Minnesota PERA is a fiduciary, meaning they have to invest in a way that brings maximum profit and security to our pension fund. Yet constantly there are political organizations that believe our pension is a political tool. One such group is WAMM, Women Against Military Madness.  There are also many other groups vying to direct our funds. So what happens when pension boards and States succumb to activists rather than the pension holders? Here's an example from California reported by Breitbart News. Link to story HERE Our Pension is our money, not a political football. Sadly some State Pension funds are finding out the hard way.

 

 I attended the August 14 meeting today.  One PERA Agenda item today was the Probation Officers and 911 Telecommunicators Pension Plans Workgroup . We're happy to report that so far it seems only to be seeking a new and separate pension for them with no mention at trying to raid the Correctional Plan.  Other Agenda items included 2 closed meeting items. One related to a Duty Injury appeal for a Police and Fire member then another closed meeting item from the Attorney Generals Office regarding the MNDDA  lawsuit over HF1234    and the response from the MN Court of Appeals .  MNCORA is on record supporting this lawsuit . 

So you're on a disability retirement. You think the amount you're getting paid is secure right? Think again! Yet another reason CO's need a seat on the PERA Board to protect our members. WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on June 20 ruled against a retired firefighter who  wants to sue her former employer  for reducing health care benefits for disabled retirees, a decision that failed to give the same ADA protections to retirees that current employees have. The court ruled that Karyn Stanley can’t sue the city of Sanford, Florida, under the  Americans with Disabilities Act . That upheld a lower court’s ruling that the ADA didn’t apply to Stanley because she no longer worked for the city when she filed her challenge. FULL USA TODAY STORY

MNCORA says thank you to Representative Peggy Scott, Representative Harry Niska, Senator Cal Bahr and Senator Jim Abeler for authoring our Bill to add a CO seat to the PERA Board.  While it didn't pass this session we will be back next session to take another bite at the apple. The Bill is not dead. It was laid over by the Pension Commission so is very much alive for next session. Special thanks to Susan Lenczewski Executive Director of the LCPR for her help crafting the Bill. And of course thanks to all of you for your emails and phone calls to the Legislature in support of this!

  https://www.lcpr.mn.gov/index.htm Here's a brief summary of the 2025 Pension Omnibus Bill . *PERA General plan- COLA increase from 1.5-1.75% Max *PERA Police and Fire plan- one time COLA of 3% then back down to 1% annual COLA plus major changes to Disability see  ARTICLE 15 DUTY DISABILITY BENEFITS AND CONTINUATION OF HEALTH COVERAGE FOR PEACE OFFICERS AND FIREFIGHTERS   https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2025/0/Session+Law/Chapter/37/ *Another Work Group for Dispatch and 911 Telecommunicators ARTICLE 17 WORK GROUP ON PENSION PLANS FOR PROBATION OFFICERS AND 911 TELECOMMUNICATORS Section 1.  WORK GROUP ON CREATING PENSION PLANS FOR PROBATION OFFICERS AND 911 TELECOMMUNICATORS. $80 million was allocated to pensions this session. The Teachers Pension and Police and Fire received the lions share.  MNCORA had one request this session, a seat on the PERA Board. SF1556 / HF708 . The Bill was laid over and we can take it up again next session. THIS BILL WOULD HAVE ...