Letter to Senator Rosen

The Minnesota Legislature is still in session and the Delete Everything Amendment part of the Omnibus Bill is in discussion. The MNCORA Board sent the following to the LCPR Chair Senator Rosen today.

Senator Rosen,

Regarding the “Delete Everything Bill S3541-H4016.”

It is the position of the Minnesota Correctional Officer Retirement Association (MNCORA) that if a benefit is being given to the PERA Police and Fire Plan and the MSRS Correctional Plan then parity should be given to the PERA Correctional Plan.

P&F and the MSRS Correctional Plan are being offered a 2% reduction in employee contributions in this Bill and no reduction is being offered to the PERA Correctional Plan.

We’ve heard it argued that P&F and the MSRS Correctional Plans contribute more to their plans, but they also receive a greater retirement benefit. The high 5 of P&F is 3% and the MSRS Correctional Plan 2.2%.

By comparison the high 5 for PERA Correctional is 1.9% and has been since its’ inception in 1999.

Police and Fire already receives $9 million a year from the General Fund to bolster its pension and this bill adds an additional $91 million to it! The PERA Correctional requires no such help.

A simple 1% reduction to the employee contribution of the PERA Correctional for two years, then a return to current levels seems to be very affordable and doable or consider a permanent increase to a 2.2% high 5 like the MSRS Correctional Plan.

The PERA Correctional Plan is funded over 100% and its members deserve a seat at the table.

Sincerely,

The MNCORA Board

Session summary, wins and lossses

Governor Walz signed into law the Pension Omnibus Bill yesterday, May 15. It was a busy year for MNCORA and PERA Correctional Plan Legislation. MNCORA with your help was able to stave off yet another attempt to add dispatchers to our pension. Your petitions, calls and thousands of cards mailed to legislators was a success. Sadly we are not out of the woods. Rep. Wolgamott and Rep. Her both told MNCORA that the bill to add dispatch to our pension wouldn't be added to this year's Pension Omnibus Bill, but did not say the issue was dead for next session. MNCORA had a Bill to add a Correctional Officer to the PERA Board authored by Representatives Niska , Scott and Novotny on the House side, and a companion Bill in the Senate by Senators Bahr , Abeler and eventually Frentz . Sadly Pension Commission Chair Kaohly Her did not even allow our Bill a hearing. We will be back with this next year! Another bright note was the passage of a Bill raising the high 5 multipl...

Victory on keeping Dispatch out of Correctional Pension?

It's too early to declare victory as the Legislature is still in session. However there are signs the petitions from jails across the State and Cards to the Pension Commission are having the desired effect. Chair of the Pension Commission, Rep. Her wrote us saying- " Thank you for the letters. I always appreciate feedback. HF4796/SF4958 was not included in the Pension Omnibus bill. " Author of HF4796, Rep. Wolgamott wrote us and said- "Thank you for sharing your input regarding HF 4796. The bill will not receive a committee hearing and will not be moving through the legislative process this session. I hope you will continue to stay in touch and keep me updated with MNCORA’s perspective on issues and legislation affecting your members." There are still ways to sneak it in so we won't rest until the session is over, but we are cautiously optimistic. We thought the issue was settled after the Workgroup two years ago, but here it is again. Our hope is they ge...

PERA Correctional seat on the PERA Board, next step

Bill HF4342 authored by Rep. Niska and Scott now has a companion bill in the Senate, SF4464 authored by Sen. Bahr and co-authored by Sen. Abeler. MNCORA is thankful for the support of these Representatives and Senators. If passed for the first time a PERA Correctional Officer will have a seat on the PERA Board. The next step is for the Pension Commission to give it a hearing. If it is not heard the bill will die. What can you do? The Chair of the Pension Commission is Representative Her. This is her contact information: Phone 651-296-8799 E-mail: rep.kaohly.her@house.mn.gov The Vice chair on the Senate side is Senator Frentz. This is his contact information: Phone 651-296-6153 E-Mail sen.nick.frentz@senate.mn PLEASE contact them and ask them to have the Pension Commission give it a hearing and then contact your Representative and Senator and ask them to support these Bills. Make your voice heard!

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