What Is the RPEA and Who Are Our Members?

What Does the RPEA

Do for its Members? 

Below is a link to a 7-page document that explains some of the history of the RPEA's involvement in protecting the health and pension benefits of public retirees in Alaska.  It discusses the constitutional protections in place and the court cases involved in laying out the breadth of those protections.  It also highlights the continuing need to monitor the annual legislative budget contributions to the under-funded pension trust and includes recent data discussing the size of the healthcare and pension trust funds and the numbers of public employees (active and retired) in the PERS/TRS/JRS systems as of 2023.

If you are not familiar with RPEA's long involvement in these matters, the document is well-worth your time and summarizes the commitment of the RPEA to Alaska's public retiree community.   

 RPEA Actions

What is the RPEA?

The Retired Public Employees of Alaska (RPEA) is a non-profit 501(c)(5), dues-funded association founded in 1997 by the Alaska Public Employees Association (APEA) / American Federation of Teachers (AFT) as Local 4900R. As a (c)(5) non-profit corporation, dues payments and donations are not tax-deductible.

The RPEA is dedicated to protecting the pension and health benefits of Alaska public retirees.

The RPEA is governed by an all volunteer11-member Executive Board elected by the RPEA membership. Approximately half of the officers are elected in even-numbered years, and the other half in odd-numbered years. Any active, regular RPEA member in good standing can compete for a seat on the board.

On a monthly basis, the Executive Board emails all members an informational newsletter relevant to the mission of the RPEA.  These newsletters are retained and posted in the Member Area. Included in these newsletters are legislative reports and information for members related to potential administrative actions impacting the health benefits of public retirees. 

Who Are Our Members?

RPEA members are any persons who have retired or will retire under an Alaskan public employee retirement system and their beneficiaries. The retirement systems affected are:

• Public Employees Retirement System (PERS)
• Teacher's Retirement System (TRS)
• Judicial Retirement System (JRS)

The RPEA consists of regular active members and associate active members. 

A regular member is any person who retired under one of the three Alaska public employee retirement systems listed above and joined the RPEA as a dues-paying member. 

An associate member is either a current public employee or the spouse of a retired public employee who joined the RPEA and paid the requisite dues.  The spouse of a deceased regular member may continue to be an associate member so long as their dues payments are up to date. 

Regular and associate members may vote in RPEA elections and join RPEA committees. 

An associate member may not hold an elected office in the RPEA.