEANC? Now's your chance. SEANC’s Emerging Leaders Council has established a scholarship program to allow one SEANC member the opportunity to participate in Leadership North Carolina (LNC), a two-year training program where participants acquire the skills necessary to take the lead. Apply by April 30.

Learn more

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Friday, March 12, 2021

Legislators, governor show bipartisan mood ahead of budget talks With budget negotiations on the horizon, legislative leaders and the governor signaled some appetite for bipartisanship this week with a compromise on the plan to reopen schools.

Whether or not that spirit will be short-lived remains to be seen. Legislators continued to hold back-to-back Appropriations subcommittees in preparation for the budget as we await Gov. Roy Cooper’s spending plan, which is expected soon. Negotiations continue behind closed doors among lawmakers as well.

SEANC continues to lobby for the money spent by the State Health Plan on COVID testing and treatment to be replaced with federal funds. This includes: $72 million on Covid testing and treatment in 2020 $122 million anticipated costs for Covid testing and treatment in 2021

An additional $100 million was shifted from plan funding for COVID related spending.

Also this week, Rep. Pat Hurley filed H269 which would provide for a 2% retiree COLA. These items are generally handled in the state budget, but the bill certainly sets the tone for budget conversations where retirees are concerned.

Hear more about these and other bills of interest in this week’s Legislative Update.

Past President Wayne Fish issues challenge on EMPAC donations SEANC Past President Wayne Fish issued a challenge this week to all members in hopes of fueling the association’s political efforts.

Fish, a platinum-level donor and former Chairman of EMPAC, the political arm of SEANC, pledged to donate half of his upcoming $1,400 stimulus check to the PAC and encourages others to do the same.

Read more about his challenge here.

Behind the Scenes with SEANC SEANC is proud to highlight the leaders who work to provide the best services to our members every day.

Save with SEANC Insurance Reminder: You don't have to wait for open enrollment to take advantage of SEANC's Insurance programs. Visit seanc.org/insurance for more!

Enroll in a plan that

protects you from the unexpected SEANC is excited to offer the exclusive AflacBenExtend product to ALL of our members, including retirees! We’d like to think science can stop contagious diseases in their tracks, but outbreaks such as the flu, SARS, COVID-19, along with issues related to trauma, have shown that’s not always the case. With a combination of hospitalization, critical illness, life insurance, and counseling, BenExtend is a well-rounded plan to protect you and your family from the unexpected.

Learn more

Membership

Want to help SEANC grow?

Every time you recruit a new member now through March 31, you and the new member will be entered in a drawing to win $250.

Contact SEANC Director of Member Relations Lynn Cote TODAY at lcote@seanc.org to arrange the recruiting/materials assistance you need.

Recruiters will receive $20 for every new member recruited.

Referral Member Program: Send us the name and contact information for a possible new member. If they sign up, you get $20!

Contact Us

If you would like printed copies of the Membership Guide and Insurance Guide, please contact Director of Member Relations Lynn Cote at lcote@seanc.org.

Benefits

Apply for the Leadership NC Scholarship Ready to take the next step into a leadership role in your job, your community or SEANC? Now's your chance. SEANC’s Emerging Leaders Council has established a scholarship program to allow one SEANC member the opportunity to participate

in Leadership North Carolina (LNC), a two-year training program where participants acquire the skills necessary to take the lead. Apply by April 30.

Learn more

Tweet of the Week

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Friday, March 19, 2021

SEANC fighting salary cuts at universities SEANC is committed to ensuring that UNC System employees are not punished for shortfalls resulting from the pandemic. To that end, we strongly oppose a provision in House Bill 243 that would allow the UNC System to cut salaries to deal with budget problems.

The bill passed the House Education — Universities Committee on Thursday.

University officials claim that they have no plans to cut salaries at this time.

SEANC insists this should not be an option and should be removed from an otherwise acceptable bill.

H243 is currently in the Rules Committee. Lobbyists are working with legislators to make sure the bill does not pass as it currently is written.

$15 minimum wage must be extended to all

state employees SEANC made history in 2018, working with legislators to pass a first-in-thenation $15 minimum wage for state employees as part of the state budget.

This change lifted starting salaries for numerous positions to $31,200 all over the state and brought critical help to working families.

Community college employees and non-certified public-school personnel – maintenance workers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and other staff – were left out of this minimum wage salary increase. These employees also haven’t received a pay increase in two years.

These hardworking employees hold the fate of our state’s most valuable assets – our children – in their hands each day. They deserve the same respect as all other state employees for their hard work.

SEANC is working hard this session to call attention to this oversight, asking legislators and the governor to make a $15 per hour minimum wage for these employees a priority in their budgets.

Our efforts have been met with support from both sides of the aisle. SEANC worked with Rep. Terence Everitt, a Wake County Democrat, on minimum wage language and he filed House Bill 5 at the beginning of the session. The bill raises non-certified public-school employees to a minimum of $15 per hour. ​This past week, Rep. Erin Paré, a Wake County Republican, filed House Bill 309 that also contains provisions to raise the minimum wage for this group of employees and grants a 2% pay raise for employees who are already at the minimum.

Hear more about this bill and others in this week’sLegislative Update.

Behind the Scenes with SEANC SEANC is proud to highlight the leaders who work to provide the best services to our members every day.

Save with SEANC Insurance Reminder: You don't have to wait for open enrollment to take advantage of SEANC's Insurance programs. Visit seanc.org/insurance for more!

Prepare your family for the unthinkable The Voluntary Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance plan provides your family with valuable financial protection in the event of unintentional death, dismemberment of the insured or other covered loss due to a covered accident. Members can purchase additional coverage from $25,000 to $500,000 at competitive rates. All members who purchase additional coverage will have access to the Cigna Secure Travel program.

Learn more

Membership

Want to help SEANC grow?

Every time you recruit a new member now through March 31, you and the new member will be entered in a drawing to win $250.

Contact SEANC Director of Member Relations Lynn Cote TODAY at lcote@seanc.org to arrange the recruiting/materials assistance you need.

Recruiters will receive $20 for every new member recruited.

Referral Member Program: Send us the name and contact information for a possible new member. If they sign up, you get $20!

Contact Us

If you would like printed copies of the Membership Guide and Insurance Guide, please contact Director of Member Relations Lynn Cote at lcote@seanc.org.

Benefits

Apply for the Leadership NC Scholarship Ready to take the next step into a leadership role in your job, your community or SEANC? Now's your chance. SEANC’s Emerging Leaders Council has established a scholarship program to allow one SEANC member the opportunity to participate

in Leadership North Carolina (LNC), a two-year training program where participants acquire the skills necessary to take the lead. Apply by April 30.

Learn more

Tweet of the Week

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Are you having trouble viewing this? Click here to view in browser.

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Friday, March 26, 2021

Pay raises, bonuses, COLAs included in Cooper's budget This week state budget negotiations officially began withthe announcement of Gov. Roy Cooper's proposal. SEANC Executive Director Ardis Watkins sent a message to members Wednesday detailing Cooper's plan. It includes pay raises and bonuses for all state employees and a cost-of-living adjustment and bonus for retirees.

Further inspection of the proposal revealed that it also includes funds to address wage compression, an issue resulting from the introduction of the $15 minimum wage for most state employees instituted in 2018. Wage compression happens when a group of employees is moved up on the pay scale, and veteran employees in the same positions remain at their current salary. This leads to low morale and turnover.

The solution to wage compression issues is equitable pay for all employees.

As grateful as we are that Cooper's proposal extends the $15 minimum wage to more employees, we are also keenly aware that it produces salary issues that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

UNC bill passes House with pay cuts House Bill 243, a bill designed to help the UNC System cope with budget problems resulting from the pandemic, passed the House this week with a provision allowing pay cuts intact. As stated in last week’s Scoop, though University officials claim that they have no plans to cut salaries at this time, SEANC insists this should not be an option and should be removed from an otherwise acceptable bill.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Rules Committee.

Transparency coming to State Health Plan?

The House State Government Committee gave a favorable report this week to House Bill 169, which gives the State Health Plan staff access to see how much the plan pays providers. Currently, providers negotiate rates with the plan's administrator, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, and those contracts are kept secret.

It's outrageous that the State Health Plan staff can't even know exactly what we are spending on specific procedures. This bill would bring much-needed transparency to the claims process.

Bill would open personnel files to public A bill was filed to open up more of state employees' personnel files to public records requests on Thursday. Senate Bill 355 would allow the public to access disciplinary and performance records, promotions, and other currently shielded information.

Bills like this have come up before, and SEANC has successfully lobbied against them, pointing out to lawmakers that it unnecessarily opens the state to liability issues and lawsuits.

Behind the Scenes with SEANC SEANC is proud to highlight the leaders who work to provide the best services to our members every day.

Save with SEANC Insurance

Reminder: You don't have to wait for open enrollment to take advantage of SEANC's Insurance programs. Visit seanc.org/insurance for more!

Benefits

Apply for the Leadership NC Scholarship Ready to take the next step into a leadership role in your job, your community or SEANC? Now's your chance. SEANC’s Emerging Leaders Council has established a scholarship program to allow one SEANC member the opportunity to participate in Leadership North Carolina (LNC), a two-year training program where participants acquire the skills necessary to take the lead. Apply by April 30.

Learn more

If you would like printed copies of the Membership Guide and Insurance Guide, please contact Director of Member Relations Lynn Cote at lcote@seanc.org.

Tweet of the Week

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