President's Message
Happy summer everyone!
On July 14th, the Retiree Chapter Board members will be meeting and at the top of our agenda is planning for the rescheduling of the Town Hall meeting that was canceled this month. We really want to hear from you, our members, on what subjects you would like to discuss or speakers you would like to hear from. Please let us know! You can contact me or Cortney Marabetta on your thoughts and wishes. Would appreciate it greatly!
I wish all of you a Happy 4th of July! Take care!
In solidarity
Merrilee Miron
President, AFT Washington Retiree Chapter
Legislative Update: The Millionaire's Tax, WISeR, Healthcare Is A Human Right, And Social Security Updates
By Jim Howe, Director, Legislative Affairs
A lot is happening in this interim before the 2027 legislative session starts next January.
Millionaire’s Tax
The AFT Washington Retirees Chapter supported last session’s historic Millionaire’s Tax, which applies a 9.9% tax on income earned over one million dollars annually, and brings in money specifically earmarked for education. This year, we are supporting the NO on I-645 campaign, working against hedge fund manager Brian Heywood’s effort to get a voter initiative to repeal the tax. We suggest that members decline to sign the petition being circulated and will look at other ways to support the No on I-645 campaign, which will be on the ballot in the fall.
WISeR
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) filed an appeal to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking whether WISeR’s AI pilot project, which is private and for-profit, required congressional approval to implement. The GAO determined that it does, and qualifies as an agency rule, which means that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are required, legally, to seek Congress’s approval for the program.
This ruling means that Congress can use a joint resolution to repeal the WISeR model. Sen. Wyden introduced SJR 192 to terminate it, with Washington senators Murray and Cantwell joining in support. Representative DelBene coauthored a companion resolution, HJR 187, in the House.
The Senate resolution is better positioned to bring WISeR to the floor for a vote. In the Senate, a resolution like this only needs 30 senators to sign on, and with 20 original sponsors, it only needs ten more. PSARA and their national allies are working to reach 10 more co-sponsors, ideally by the second week in July.
Healthcare Is A Human Right
Washington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer awarded her annual “People Over Profits” award to Healthcare For All Washington and Whole Washington on June 2nd. Both are members of the Healthcare Is A Human Right coalition. Kuderer praised them for helping the state advance toward universal healthcare, and that HCHR’s work makes her confident that “universal healthcare will happen in my lifetime.”
The attacks on the Affordable Care Act make it clear that we truly need improved Medicare for all – the ACA is great, and did a lot to reduce the uninsured rate in the United States, but it’s still privately funded insurance and the current Administration’s attacks highlight its vulnerability.
AFT Washington will participate in a workshop at the July Washington State Labor Council Convention on Single-Payer Universal Healthcare, led by the Labor Table of HCHR that Richard Burton co-chairs.
Social Security
We are following updates from Social Security Works on the systematic dismantling of the Social Security Administration by the presidential Administration, where they are not closing but creating understaffed “ghost offices”. We are also watching the lawsuits by AFSCME and the ACLU concerning misuse and exposure of sensitive data.
Supreme Court Decision On Mail-In Ballot Postmarks
By Cortney Marabetta, Communications Specialist
On June 29th, the federal Supreme Court handed down their decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee, which challenged grace periods for ballots mailed by Election Day. The original case was brought against Mississippi, but 18 states and territories have grace periods that allow ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to five days later to be counted. A dozen more states have grace periods for ballots sent from overseas by military members and other Americans residing outside the country.
In a 5-4 decision, the justices determined that the grace period does not violate the law, which requires the “electorate’s choice to be made on election day. That occurs so long as election day is the deadline for individuals to vote – as it is in Mississippi,” wrote Justice Barrett in the majority opinion. “But the election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, so they do not prevent Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked before election day yet received afterwards.”
While this is a win for voters, the majority of whom vote later in the voting period, it’s still wise to be cautious about mailing ballots. In Washington state, you do not need to pay postage to mail your ballot, making it a good option for seniors who may have difficulty reaching a drop box, but the United States Postal Service has indicated that they will not guarantee that all mail is postmarked the day it is received, which could mean that your ballot is voided even if mailed on time due to delays in postmarking. Washington state’s Secretary of State recommends mailing ballots a week before the election to ensure it is postmarked on time.
For more information about mail-in balloting in Washington, please see the article on page 6 of the Union Spotlight.