Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - The story of Dr. David Bronner, RSA, and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Courses

  Dr. David Bronner has marked his place in Alabama political and governmental history. He has headed the revered Retirement Systems of Alabama Pension Funds for 45 years. When Bronner took his present job with RSA, the Retirement Systems had approximately $500 million of funds. Today RSA has approximately $40 billion in investments, making our RSA the 50th largest public pension fund in the world.

Darrio Melton: Paving the Black Belt's road to success

  It’s no secret that the Black Belt is behind the times. Just take a drive south of Montgomery and you’ll experience a time and place very different than the rest of Alabama. Families find ways to get by with little means, businesses struggle to provide sustainability for the community, the roads and bridges are dilapidated, and many of the communities look as if they’re stuck in time.

  Many people have wondered for a long time what we can do to help the Black Belt, including myself. Requests to the governor to bring more industry into the area have fallen on deaf ears. Pleas with the legislature to fully fund education for every child have been repeatedly voted down, and attempts to expand I-85 all the way across to Jackson have been fruitless.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The Future of Alabama pensions

  One of the most far reaching and significant accomplishments enacted by the legislature earlier this year is the revamping of the state’s retirement benefit system for state workers. The legislature’s changes to pension benefits for future teachers and public employees should save taxpayers billions and ensure the viability of the state retirement system for decades.

  The changes will only affect new employees. All current public employees are unaffected. The new measures will apply to future employees beginning January 1, 2013.

Steve Flowers: Inside The Statehouse: The RSA effect

  Alabama may be on the lower end of the financial spectrum when it comes to the per capita income of our population. However, our public employees have one of the most sound retirement programs in the nation. One group of state employees, our judges, have what is probably one of the most lucrative retirement programs in the entire country.

  The benefits accrued by members of our judiciary are nothing less than amazing. The judges can thank the late Supreme Court Chief Justice and U.S. Senator Howell Heflin for spearheading an effort to streamline and update our judicial system in the 1970s. This Judicial Article not only upgraded the court system and judicial compensation, it created unparalleled retirement benefits.