ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER PRESIDENT’S BRIEFING

Here are a few of my observations gained while representing our chapter at the Dec 1, 2007 CAL-MOAA Council meeting held in San Luis Obispo. Be advised these are my opinions etc. and may not represent those of the management so to speak.

In general I thought it was one ofthe best Council meetings that I have attended to date.

AL ASHURST, CAPT, USN (RET)
President, Orange County Chapter

December 3, 2007
Re: Observations re 2007 CAL-MOAA Council Meeting December 1, 2007

BACKGROUND
The CAL-MOAA Council of Presidents is made up of the presidents of 44 of the 48 California MOAA chapters. The Council is the governing body of CAL-MOAA. There is also an EXCOMM committee made up of the CAL-MOAA president and vice president (elected by the Council) plus the Directors of the 8 geographical areas. The EXCOMM is responsible for day to day operations and implementation of Council decisions.

FEDERAL LEGISLATION
After the Invocation/Pledge of Allegiance and approval of the Minutes and Treasurer’s report the first agenda item was an update of the National scene by Col. Lee Lange, USMC (Ret). His presentation pretty much followed the information he briefed us on at our October dinner meeting. He did reiterate that national knows that our major problem lies in getting new chapter members. In fact, Admiral Ryan has designated 2008 as the year of the chapter. National plans for its major efforts to be channeled through the EXCOMM and for its major target to be Members of National MOAA that are not Chapter members. There are about 30,000 National MOAA members in California of which about 6000 are Chapter members. We have tried to tap this resource several times over the past 10 years and have had extremely limited success. Perhaps a National/CAL-MOAA generated program will have better results.

STATE LEGISLATION
The only significant State Legislation currently under consideration deals with tuition support for returning National Guard/Reserve from Iraq. Our lobbyist indicated he thought “state income tax reduction (for retirees or surviving spouses) is possible” but it will take effort, time and significant resources to achieve meaningful results. The State Commanders Council of which we are a member is made up of about 14 California Veterans Organizations has pledged $6000 per annum for the current services of a lobbyist. All members of the State Council are supposed to contribute. However, apparently most don’t. CAL-MOAAs share for 2008 is $1500 and it is in the budget. But just taking a wild guess, I would say $1500 wouldn’t buy very much support in Sacramento. So, I suspect that in the near future we will be asked three questions by CAL-MOAA.

1. Do we want to pursue such a legislative course?
2. Are we willing to be the major supporter of same?
3. If the answer is no, what should be the future course of action for CAL-MOAA?

SCHOLARSHIPS.
There was a presentation by National and a lengthy discussion re MOAA scholarships. We participated in this a number of years ago but subsequently decided to go the ROTC/JROTC route. Eligibility for the Scholarships goes to the children of anyone eligible to join MOAA and children of Enlisted on active duty or retired. Someone asked the question regarding whether grandchildren of MOAA members (Regular and Auxiliary) were eligible. The answer was NO because it would make the size of the eligible population unmanageable.

ROTC/JROTC.
There was considerable discussion of the JROTC situation in San Francisco where a School Board decided to disenfranchise several high school JROTCs for next school year. The question was what role should the Council take with respect to the current situation. The decision was to promulgate a resolution that stipulates that the Council/CAL-MOAA fully supports the ROTC/JROTC system in California

CHAPTERS
Chapters in general are experiencing in varying degrees the same problem areas: Recruiting; Retention; Relevance and Leadership shortfall. Since 1999 the chapters have lost 40% in Regular membership on average. There is only one chapter that has enjoyed a increase in enrollment over that period. Losses run from 33% to 67%. Our loss rate was 40%. These numbers do not take Auxiliaries/Honorary members into account. As we know recruiting has been difficult at best. It was clear that those near military facilities consistently did better than those without that military population. As reported earlier National is aware of these concerns and gives high priority to trying to resolve them.

AUXILIARIES
The Council was briefed by Mrs. Anne Patton on the current status of the National Auxiliary Committee. There are 44 chapters in California of which 12 (we are one) have designated Auxiliary Liaisons. The program for follow up for survivors of MOAA eligible officers has been dropped. The committee is in the process of developing new programs and is looking for inputs from chapter Auxiliary members to provide their needs/wants/desires. She indicated that if an auxiliary was not available as the liaison contact then an interested spouse would be an acceptable substitute.

GENERAL COMMENTS. The meeting went quite smoothly. However, two items on the original agenda received minimal exposure, i.e. the Strategic Plan and the organizational structure. On net, I found the meeting to be a series of interesting briefings and updates. During the meeting there was an election of 2008 officers for CAL-MOAA, and Col Warren Enos, AUS (Ret) was installed as President. He will visit our Chapter on 12 January 08 to install our incoming board and officers. Minutes of the meeting are forthcoming, and they will be made available for your review.

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