Chair Talk

December 2021

Most retirees that have email received the below notice from the Office of Retirement Services. ORS has received many calls and emails because of the changes made in the sign-in process for MI-ACCOUNT. The process is called MultiFactor Authorization (MFA). The process for signing into your MI-Account may take a little longer but be patient. The changes are being made for our benefit to keep our information safe. BE PATIENT.

As you may be aware, the Michigan Office of Retirement Services (ORS) recently adopted the state of Michigan’s single sign-on standard, MILogin, for miAccount. The new standard requires a multifactor authentication before you can login to miAccount to increase security.

Some members have experienced issues in the transition to the new login portal. We created this guide to help you access your miAccount. Because we are experiencing high call volumes and long wait times, we ask that you try following these directions before reaching out to the ORS Customer Service contact center.

If you are still unable to access miAccount, our contact center is available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. You may also ask questions as a guest user on the miAccount Message Board.

SB 467 that increases deduction amounts ($5000/$10000) has been reported out of committee. The bill is not scheduled to move this year. Probably a budget related issue.

SB 775 has been submitted in the Senate. This bill would remove the $300 cap on retiree pension’s annual increase. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Hertel (D) and Sen. Barrett (R). There were other Senators signing on the bill both Republicans and Democrats.

Jan Winters, (State Personnel Director) has retired the latter part of November. I have worked with Jan for over 20 years on retiree issues. I wish her well in her retirement.

Mr. John Gnodtke has been named State Personnel Director. I am looking forward to working with him in the future.

I WISH YOU ALL A SAFE AND MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Editor’s note: Bob Kopasz is Chair of the Michigan SERA Council. He may be reached at P.O. Box 692, Mt. Morris, MI 48458; phone 810/240-8380.