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Present : Alan Clendenin, National Legislative Committee Chair; David Benedetto, Southwest Region Chair; Chris Boughn, Eastern Region Chair; David Caldwell; Western Pacific Region Chair; John Fitzgerald, New England Region Chair; Steve Fletcher, Northwest Mountain Region Chair; Dustin Miller, Central Region Chair; Rob Stephenson, Alaskan Region Chair; Richard Ulmes, Great Lakes Region Chair; Randy Weiland, Southern Region Chair; Stacy Rae Trigler, Legislative Affairs Department

Minutes: John Fitzgerald

Previous Minutes: The committee accepted the minutes of the NATCA in Washington 1999 (NiW ’99) Ad Hoc Team.

Legislative Committee Budget 1999 – The committee reviewed the 1999 NLC Budget request and justification and the budget request for NATCA in Washington 1999. The NEB is meeting this week to discuss budget issues.

NATCA in Washington Budget – The committee reviewed and discussed the budgeted and actual costs of NATCA in Washington 1998 and the budgeted amounts for NATCA in Washington 1999. In an effort to reduce the minimal cost of "no-shows", a Room Coordinator will be used at the 1999 event. A statement will be added to the NiW ’99 registration paperwork and to the pre-event mailer advising attendees to contact the Room Coordinator not later than 24 hours prior to the event if they are unable to attend.

Recognition – The committee discussed ways to recognize the efforts of members who worked on campaigns during the past election cycle. The names of those members will be submitted for publication in the Air Traffic Controller. Additionally, certificates will be printed and mailed to those members. Rich Ulmes and Dave Caldwell will formulate the wording for the certificates. The NLC will hold a recognition dinner for Regional Legislative Committee members at the February meeting in Las Vegas. The National Legislative Committee wishes to recognize the following individuals for their outstanding contribution to NATCA as campaign activists during the 1998 congressional elections:

Western Pacific Region
Jeff Valentino (FAT)
Sharon Wilkins (SDM)
Frank Haelle (VGT)
Howie Rifas (SNA)
Ron Aquilina (ZOA)
Ron Gagner (U90)
Eric Strickland (OGG)
Mike Martin (Engineers)
Woody Diaz (Engineers)

Eastern Region
Beverley Cook (ZDC)
Barrett Byrnes (JKF)
Maureen Donnelly (CDW) 

New England Region
Tom Callahan (Y90)
Mike Bencal (ZBW)

Southern Region
Brad Burtner (CVG)
Matt Lambert (FLO)
Chuck Allen (CVG)
Ross Espey (MGM)

Southwest Region
Mike McEntee (ZAB)
Ron Scott (ZAB)

Northwest Mountain Region
Randy Kienitz (HLN)

Great Lakes Region
John Hermes (MKE)
Ed Locke (ZID)
Howard Hall (ZOB)
Jim Doyle (CAK)
Jody Davis (Contract Tower)
Ramon Barnowski (MKE)
Tom Hjelmgren (MKE)

1999 FACREP Training – Dave Benedetto advised the committee of the tentative dates for FACREP training in 1999 and solicited help from NLC members for presenting the Legislative portion of the training. The dates are subject to budget approval. Any member of the committee interested in helping with the presentation of the Legislative materials, contact Dave Benedetto.

AFL-CIO Social Security Initiative – Rich Ulmes, Alan Clendenin and Stacy Trigler briefed the committee on an AFL-CIO Social Security Initiative that would reform the social security system to allow participants to invest a portion of their social security contributions in private sector funds. All major proposals to implement this type of reform include provisions that would be harmful to working families, including raising the minimum retirement age to 70. The members of the committee agreed that they need more education on the initiative before they can serve as effective advocates of the initiative. Stacy will provide the committee members with the AFL-CIO printed materials on the subject.

Communications –

1. Pagers - The committee discussed the new pager system and some of the problems encountered in its implementation. Randy Weiland advised the committee that three members of the Southern Region Legislative Committee have still not received their pagers and of the five members that do have pagers, three do not have coverage by PageMart. John Fitzgerald advised the committee that none of the New England Region Legislative Committee members have received pagers. The phone numbers assigned to the members of the New England Region Legislative Committee are long distance. Dave Benedetto reported that the new pager system does not allow users to change their area of coverage. Steve Fletcher reported not receiving several of the national messages on the budget issue. Several members of the committee reported receiving messages that were not intended for them. Rob Stevenson has experienced daily erroneous messages. Dave Caldwell reports that three out of eight of the pagers in his region work. Alan will address these issues with Adell.
2. Control of Pagers to NLC – Members of regional legislative committees who serve in a dual role (i.e. FACREP, Ad Hoc Team etc) and are issued a Legislative Committee pager are reminded that their pager is designated through the Legislative Committee and is not transferable.
3. E-Mail – Alan reported that 90% of the NLC is on e-mail and encouraged it’s use as an effective, cost efficient tool. Several members reported problems with not receiving attached files through the AOL mail server.
4. Internet access – A motion was made to allow NLC members to voucher their monthly Internet Service Provider costs back to the NLC. The vote on the issue was tied, the motion is defeated.
5. Faxes – Alan will check with the National Office on administrative release of broken faxes. Alan will order fax machines for John Fitzgerald and Chris Boughn.
6. NLC Laptop – Dave Caldwell will take possession of the NLC laptop until such time as he procures a new computer.
7. Phone cards – Alan advised the committee that new phone cards have been ordered for NLC members. After the new cards are issued, all previously issued cards will be invalidated. The new phone cards are not transferable and should be returned to the Chair for re-issue if a member of the NLC resigns.
8. Responsiveness – Alan requested that the members of the committee check their e-mail and voice mailbox once a day and respond promptly when paged or otherwise notified.

Legislative Affairs Office –

1. Legislative Bill Tracking – Dave Benedetto requested that the Legislative Affairs Department advise the members of the NLC of the status of legislation being tracked from the National Office. Stacy will e-mail a status report to Alan biweekly. Alan will post these reports on the NLC Web page.
2. Candidate Endorsement Mailer – Several members of the committee stated they did not receive the mailer until the day before or the day of the election. Some felt that language in the mailer was party-biased and might offend some of our members. It was suggested that we not use such terms in describing candidates in the future and that the mailers focus on the candidate’s labor record. After a few comments about the timeliness of the mailer, Stacy explained that the printer sent them to the post office 10 days before the election and that the AFL-CIO is looking into allegations that the post offices held union mail. In any event, every effort will be made to ensure that NATCA members are in possession of future mailers in sufficient time to read and digest the information prior to going to the polls.
3. PAC Disbursements and procedures to request funds – A member of the committee stated an objection to the veto power of the Legislative Affairs Department when a member of the NLC makes a request for PAC funds. Members of the committee are encouraged to be more aggressive in the pursuit of requests by following up the request with a phone call. Alan suggested that if a member of the NLC is denied PAC funds for a candidate who they strongly feel should be supported by NATCA, that member should contact Alan. After discussing the justification, Alan will contact the National Office and repeat the request. Stacy will renew the Legislative Affairs Department’s efforts to keep the members of the NLC advised of PAC disbursements and members of the committee are strongly encouraged to keep the Legislative Affairs Department advised of events in the districts at which NATCA should be represented.
4. Election Briefing – Stacy advised the committee that NATCA was involved in 217 campaigns during the 1998 election cycle. 178 NATCA-backed candidates won, an 84% winning percentage. Stacy suggested this success rate be used as a selling point for recruiting new PAC members. The committee agreed.

Regional structures and internal communications – The members of the committee discussed the strengths and weaknesses of their committee structures and the methods of communications used in their individual regions. Ideas were exchanged to increase the productivity and effectiveness of the regional committees.

Legislation

1. Contract Tower Issue – Dave Caldwell stated his concern that some language in the FAA Re-authorization Bill seems to promote the active contracting out of Level Two towers as a means of solving staffing issues at "hard to staff" facilities. While the majority of the committee felt there was not necessarily a nexus between the two issues when the language was written, all agreed that the Agency could connect the two to the detriment of NATCA. The committee agreed that this issue should be watched closely and actively campaigned against.
2. HR2526 – The TSP Reform Act – John Fitzgerald briefed the committee on HR-2526, a bill introduced in the 105^th Congress by Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD) which would, among other things, raise the TSP contribution limit from the current 10% of base pay to the IRS limit, currently $10,000 per year. John spoke with Jeff Davis, Legislative Aide at Rep. Morella’s office and offered assistance when the bill is reintroduced in the 106^th Congress. John agreed to serve as the focal point on the issue and to keep the committee advised of the status of this legislation. The full text of HR-2526 and of the corresponding committee report (105-809) are available on THOMAS at http://thomas.loc.gov .
3. FAM Trip Program - The issue of the FAM program is before the FLRA for mediation. The actions of the NLC on this issue will be dictated by the outcome of the FLRA decision and by the NEB. The committee agreed to form a team to research the history of the FAM program issue and explore possible avenues of recourse.

February 1999 Regional Legislative Committee Meeting in Las Vegas – The regional legislative committee meeting in Las Vegas will be held during the third week of February 1999. Exact dates will be announced after the contract with the hotel is finalized. Alan will advise the committee of the dates as soon as practicable.

1. Volunteers to create training program – John Fitzgerald and Dave Benedetto volunteered to set up the program for training at the meeting. Members of the committee who have input should contact Dave or John.
2. Program of Events – The committee decided the following topics will be covered during the meeting in Las Vegas:

1. Website creation and maintenance for NLC members;
2. Regional and NLC Team building;
3. Advanced training for NLC members (i.e. time management, 7 Habits, Dear Colleague letters, Advancing an issue through the process);
4. Regional Committee breakouts;
5. Social Security Briefing (presented by Rich Ulmes);
6. Twenty year retirement legislation;
7. Contract Tower Program and associated issues.

1. Goal – It shall be a goal of the Las Vegas meeting to establish an agenda for NiW ’99
2. Official Time – Upon completion of the agenda for NiW ‘99, the NLC will request that NATCA’s President negotiate with the Agency for official time for attendees of NiW ’99. The NLC will also request that the NEB pursue re-delegation of contractual official time for the purpose of NiW ’99.

NATCA in Washington ’99

Members of the committee are reminded to instruct the members of their regional committees not to schedule congressional appointments during the training events.

1. Twenty-Year Retirement - Randy Weiland and Rich Ulmes will research and develop language for a twenty-year retirement bill. Rich and Randy will send a final product to John Fitzgerald and Dave Benedetto not later than January 18, 1999.
2. Working Local Equipment Issues Nationally - In order to get local equipment issues advanced nationally, the members of the committee will contact the facilities in their regions to find out the local equipment needs of those facilities. Members of the NLC will coordinate this effort with their regional counterpart on the Safety Committee. Rob Stevenson will serve as the NLC focal point for this initiative. Members of the NLC will have this information to Rob Stevenson not later than January 18, 1999.
3. Resource materials – Binders containing resource materials on subjects covered at NiW ’99 will be issued to the participants. These binders will be based on the AFL-CIO Social Security binder format.
4. NiW ’99 Ad Hoc Group -The next meeting of the NiW ’99 Ad Hoc Group will be December 9-11, 1999. The agenda for NiW ’99 will be finalized during this meeting. Alan will forward the final Agenda to the members of the NLC by December 18, 1999.

National Legislative Committee Goals

1. Contact and participate in local labor council - Members of the NLC are strongly encouraged to contact, join and participate in state AFL-CIO and local labor councils. The value of this type of networking cannot be understated. This issue dovetails with AFL-CIO’s Labor 2000 initiative for the next cycle of national elections. Another benefit of this type of activity is that it gives NATCA activists the opportunity to apply the skills they learn at NiW during periods when NATCA does not have an issue.
2. Managing the Vote - With the low voter turnout in the latest election cycle, ensuring that NATCA member’s vote is especially important. The point should be stressed to our members that the fewer the participants in an election, the more important each vote becomes. Stacy will research available "Get-out-the-vote" resources for presentation to the committee at fourth quarter 1999 NLC meeting.

John Fitzgerald
National Legislative Committee
New England Legislative Chair