PERA Meeting December 8th

I attended the PERA meeting on December 8th. As you can imagine with the markets being the way they are the PERA Correctional Plan fund performed at a -6.4% for 2022. Compare that to a +30.3% in 2021.

In short our fund lost money last year.

Currently the Actuarial Rate of Return (expected income from investments) is at 7.5% (set by the legislature) . Because of what the markets are doing PERA recommended that the legislature investment return assumption be lowered to between 5.64 and 6.55. This does not reflect what money actually comes in but gives PERA an idea of how healthy the funds are.

If the actuarial return assumptions do end up in the 6% range it's possible for our funding to drop below 85%. If that happens for more than 2 years our COLA drops down to 1-1.5% depending on the Social Security Cost of living! Currently we're at 2.5%! PERA Executive Director Doug Anderson pointed out if our COLA drops there is NO mechanism to bring it back up to 2.5% without legislative action.

Because of that I believe that in addition to pushing for our PERA Pension and Social Security to be exempt from the Minnesota State Tax I think MNCORA should push to add a mechanism to raise our COLA back up if it drops when the economy improves.

This was PERA's last meeting until February 16th 2023 when the new PERA Board is set. As you know I was endorsed by MNCORA for the Retired, Disabled and Survivor Representative seat. I would appreciate your vote when the Ballots come out in January.

Wade Laszlo

President MNCORA

Pention Fight update

Here's the update on the fight against HF4796 . We've received many petitions from across the State from CO's opposing this Bill to add dispatchers to the Correctional Plan. Those have been forwarded to the entire Pension Commission and we will continue to pass on more as they are still coming in. Some jails also participated in a card mailing campaign. Over 3,000 have been mailed to date. This is the second run at the PERA Correctional Plan to add dispatchers. They need to know you are not for it and a weaker pension. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SIGNED AND PASSED THE PETITIONS AND CARDS! MNCORA's Bill to get a seat on the PERA Board has yet to be heard! 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 s

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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