Our court hearing will be held on Monday, May 21st at 10:00 AM in Courtroom 10D at the US Federal Court House located at 411 W. 4th Street in Santa Ana. For those who wish to attend the hearing, please arrive at the courthouse by no later than 9:30 AM so that there is sufficient time to go through the security process and be seated in the courtroom prior to the hearing.
If you decide you can attend this very important hearing, please try to carpool if possible. There is public parking available in the Santa Ana City Public Parking lots at Third and Birch, Third and Broadway and Fifth and Main. Parking is $7.00 per day and the parking lots are open from 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM. There is also another public parking structure located on Third and Ross. The rate is $6.00 per day but you must pay in advance. This structure is open from 6:00 AM until 5:00 PM.
If you cannot attend the hearing, please refer back to our website and we will post any updates regarding the hearing as soon as they are available.
For your information, the briefs filed in the Federal Court on March 19, 2012 are available to you. To read the REAOC brief, click on the link below. As the County's brief is too large to post on the REAOC website, please contact REAOC at (714) 840-3995 or send an e-mail to reaoc@reaoc.org, and a copy will be e-mailed to you.
REAOC's Brief
The entire REAOC Board of Directors appreciates and thanks you for your continued support and participation in our mutual efforts to protect the benefits you earned during your years of service to the public and county.
Linda Robinson and Doug Storm, Co-Presidents
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One of the duties of your Board of Directors is to monitor pending legislation that may have an impact on Orange County retirees. A recent example of this is the bill SB 1231 (Walters), which would have stripped the retirement board authority to grant the STAR COLA. Doug Storm authored an opposition letter that was sent to the legislation regarding this pending bill. We are happy to report that this bill died in the conference committee. If you would like to read the letter sent to the legislation by Doug, please click on the link below.
Letter to the Legislation Regarding SB 1231
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STANFORD STUDY AND OCERS RESPONSE
Many of our REAOC members have commented on the OC Register article dated March 9, 2012 entitled "Stanford: O.C. retirement system $10 billion in the hole". OCERS has issued a response to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) report that was issued on Feb. 21, 2012 which was the basis for the article and examined the Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) and many of the largest independent public employee pension systems in California. OCERS strongly disagrees with the article and the study. Please click on the link below to read OCERS response. If you have any questions regarding the article and/or the Stanford study, you may contact OCERS directly at (714) 558-6200.
OCERS Response
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The California Lawyer, a Daily Journal Publication, each year honors California Attorneys of the Year. This award, known as the CLAY award (California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year), was recently published in the March 2012 edition of the magazine. For the year 2012, the magazine recognized and honored 55 lawyers in various categories for their extraordinary achievements in 2011. In the area of Government, the attorneys who represent REAOC in our lawsuit against the County of Orange were honored with the CLAY award. Those attorneys are Michael P. Brown, of the Law Offices of Michael P. Brown, and Ernest Galvan, of the law firm Rosen, Bien & Galvan. The magazine acknowledged the accomplishment of these two attorneys for winning a "watershed ruling at the California Supreme Court that it doesn't take an express contract or a specific vote by elected officials to create a binding commitment for vested public employees". To view the magazine and to read the entire article, please click on the link below. Our congratulations to these outstanding attorneys!
California Lawyer Publication
For a chronological listing of the major activities and updates during the past several years regarding the litigation, please click on the "Legal Update" tab located under the American flag.
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Announcing the Council on Aging Senior Guide
OC 2012 Online Edition!
The full version of the Senior Guide OC 2012 is available in the online edition, including all 176 full-color pages of health care and care giving resources, housing options, financial, legal and insurance services, community and recreational resources and much, much more! You'll find expert advice on Alzheimer's care, how to choose a nursing home or residential care facility, advice for caregivers, volunteer opportunities and everything in between.
The Senior Guide OC 2012 Online Edition includes features not available in the print edition, such as live links to all website information contained in it, and the ability to email links to the entire guide or single pages of information to others. Pages may also be printed from the online version of the Guide, and bookmarks and notes can be added to any page. You can even post pages to Facebook or Twitter! Follow the link below to go to the Senior Guide OC 2012.
Senior Guide OC 2012
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To read the latest California Retired Counties Employee Association (CRCEA) newsletter, please click on the link below.
CRCEA Newsletter
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