Bill HF708 was introduced in the House today. MNCORA thanks to Representative Peggy Scott and Leader Harry Niska. Scott and Niska introduced: H. F. 708,  A bill for an act relating to retirement; Public Employees Retirement Association; adding a member to the board of trustees who is a member of the local government correctional service retirement plan

MNCORA President Wade Laszlo just met with House Leader Niska to get the ball rolling on a new bill to get a CO seat on the PERA Board! We will keep you posted as to the progress.

The 2025 legislation session has started with chaos. As you probably know the Democratic side is refusing to show up. The Republicans have. Forget the news with their slants, here's the link to what happened at the first session from the Minnesota House.  The Republicans on day two have named their members to the Pension Committee. They are O'Driscoll (Chair), Nadeau and Stier. Both O'Driscoll and Nadeau were on last year, Stier is new to the Pension Committee. There won't be a full Pension Committee until the Democrats show up and name their members. MNCORA has reached out to Representative Niska to again author the Bill to add a CO to the PERA Board. The LCPR Executive Director is ready to assist again. No Bills can advance without the other side showing up so until then everything is in limbo. MNCORA is ready to go when ever they are.

As of January 1, 2025,  Correctional Officers are Federally Recognized as Public Safety Employees   the same as Police and Fire.  This has implications for disability, taxes and retirement. As we face new challenges to our pension in 2025 this will further the distinction between PERA General Plan members like 911 Dispatch and Probation and CO's in the PERA Correctional Plan. It's part  of the Secure Act 2.0. 26 USC § 72(t)()(10)  definition of Public Safety Employee - qualified public safety employee (10) Distributions to qualified public safety employees and private sector firefighters (A) In general In the case of a distribution to a qualified public safety employee from a governmental plan (within the meaning of section 414(d) ) or a distribution from a plan described in clause (iii), (iv), or (vi) of section 402(c)(8)(B) to an employee who provides firefighting services, paragraph (2)(A)(v) shall be applied by substituting “age 50 or 25 years of service u...

The Detention Home Blog is a Detention Deputy/CO news blog that's been around since 2006. It covers a range of news, contract issues and pension issues. It's a good source of Corrections News you may be interested in. The latest post lists several corrections related headlines you may find informative, especially to our members who are still working. https://detentionhome.blogspot.com/2024/12/corrections-headlines-in-news.html

The Correctional Officer position is an inherently dangerous profession, even deadly. This past week two CO's lost their lives at the hands of an inmate. On December 18th it was reported that Isiah Patrick Bias was bludgeoned to death by an inmate with a hammer in Texas. Today it was reported that CO Andrew Lansing was killed by an inmate at the Ross Correctional Institution in Ohio ON CHRISTMAS DAY! Assaults are all to common and sometimes they lead to death. This is why MNCORA fights so hard to protect our disability and Survivor benefits. Our heart goes out to these Correctional Officers and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice.