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SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN: The Alabama Legislature on Saturday awarded final passage to our retiree longevity bonus legislation during the special session that ended over the weekend. Gov. Riley included the bill in the session’s agenda at our request and after an extended Senate filibuster on unrelated issues blocked its passage in the regular session. The bill will provide public retirees with a non-recurring bonus calculated using a formula based upon the number of years of creditable service. Retirees who worked 25 years will receive a $300 bonus, and those with fewer years of service will receive lesser amounts based upon a sliding scale. Retirees must have a retirement date prior to October 1, 2008 in order to qualify. Members can expect their bonuses to arrive in December of this year. ARSEA lobbying efforts and member contacts convinced the Legislature to follow through on its promise to provide this second consecutive bonus after our original amount request was halved last year. Our successful efforts continue ARSEA’s record of obtaining bonuses, COLAs and improved insurance and retirement benefits for its members for more than a quarter century. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office via email or telephone.May 29, 2008 SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN: RETIREE BONUS BILL PASSES SENATE IN SPECIAL SESSION The Alabama Retired State Employees’ Association lobbied hard to have Gov. Bob Riley include our retiree longevity bonus bill in the official call of the special legislative session that convened on Tuesday of this week. It appears that our successful efforts are paying off quickly. You will recall that our bill died on the last night of the regular session when a day-long filibuster over education funding killed the Education Trust Fund budget and all bills on the agenda behind it, including the retiree bonus. Fearing negative feedback from voters, legislators quickly got to work when called back into session and have awarded quick consideration to a number of important items. The second portion of the retiree bonus promised to us last year was among the bills given priority. In just three legislative days, our SB108 legislation received a first reading, Senate committee approval, and second reading and passage by the full Senate. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where it received unanimous approval in the regular session, for consideration. If lawmakers continue working at this pace, the retiree bonus could receive final passage as soon as Saturday morning, which would represent the minimum number of legislative days needed for a bill to become law. Because he included the bill in the session’s call, we are assured that Gov. Riley will allow it to become law upon passage. We will keep you updated on the bill’s progress as it works its way through the special session. |