Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

The 2009 Legislative session has come and gone in what seemed a blink of an eye. Although the everyday work seemed long and hectic, it was a productive session. In the pre-session planning, we remember Roger Smith saying we will be lucky to get anything and we will spend most of the time playing defense protecting our current benefits and drop programs.  

 

Well I'm glad to say we didn't lose a single thing on any system and gained a few on others. In setting in on a lot of the committee meetings at the capitol, it was apparent that the legislators were behind the bills that had little or no cost and doing everything they could do to pr otect the states source of income.  

 

Below is an update of the legislation we worked on from the FOP:

 

SB179-(LOPFI Bill) This bill was a multiplier increase in which the members paid for. It also increased our maximum cap from 85% to a 100% depending on the number of years you worked. This bill passed and was signed by the Governor.

 

SB178-(PRB Bill) This bill was for the old retirement system giving them a 3% cola and transferring this system over to LOPFI. Although this came out of committee TWICE, it was apparent that Senator Steve Farris was not going to let this bill go anywhere.  It was finally pulled and sent to an interim study for next session. 

 

HB1203-(Municipal Health Insurance) This bill was brought to us by Committee Chairman Wade Rogers with the issue of the departments not having to offer retiring police officers health insurance if you retire below the age of 50.  With this bill, it mandated municipalities had to offer health insurance to all retiring officers, no matter of age.  This billed passed and was signed by the Governor.

 

SB180-(LOPFI Bill) This bill was a 25 and out bill. It was designed so that no matter what age you are, you could retire at 25 years of service and start drawing a retirement check immediately.  If you take advantage of this bill, there is a R EDUCTION of your multiplier just as it is now for all other members of the system. This bill also passed and was signed by the Governor. (IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS EARLY RETIREMENT, PLEASE CONSULT WITH LOPFI REPRESENTATIVES TO LET THEM ADVISE YOU OF YOUR BENEFIT AMOUNT. IT MAY OR MAY NOT BE IN YOUR BEST INTEREST TO LEAVE EARLY.)

 

SB161-(APERS Bill) This bill was designed to continue the annuity from the age of 62 until the age of 65 for APERS members. Although this bill was written and designed by Gail Stone and the APERS system, they were strongly against it during all of the committee meetings I attended. With this bill having a large cost to the system, the members of the Legislative Joint Retirement Committee voted this bill down and did not let it get out of committee.

 

One other bill that benefitted our members was HB2105:

 

This was the only bill that I knew of brought up by the SSPBA. It was basically a bill to double our States death benefit for all police officers and allows the officer the ability to pick the beneficiary of this benefit.  I am unsure of all the details of this benefit but will check with the state.  With this NOT being an FOP bill, and that it did benefit our members, I instructed Roger Smith to stay neutral on this bill. I was never contacted by SSPBA to support this bill, but was contacted by a legislator for our support. The bill did pass and I am unsure if it was signed by the Governor.

 

With all of the hardwork and great success we had this year, I feel this was an awesome 2009 session. I want to "THANK" all the members that took the time to assist us with the session by making phone calls, emails and coming to the capitol for meetings.  This really made a difference and made it possible to pass these bills.

 

Fraternally,

 

Allen Hamby-President

Arkansas State Lodge

Fraternal Order of Police