{"id":203617,"date":"2025-04-24T23:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T23:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/house-judiciary-committee-passes-bill-to-criminalize-theft-of-employee-retirement-benefits\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T23:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T23:16:13","slug":"house-judiciary-committee-passes-bill-to-criminalize-theft-of-employee-retirement-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617","title":{"rendered":"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On Wednesday, the Alabama House Judiciary Committee passed <a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/AL\/text\/SB244\/2025\">SB244<\/a>, a bill introduced by state Sen. Tim Melson, R-District 1, which creates a criminal penalty for theft of employee retirement benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, Melson\u2019s bill establishes the crime of \u201caggravated theft of employee retirement benefits,\u201d which is committed when an individual \u201cembezzles, steals, or unlawfully and willfully abstracts or converts to his or her own use or to the use of another, any of the monies, funds, premiums, credits, or other assets due to be paid as contributions to any employee retirement benefit plan, or to any fund connected with an employee retirement benefit plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under the bill\u2019s provisions, an \u201cemployee retirement benefit plan\u201d includes, but is not limited to, any plan under the Retirement Systems of Alabama, including the Teachers\u2019 Retirement System, the Employees\u2019 Retirement System and the Judicial Retirement Fund.<\/p>\n<p>Aggravated theft of employee retirement benefits would constitute a Class C felony, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison with a fine of up to $15,000.<\/p>\n<p>The bill also provides that a conviction for aggravated theft of employee retirement benefits be treated as a Class A or B felony for the purposes of determining probation, and that the maximum probation period \u201cshall not exceed 10 years unless otherwise authorized by law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, SB244 sets a statute of limitations, requiring that the prosecution of theft of employee retirement benefits begin within six years of any such theft being discovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The House Judiciary Committee quickly passed Melson\u2019s bill. SB244 will now go to the House floor and, if passed, will then go to the governor\u2019s desk to be signed into law.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\"><span class=\"zox-ad-label\">Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, the Alabama House Judiciary Committee passed SB244, a bill introduced by state Sen. Tim Melson, R-District 1, which creates a criminal penalty for theft of employee retirement benefits. Specifically, Melson\u2019s bill establishes the crime of \u201caggravated theft of employee retirement benefits,\u201d which is committed when an individual \u201cembezzles, steals, or unlawfully and willfully [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":203618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[33526,42344,11283,6795,13710,5422,47599,72775,13604,594,36613,22185,11077,78015,78016,10349,78017],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-203617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-2025-legislative-session","tag-alabama-house-judiciary-committee","tag-benefits","tag-bill","tag-committee","tag-crime","tag-criminal-justice","tag-criminalize","tag-employee","tag-house","tag-judiciary","tag-passes","tag-retirement","tag-sb244","tag-state-sen-tim-melson","tag-theft","tag-theft-of-employee-retirement-benefits"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Wednesday, the Alabama House Judiciary Committee passed SB244, a bill introduced by state Sen. Tim Melson, R-District 1, which creates a criminal penalty for theft of employee retirement benefits. Specifically, Melson\u2019s bill establishes the crime of \u201caggravated theft of employee retirement benefits,\u201d which is committed when an individual \u201cembezzles, steals, or unlawfully and willfully [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-24T23:16:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-24T23:16:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"2025 Legislative Session\",\"Alabama House Judiciary Committee\",\"Benefits\",\"Bill\",\"Committee\",\"Crime\",\"criminal justice\",\"criminalize\",\"Employee\",\"HOUSE\",\"Judiciary\",\"passes\",\"Retirement\",\"SB244\",\"state Sen. Tim Melson\",\"Theft\",\"theft of employee retirement benefits\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alabama\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617\",\"name\":\"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-24T23:16:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1438},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits - Som2ny Network","og_description":"On Wednesday, the Alabama House Judiciary Committee passed SB244, a bill introduced by state Sen. Tim Melson, R-District 1, which creates a criminal penalty for theft of employee retirement benefits. Specifically, Melson\u2019s bill establishes the crime of \u201caggravated theft of employee retirement benefits,\u201d which is committed when an individual \u201cembezzles, steals, or unlawfully and willfully [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-04-24T23:16:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1438,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits","datePublished":"2025-04-24T23:16:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617"},"wordCount":291,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg","keywords":["2025 Legislative Session","Alabama House Judiciary Committee","Benefits","Bill","Committee","Crime","criminal justice","criminalize","Employee","HOUSE","Judiciary","passes","Retirement","SB244","state Sen. Tim Melson","Theft","theft of employee retirement benefits"],"articleSection":["Alabama"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617","name":"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-04-24T23:16:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_80382254-scaled-e1745498804678.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1438},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203617#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"House Judiciary Committee passes bill to criminalize theft of employee retirement benefits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=203617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/203618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=203617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=203617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=203617"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=203617"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=203617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}