I tried to summarize the FB Live video as much as I could.
10/3/2022: Center FacRep Meeting - Boulder, CO
Rich addressed the FacReps and discussed ABACUS. Rich said he had an agreement to upgrade 5 ARTCCs, but had not previously advised the NEB of the agreement. Information was considered confusing and interesting but no movement was made. Rich provided no information about which 5 ARTCCs were included. ARTCC FacReps were asked to not discuss the agreement because it was not complete and the NEB was not aware of the agreement. Rich stated he needed the candidate for FAA Administrator to be confirmed which did not happen.
10/11/2022: NEB Meeting - San Antonio, TX
5 ARTCC upgrade discussion placed on NEB Agenda. ABACUS was no longer going to receive funding, and a potential workgroup was needed to see if any facilities could be upgraded and then place metrics around that to see if any facility was a candidate for upgrade. Questions were asked. At no time was a real plan presented to establish that workgroup to upgrade 5 ARTCCs. There was no guarantee that by establishing the workgroup that any facility would be upgraded. No vote was taken.
December 2023:
ARTCC FacReps briefed that NEB did not entertain a motion or vote to upgrade 5 ARTCCs, when that was never the case to begin with. NEB members requested an update at the next NEB meeting in January.
1/17/2024: NEB Meeting - Virtual
Several questions during NEB meeting regarding the prior discussions which occurred. Rich stated that he proposed 7 facilities to be upgraded but he really only wanted 5 (ZJX, ZMA, ZHU, ZAB, ZDV) and only wanted the extra 2 in order to provide room for negotiation. ND asked if there was some level of non-support for a workgroup or for the upgrade process to continue, and also inquired if the process would fall under SRJ-1 or SRJ-2 since neither rule appeared to fit. It was stated incorrectly that the process did fall under provisions of the Constitution, and also that there were 5 facilities that were going to upgraded and ND was now blocking the process by inquiring about how the process was to be accomplished. At no point was there a vote or plan in place to accomplish any upgrades because the process which was discussed ultimately did fall outside of the purview of the NATCA Constitution. There is not, nor has there ever, been any agreement between Santa and the FAA which would have upgraded any facility.