State Senate approves allowing state police to retire at age 52 or after 25 years of service
On Thursday, the Alabama Senate passed legislation allowing Tier II state police officers to retire at age 52 with at least ten years of service or at any age with just 25 years of service. Senate Bill 68 (SB68) is sponsored by State Sen. Clyde Chambliss. According to the synopsis, SB68 “would reopen the State Police Tier II Plan to any employee of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) who is certified by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission and performs law enforcement duties and would modify the Tier II benefits received by State Police Tier II members to allow 25-year retirement and hazardous duty time, and would clarify that an employee of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency who is certified by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission is a state policeman.” According to the fiscal note, SB68 would “allow Tier II state policemen to (1) withdraw from service at the age of 52, with at least ten years of creditable service; (2) withdraw from service after completion of at least 25 years of creditable service, regardless of age; and (3) provide one-year of hazardous duty time for every five years of creditable service.” “According to the actuary for the Retirement Systems of Alabama, this act would increase the unfunded liability of Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) by an estimated $13.3 million,” the fiscal note reports. “This liability may be offset by increasing the ERS employer contribution rate paid by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) in FY 2024 for State Police Tier II by 6.26% and by decreasing the ERS employer contribution rate for State Police Tier I by 0.43%. The net estimated increase in employer contributions for State Police in FY 2024 is an estimated $2.8 million annually (based upon current payroll data). However, this increase in the employer contributions paid by ALEA would be offset partly by the decrease in ALEA’s employer contributions to the ERS plan for the legacy FLC employees of approximately $537,000.” The fiscal note was written by analyst Peter Grogan. Tier II retirement was created as a budgetary reform during the budget crisis eight years ago. Those legislators were facing a scenario where the state was paying the healthcare and retirement needs of retirees – some as young as in their forties – and their elderly predecessors. Under the budget reforms then, Tier II employees (i.e., newer employees) could not collect retirement until they were 62 years old. At the time, law enforcement officers and firefighters claimed this would be a burden. Now that the state is in economic boom times, the problem is in recruiting and retaining workers, such as ALEA officers, rather than the budget crisis that dominated the legislature in the years following the Great Recession. Senate Bill 68 passed the Alabama Senate 31 to 0. The bill now goes to the Alabama House of Representatives, where it has been referred to the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee. Tuesday will be day 8 of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
