ARSEA/APEAL TO PRIORITIZE COLA BILL AND SEIB FUNDING IN REGULAR LEGISLATIVE SESSION
The 2025 regular session of the Alabama Legislature convened in Montgomery on February 4th, and we stand ready to represent the interests of our members, just as we have for the past 45 years.
We are focusing our efforts this year on passing ARSEA/APEAL’s legislation that allows lawmakers to resume awarding regular benefit increases to state retirees and authorizes local governments to approve identical increases to their retirees, as well.
House Bill 158 is a pay-as-you-go proposal that requires the Legislature to treat increases as a budget item that must be funded each year. In years when revenues fall and dollars are scarce, the Legislature would have the option of pausing an increase until conditions improve.
Rep. Steve Clouse (R - Ozark) is once again sponsoring our bill in the House after unanimously passing it through the chamber last year.
Our other priority for this session is securing full funding for the State Employees’ Insurance Board budget request for Fiscal Year 2026 to prevent premium increases or reductions in coverage.
SEIB attempted to push through a premium increase of as much as $25 a month in September, but Robert Childree and Carolyn Middleton, the ARSEA/APEAL members on the board, successfully blocked the hike. Without the efforts of our representatives, premiums would have risen on January 1.
William Ashmore, chief executive officer of the SEIB, said retiree premium increases were a result of rising healthcare costs and decreasing federal support for the Medicare Advantage program that covers many retired workers, and he predicted that SEIB could face a deficit of roughly $35 million in the next budget year.
Our retiree members who serve on the board convinced the SEIB to use its financial reserves to cover any pending shortfalls and ask the Legislature to approve a monthly budget appropriation of $1,055 for each plan participant.
Dr. David Bronner, who sits on the SEIB board and supported our members’ motion, stressed it is important to contact House and Senate members in the Legislature and educate them on the needs and financial realities of public retirees.
Throughout the session, we will keep you informed on these and other issues affecting public retirees through this WEEKLY UPDATE, and through our LEGISLATIVE ALERT, which we issue whenever we need you to immediately contract your legislators through phone calls, emails, texts, and other methods. We will also announce Zoom meetings weekly to give our members the opportunity to hear directly from us and ask questions. If you are not receiving communications from ARSEA/APEAL, you may not be a member. Call our office to check your membership status today!