Hello DPROA,
Your DPROA Board met via Zoom on Wednesday, May 13th. Our general membership meeting was once again cancelled due to the continued threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as is everyone else, we are maintaining operations in as normal a manner as possible.
There have been more developments in the Degan case which is still pending at the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. As you will recall from my previous brief, a three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit ruled to AFFIRM the District Court’s ruling. Our attorney has since submitted a petition to the court requesting a rehearing “en banc.” What this means is we want the entire court to hear our case. In order for this to happen, we need a simple majority of the twenty six member court to vote to grant our request. You can click on this link to read our petition.
In another development, just a couple of days prior to the court announcing its ruling, Thomas Payne acting upon his own volition, filed an amicus brief in support of our case. That amicus brief was DENIED as being out of time. Thomas has since filed a motion for reconsideration and that request was also DENIED, but the court has advised that “in light of the Appellant’s filing of a petition for rehearing en banc, Payne’s amicus brief will be permitted to be filed as an amicus brief in support of the petition for rehearing en banc.” Payne’s Amicus Brief can be viewed HERE, and the court’s order can be viewed HERE.
There is nothing new to report regarding the Annual Adjustment lawsuit since last month. However, I would like to point out that in yesterday’s DP&FP Board meeting, it was revealed by Segal’s, the board’s actuary, that they predict the fund will not reach the benchmark for paying a COLA until the year 2050. That prediction is based on the current rate of return of 7.25%. Later in the presentation there was discussion of reducing that rate of return to 6.75 or 7%. Any reduction in the expected rate of return increases the time it will take to reach the 70% funding level as dictated by HB3158 and pushes the prospect receiving a COLA even farther down the road. Based on the board members comments, if they had voted yesterday it would have been reduced to 6.75. The board will vote next month.
We are trying to contact members who are not current in their payment of dues. In most cases, we find they did not receive our reminders due to bad contact information. It is very IMPORTANT that we have good contact information for you. Please help keep your information current.
Just a quick reminder, we are ending our relationship with PayPal and the account will close on June 1, 2020. Email notices have gone out to our PayPal users. I apologize for any inconvenience, but we firmly believe the money spent in fees will be much more valuable supporting our fight for benefits.
Stay safe and healthy,
David Elliston