Alabama's Public Pensions : Building a Stable Financial Foundation for the Years Ahead

Over the past 10 years, Alabama's public retirement system has seen its liabilities overtake its assets by more than $15 billion. This means the system has only 66 cents for every dollar owed to current and future retirees. Worse still, the shortfall has been growing by $4 million each day that our elected officials fail to tackle the problem. As we document, the state should implement a "cash balance" pension plan structure for all new employees. Also, the judicial retirement plan should be amended to bring benefits more in balance with the pensions of other state employees to reduce the significant disparity that exists. Lastly, the Alabama Education Association staff, which includes a group of lobbyists, should no longer be able to participate in the public pension system and should instead select a private retirement plan of its own