The Minnesota Correctional Officer Retirement Association
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May PERA meeting update
Note, at the meeting I learned that The Omnibus Bill passed the Senate, still waiting on the House. Pretty much something for Police and Fire, State Corrections but not the PERA Correctional Plan!
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...
I attended the PERA Board meeting remotely today (3/13/25). As all of you know there's lots of pieces at play in the PERA pension plans. There have been in the recent past attempts by 911 Dispatchers and Probation to be merged into the PERA Correctional Plan which MNCORA has vehemently opposed. The positive note from todays meeting is that the current discussion is centered around improved pensions (earlier retirement) for probation and dispatch without talk of adding them to the Correctional Plan. The sad part is the apparent confusion among PERA Board members as to the difference between Essential Employees and Public Safety Employees. Some were using the terms interchangeably which could lead to future problems. While Police, Fire, Corrections, Probation and 911 Dispatch are all essential employees https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 . Only Police, Fire and Correctional Officers are Public Safety! The Secure Act 2.0 spells out changes to the defi...
The PERA Correctional Plan is fully funded . As a matter of fact it's at 105%! This was revealed at the December 11, 2025 PERA Executive meeting. MNCORA's Executive Board is meeting later this month and will have announcements regarding this. We still plan on moving forward on getting a seat on the PERA Executive Board in the next legislative session. Ours is the best performing PERA Retirement Plan and we need a seat at the table.