Gary Palmer: Alabama Legislature must address overall pension reform

  If you wondered why there has been so much emphasis on eliminating the Alabama Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) program, it can be summed up fairly simply…it is part of an effort to pull the state of Alabama back from the brink of fiscal insolvency.

  Despite the misguided attacks launched by Alabama Education Association (AEA) lobbyists and AEA-backed legislators who supported DROP, the Legislature has taken a needed step toward reforming the state’s benefits and pension plans to make them affordable and sustainable.