HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley plans to ask legislators to pass a bill offering eligible state employees an incentive if they voluntarily retire.

The governor announced details of the plan at a news conference Monday in Huntsville. He said it would either pay 100 percent of monthly premiums for health insurance for five years or offer $15,000 in cash payments in two $7,500 installments. The first installment would be paid when the employee retires and the second would be paid in January of 2014.

He said the program would help retiring workers while also saving taxpayers between $18 million and $26 million a year.

"This program will save taxpayer dollars in both the short term and the long term. The result will be a less costly, more efficient state government," Bentley said.

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