ACOPA Member:

ACOPA’s Leadership Council (LC) has approved several changes to ACOPA’s Operating Principles (OPs) with the intention of asking membership to approve these changes at the same time as the annual leadership election in July. 

The proposed changes are:

1.       Modify Article IX of the OPs to refer to the new American Retirement Association Disciplinary Procedures for Actuarial  Members (Procedures), and remove language that is now contained in those Procedures.

In January 2016, ACOPA membership voted to approve changes to the agreement with the other U.S.-based actuarial organizations[1] regarding the Joint Discipline Council (JDC).  At the same time, conforming modifications to Article IX of ACOPA’s Operating Principles (OPs) were approved, and it was noted that ARA discipline procedures would need to be amended after the changes to the JDC agreement were approved or rejected. 

At the request of ACOPA’s Leadership Council (LC), on April 16 of this year the board of directors of the American Retirement Association (ARA) approved new Procedures that will apply if a complaint is filed against an ACOPA member, or any other actuarial member of ARA.  These Procedures incorporate details that are now stated in Article IX of the OPs.  Article IX must now be modified to refer to the new Procedures. The recommended modification would also remove content from Article IX that has been incorporated into the Procedures so when future modifications are necessary, only one document will have to be changed. 

2.       Make changes necessary to clarify the voting rights of ACOPA members with regard to matters subject to a member vote under the bylaws of the American Retirement Association.  This includes:

a.       Change the name “Operating Principles” to “Operating Policies and Procedures” with conforming changes as needed. 

b.      Add the following statement to Article IV Section D of the OPs to the effect that: “Voting rights of ACOPA members include the right to vote for at-large members of the ARA board, and on amendments to ARA bylaws.”

These proposed modifications will more clearly align the OP’s to the membership voting rights requirements of the ARA Bylaws.  These Bylaws provide that ARA members are divided into four Divisions, including ACOPA, and for each division “the categories of Membership and voting rights pertaining thereto are to be determined by such Division, as stated in its Operating Policies and Procedures…”. 

Note that ACOPA members have been voting members of ARA, and nothing in these modifications will change with regard to the rights we enjoy with regard to ARA matters.  However, these modifications will more clearly spell out ARA status should any questions arise in the future.

Please review the recommended changes.  If you have any comments or questions, send them to [email protected], with the subject “Proposed OP Modifications”.