Newly hired troopers and other state law enforcement officers will have better retirement benefits under legislation approved in the Alabama Senate on Thursday.
“We’re trying to make sure we’re able to recruit and retain our state troopers by basically making the benefits more comparable to other law enforcement agencies,” Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, told Alabama Daily News.
State law enforcement employees are currently in one of six retirement benefits structures, a complicated system strung together over the last decade. The varying plans came from the creation of Tier II benefits more than 10 years ago, the combining of multiple state law enforcement agencies into one in 2015 and additional changes to the retirement plans in 2017.
Senate Bill 68 would grant state police retirement benefits to all employees of ALEA who perform law enforcement duties, including state troopers, into the existing Tier I or Tier II retirement benefits. It also improves the Tier II benefits to allow for retirement at any age after 25 years of service or age 52 after 10 years of service. Currently, Tier II members have to wait until they’re 56 to retire.
Telling a young recruit they will have to work 30-plus years in a high-stress job creates a hiring challenge, Neil Tew, executive director of the Alabama State Trooper Association, told Alabama Daily News.
The bill also gives Tier II members one year of hazard time for every five years worked, meaning a trooper could work 25 years but get credit at retirement for 30.
Tew said the bill would make being a trooper more attractive to young people entering law enforcement.
“We know that we’ve lost troopers to go to other law enforcement agencies,” Tew said. “We know that we’ve lost people we hired, trained and put on the road.”
The Retirement Systems of Alabama supported Senate Bill 68 by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, because it will simplify the retirement benefit plan for state police.
“What the Senate did today was monumental and a step in the right direction to ensuring that ALEA can recruit and retain the best and the brightest,” David Bronner, RSA’s chief executive officer, told ADN on Thursday.
The bill came at the request of ALEA.
“On behalf of the employees of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, I cannot express our gratitude and appreciation enough, to not only Sen. Clyde Chambliss for both sponsoring and championing our retirement bill, but to all the senators that voted and enabled the bill to pass,” ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor told ADN. “(Thursday) was a huge first step in the passage of our retirement bill which will greatly enhance our agency’s ability to attract and retain excellent law enforcement officers, so we are able to continue the tradition of providing the highest level of quality service to the citizens of our great state.”
Two years ago, Taylor said ALEA had 507 troopers on the road and a goal of 650. The agency recently said it has 440 troopers conducting patrol activities, including corporals within the Highway Patrol Division as well as troopers assigned to the Marine Patrol Division.
Tew said efforts to change the Tier II benefits have been going on for years.
“The ASTA appreciates the support of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on this legislation. If passed and enacted, this will provide a significant tool for recruitment and retention of State Troopers; ultimately promoting public safety. We are optimistic as this legislation moves to the lower chamber.”
A fiscal note on the bill says it would increase the unfunded liability of the State Police Plan within the Employees’ Retirement System by about $13.3 million, which would be offset by an increase in the employer contribution rate paid by ALEA.
The bill now moves to the House.
Last month, in response to a major salary hike for Alabama Department of Corrections staff, Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Green Hill, said he would bring a bill to raise troopers’ pay significantly.