Fraternity-Testvériség, 1976 (54. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1976-07-01 / 3. szám
ethnics who joined the Hungarian diaspora either by mar- to publish a calendar of the branch meetings stating the riage or through friendship. The past and present trend date, time, place and address of the meetings held. The list indicate an increase of their number in our fellowship. was made more complete in the 1975 issues. I. ADMINISTRATION 1. V)12Convention The XXIX. Convention was held on June 26th through 30th, 1972 in the Holiday Inn, Ligonier, Pa. The Convention was constituted of 16 members of the Board of Directors and 50 branch delegates. Total number of elected officers and delegates: 66; total number of voting members present: 66. 2. 1972 Convention Resolutions The 1972 Convention passed many resolutions concerning the future life and operation of the Federation and financial directives for the Bethlen Home. All the resolutions were presented by the National Officers through their respective departments to the Board of Directors for proper action. 3. By-Laws In 1972 extensive revisions were drafted of our by-laws. The final text of each revised paragraph was approved by the Convention and the revised by-laws was adopted as a whole. The revised by-laws was published in the Fraternity and also in a booklet form. The revised by-laws were sent to the insurance departments of the 13 states and the Ontario Province of Canada in which the Federation operates for official approval. 4. State and Provincial Licenses The Federation received licenses to operate in thirteen states and the Ontario Canadian Province in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975. 5. Examination of the Insurance Department of the District of Columbia The previous inspection of the D.C. Insurance Department was made in 1968. The 1974 inspection was long overdue. The Federation enjoys a high standard of solvency. I was requested to produce the state insurance licenses in which states the Federation operated during the years of 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974. The Province of Ontario, Canada licenses were also inspected and all were found in order. The examiners were pleased with the result of their examination and found everything in good order. 6. Board of Directors Regular and special meetings were held by the Board of Directors during 1972-1976. 7. Executive Committee During the 1972-1975 period 186 Executive Committee meetings were held. I mailed copies of all the minutes to the Board of Directors complying with the resolution passed at the 1973 Spring Board meeting. 8. Disciplinary Matters During the past four years there was no need for any disciplinary action. 9. Fraternity Our official paper was edited by Dr. Zoltán Beky, President. During the past four years I cooperated with the President by writing promotional and fraternal articles in English and Hungarian. In the last issue of 1974, I started 10. New Life Insurance Plans The New York State Assembly passed a law that from January 1, 1975 all the insurance companies licensed to sell life insurance in the state of New York must base all their life insurance plans on the 1958 Commissioners Mortality Table. Our new life insurance plans were worked out in 1973. In most cases our rates are more competitive than before. We now have a variety of term insurance plans selling as independent certificates or as riders attached to basic insurance certificates. Our popular plan is our mortgage term insurance. All our members may take out their mortgage insurance in the future from the Federation at a low rate. We have also changed our life plans to be coordinated to the retirement age of our members. 11. Federal and State Regulations a. The 91st Congress passed H.R. 13270 — an Act to reform the income tax laws. The 1969 Revenue Act made all tax exempt organizations subject to the unrelated business income tax. My department is particularly concerned in complying with H.R. 13270 as a fraternal benefit society. b. Paragraph 57 of our by-laws makes it mandatory for our branches to meet monthly to hold a regular annual meeting. It also requests the branches to have fraternal, charitable, cultural and social activities. I mailed many circulars to the branches on this important subject. I requested the date, time, place and address of the monthly held branch meeting be stated on the enclosed forms. Finally, on the basis of positive replies the Board of Directors in order to comply with our by-laws approved the branch groupings which I published in the 1975 December issue of the Fraternity. c. Congress is also concerned about the present operation and handling of pension funds by the unions, companies, secular and non-secular organizations. Our retirement plan is approved by the I.R.S. d. Life insurance companies at present are regulated primarily by the states rather than by the federal government. e. The state insurance departments are raising the standards for training the agents of fraternal organizations. 12. 1976 Convention The Secretary presented the list of the branches eligible for individual representation (at least 300 members) and the list of the small branches eligible for group representation grouped into units with due consideration to geographical locations. The list accepted by the Execuive Committee was submitted to the Board of Directors for final approval. By-Laws references were sent to the branch managers instructing them to hold their special branch meetings in the February 1 - March 31 period and mail the excerpts of the minutes of the meetings and the election report form within a seven-day period to the Secretary. Ballots and excerpts of minutes samples were enclosed in both the English and Hungarian languages. The date and place of our 1976 Convention was published in our official paper, The Fraternity. Credential certificates were mailed to the elected delegates and alternates by he President and Secretary. 10
