Section 36-27-21.1 Increase in Maximum Retirement Allowance of Certain State, Etc., Employees - 1978 Cost-of-Living Increase and Cost-of-Living Increases Thereafter.

(a) Except as hereinafter provided, each person having retired under the provision of statutes governing the Teachers’ Retirement System or the Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama prior to October 1, 1977, shall be entitled to receive, in addition to present benefits, a supplemental benefit in an amount based upon his present benefits, according to the following schedule: Present Benefits Supplemental Benefit ($ per month) ($ per month) Less than 200.00 60.00 200.00 - 299.00 40.00 300.00 - or over 30.00 (b) There is hereby appropriated from the Education Trust Fund to the Teachers’ Retirement System of Alabama the sum of $6,424,920.00 (estimated), or as much as is necessary to carry out the provisions of this section as they relate to the Teachers’ Retirement System of Alabama, for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 1978. For each fiscal year thereafter, the Board of Control shall determine the cost of benefits under this section as the percentage rate of earnable compensation of members required to be paid to the Teachers’ Retirement System. The employers’ payments on account of the increases provided in this section shall be paid in the same manner and from the same source of funds as is provided in Section 16-25-21, it being the intent of the Legislature that the cost of providing the increase provided for in this section shall be distributed from all funds in proportion to the salaries paid therefrom for active members. To the extent that the provisions of this section apply to the Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama, there is hereby appropriated from the funds from which salaries are paid the amounts sufficient to carry out the provisions of subsection (a) of this section for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 1978. The Board of Control of the Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama shall determine annually the amount required to pay the cost of the increased allowances under subsection (a) of this section and shall notify the chief fiscal officer of each employer the per centum rates of earnable compensation of the members required to be paid to the retirement system. Each employer of members of the Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama shall pay on account of the increases provided in subsection (a) of this section in the same manner and from the same source of funds as is provided in Section 36-27-24, it being the intent of the Legislature that the cost of providing the increases provided in subsection (a) of this section shall be distributed from all funds in proportion to the salaries paid therefrom for active members. Subsequent appropriations shall be reduced to only the amount necessary to fund the benefit increases provided in subsection (a) of this section. No person whose retirement under the Teachers’ or state Employees’ Retirement System is based primarily upon service as an employee of a county, municipality or other local employer shall be entitled to the benefits provided in subsection (a) of this section, unless the county, municipality or other local employer by which he was employed elects to come under the provisions of said subsection. Any county, municipality or other local employer making such election must bear the cost of supplemental benefits paid to its former employees pursuant to this section. A county, municipality or other local employer may elect to come under the provisions of this section at the beginning of any future fiscal year and said county, municipality or other local employer shall not be required to pay said supplemental benefits retroactively. (c) Any person whose eligibility to receive benefits under the Medicaid program would be impaired by the supplemental benefits provided in subsection (a) of this section shall not be entitled to receive said supplemental benefits. Any person retired under the Judicial Retirement System, provided for in Chapter 18 of Title 12, shall not be deemed a retiree of the Teachers’ or Employees’ Retirement Systems for purposes of this section and shall not be entitled to receive the supplemental benefits herein provided. Any person retired under the provisions of Sections 36-27-7 and 36-27-7.1 shall not be entitled to the supplemental benefits herein provided. (d) The provisions of this section are supplemental. It shall be construed in pari materia with other laws regulating and providing for the payment of retirement benefits to retired members of the Teachers’ and Employees’ Retirement Systems of Alabama; provided however, that those laws or parts of laws which are in direct conflict or inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.