Wisconsin Coalition of Annuitants

April 21, 2025 Minutes

www.wicoa.org

Meeting called to order by the Chair Diane Wilcenski at 9:32a.m.

DIRECTORS & ALTERNATES PRESENT: Robert Beglinger, AFT-R; Barbara Bird, DOT; James Blank, Bay Lakes United Educators-R; Robert Brooks, Central Wisconsin Center Retirees; Sandy Drew, SWIB Retiree; Brian Holmes, Epsilon Sigma Phi; Bruce Johnson, SWIB Retiree; Rick Klemme, Epsilon Sigma Phi; Allen Knop, WEAC-Retired; Dick Kratz, WI Retired Corrections Personnel; Kathy Kreul, WFT/AFT Retirees; Jack Lawton, ACE; Mary Czynszak-Lyne; Laurie Mayberry, UWRA President; John Maydak, West Allis Retirees; Fred Nepple, OCI; Robert Schaefer, WI Assoc of Retired Conservationists and State Engineering Association; Roger Springman, WFT/AFT Retirees; Jeanne Stangl, Dodge County Area REA; Jim Thiel, Association of Career Employees; Diane Wilcenski, WREA; Rick Wojciak, DNR; Christopher Wren, Wisconsin State Attorneys Association; and wicoa.org

DIRECTORS & ALTERNATES NOT PRESENT: Dave Bosanko, Retired Professional Fire Fighters of WI; Ed Frank, WI Assoc of Retired Conservationists; Jean Grosklaus, West Allis Retirees; Paul Haubrich, UW Milwaukee Retiree’s Assoc.; Tara Leithold, Kettle Moraine Retirees; Lucrecia Mattson, UW-Eau Claire Emeritus; Jim Palmer, WI Professional Police Association Retired; Dee Pettack, WSAA; Elaine Reiter, Kettle Moraine Retired; Sari Simer, Joe Strohl, Retired Professional Fire Fighters of WI; Clara Welch, Beloit Area REA

DIRECTORS & ALTERNATES EXCUSED;

ADDITIONAL GUESTS; Larry Grorud, Retired Assistant Attorney General from the Wisconsin Department of Justice; Richard Moriarity, Janesville Fire Department; Robert Olson

Roll Call: Taken by Rick

Approval of the March Minutes: Minutes approved as printed.

GUEST: Tarna Hunter, Director of Budget and Management, ETF 

Tarna began her presentation with a Legislative Update. Return to Work bills are being introduced again this session. Currently, the following three bills have been introduced:

2025 SB 35 and 2025 AB 36 allow an annuitant who was a law enforcement officer or fire fighter to return to work with an employer who participates in the WRS, work two-thirds of full-time, and elect to not become a participating employee for purposes of the WRS, and instead continue to receive his or her annuity.

2025 SB 105 and 2025 AB 138 allow an annuitant who was a protective occupation participant or an annuitant who was a county jailer who was not a protective occupation participant to return to work with an employer who participates in the WRS, work two-thirds of full-time, and elect to not become a participating employee for purposes of the WRS, and instead continue to receive his or her annuity.

2025 SB 170 and 2025 AB 196 make the following changes to WRS return-to-work laws:

· Allows an annuitant who returns to work for a WRS employer to not suspend their annuity for up to 60 months.

· Requires WRS employers that hire such annuitants to make payments to ETF equal to what they would have paid as required contributions for an active employee. These payments are deposited in the employer reserve account. No employee contribution is required. •

· Repeals two obsolete provisions related to WRS return-to-work laws created during the public health emergency declared on March 12, 2020, by executive order 72, which ended on May 13, 2020.

Joint Finance Committee meetings on the biennial Budget Bill are expected to start mid-March. John Voelker and Tarna Hunter are scheduling meetings to discuss the ETF Budget request with JFC members.

ETF is monitoring the Return-to-Work bills to ensure that the bills comply with Federal IRS laws.

ETF prefers that the changes to Return-to-Work law be applied uniformly to all WRS employees. This would be much easier to monitor for compliance.

Bob Schaefer asked if WICOA should write a letter to the JFC to support the bill’s provision of including employer contributions and uniform application. Tarna mentioned that there was a memo by ETF actuaries provided to the legislators.

There was not full support of writing a letter by WICOA.

There might be a small negative return next year depending on the investment returns for 2026.

Navitus changed prescription mail order to Costco mail order.

My Insurance Benefits is going live July 1, 2025, for university employees. ETF is currently planning go-live for the rest of the employers in the first half of 2026.

The Pension Administration System has sent Notice of Intent to two vendors. They will do Proof of Concept in the fall and should have a vendor hired by May 2026.

Guest: Chris Preisler, Senior Communications Specialist, SWIB

Performance final returns as of February 28,2025 Returns on a Five-year Basis

Core 2.45% Benchmark 2.20% Core 8.49% Benchmark 7.66%

Variable 2.54% Benchmark 2.46% Variable 13.61% Benchmark 13.73%

Assets Under Management

Core Fund $130.9B Variable Fund $11.1B for a total of $142B in retirement fund assets.

Chris stated that preliminary March numbers show the Core Fund at 1.57% and Variable Fund at -1.7%

He is hoping that the final numbers will look better at the end of March.

Chris stated the there is great volatility in the markets at this time. The markets are changing minute by minute. It has become a rollercoaster. Chris mentioned that there are stories about the top 25 state and local pension funds that have suffered a loss of around $170B just in public equities.

The positive is the fact that SWIB is very diversified, especially with the Core Fund. The strategy has been not relying just on public equities. Chris reminded us to remember that SWIB is a long-term investor.

SWIB did a market update podcast with Todd Mattina who is the Asset and Risk Allocation CIO.

SWIB is going to try something new with their podcasts. They are going to have 5 - 10-minute podcasts quarterly, to keep us in the know of what is happening in the markets. The first podcast of this format was just released. It is titled SWIB Market Update Q1 2025

A new regular podcast was released titled Finding Strong Investment Opportunities at Home. It features Chris Prestigiacomo speaking about SWIB investments in Wisconsin and what that means not only for the trust funds but for the state economy. He will also chat about the report by SWIB that was released at the end of the year that deals with SWIB’s goals for investing in Wisconsin.

https://www.swib.state.wi.us/podcasts

Dave Shallow stepped down from the SWIB Board of Trustees. He was replaced by J Michael Collins to represent the Teachers Retirement Board on the SWIB Board of Trustees.

J. Michael Collins is the Fetzer Family Chair in Consumer & Personal Finance in the School of Human Ecology, a Professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs, and the Associate Director for Training and Research at the Institute for Research on Poverty.  He leads the UW Retirement and Disability Research Consortium research center funded by the Social Security Administration. Collins studies consumer decision-making in the financial marketplace, including the role of public policy in influencing credit, savings and investment choices. Collins brings two decades of applied experiences and consulting to his research. He co-founded Spring Four, an online resource for people facing financial challenges and serves on the boards of financial institutions and retirement plans. He holds a Masters from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, a PhD from Cornell University, and a BS from Miami University (OH).

Some members of SWIB private equity team received some recognition.

Senior Portfolio Manager, Beth Holzberger was named one of 10 allocators in Private Equity Hubs – Women in private equity 2025.The list features “women who have excelled as leaders, innovated, executed on novel strategic visions and pushed the industry’s boundaries.”

Senior Portfolio Engineer, Salah Khalif was named to Private Equity International’s 40 under 40 Future Leaders list, which recognizes individuals under the age of 40 who are helping shape the future of the private equity industry.

Correspondence: None

Old Business:

WICOA Conference

Rick reported that there are 77 people signed up. He will send out blasts at the end of the month. Directors are encouraged to remind the members that you represent. Presenter invites will of out next week.

Medicare Committee

Roger reported that the CMS has awarded a 3.7% increase to Medicare Advantage which equates to an increase of $16B. Also reported was that the Administration was defending Obamacare in front of the Supreme Court.

Ed Weisbart will speak about Privatizing Medicare via Zoom at the Wisconsin Grassroots Festival at McFarland High School on May 10. John Nichols will also be speaking.

There is a webinar on Thursday April 24 at 3PM concerning Social Security.

Links will be sent out to all Directors.

Chris Wren suggested that each of us go to the Social Security website to download and print off your latest benefit.

Medicare Letter

There have not been any responses or follow-up on the letter that was sent out.

New Business:

Roll call votes will be by the person designated as Director only.

Treasurer Report: (3/20/25 – 4/18/25)

Savings Account $5.00

Checking Account Beginning Balance $7960.74

Income $400.00

Expenses $1080.30

Checking Account Balance as of 4/18/25 $7280.44

TOTAL ASSETS $7285.44

Next Meeting:

June 16, 2025 at 9:30 AM via Zoom

Meeting adjourned at 10:40AM

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanne Stangl

WICOA Secretary.