During the NCRA Business Meeting, NCRA members voted to approve changes to the membership categories for retired members. The changes go into effect Jan. 1, 2018.
NCRA’s past membership structure included a membership category for Retired Lifetime Member, which allowed those who had been members for 30 consecutive years and who no longer practice as verbatim stenographic reporters to become Retired Lifetime Members and no longer pay dues. This membership category has been growing every year and increasing faster than the Association is gaining new members. The financial impact for the Association is unsustainable.
To come up with alternatives, the Board of Directors formed a Retired Member Task Force to evaluate the current structure and make recommendations. The Task Force recommended two changes to the current category: The first is to clarify the definition of a retired member within the Bylaws, and the second is to sunset the current Retired Lifetime Member category and replace it with a fee-based membership.
The changes in Retired Member status will not affect current Retired Lifetime Members. NCRA will continue to honor the agreement with Retired Lifetime Members and not require them to pay dues.
Effective Jan. 1, to claim retired status, members must be truly retired and no longer derive any income from the profession. In addition, Retired Members will pay dues at half the rate of Participating or Registered Members. This is a best and current practice among many associations. This will shore up some of the financial losses sustained from covering free memberships for a large group of members for an extended period of time.
