The Stakeholders group behind HF 1234

In the previous post we quoted from the letter of support of HF 1234 from the Association of Minnesota Counties.

"For over two years, AMC had the privilege of being part of a Public Safety Duty Disability Stakeholder Group. This group has been composed of a multitude of local government employers as well as law enforcement and union representatives."

I asked the League of Minnesota Cities, who I heard headed up the stakeholders group and received the following list.

The League of Minnesota Cities convened the meetings. Here are the groups that were represented:

Association of Minnesota Counties

Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities

Law Enforcement Labor Services

League of Minnesota Cities

Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association

Minnesota Department of Public Safety

Minnesota Inter County Association

Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association

Minnesota Professional Firefighters Association

Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association

Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association

Minnesota State Fire Departments Association

Minnesota State Patrol

Minnesota State Retirement Systems

Public Employees Retirement Association

Teamsters

The LMC says, "The League did not convene the stakeholder group after the 2022 Legislative Session. The Public Employees Retirement Association provisions pertaining to offsets and reapplication were not part of the work of the stakeholder group. Those provisions were considered in more recent meetings convened by the bill’s authors."

This stakeholder group is 80% management. Where any actual people on Disability Retirement actually contacted?

Why wasn't MNCORA contacted?

MNPEA President Dave Deal testified at the March 20th LCPR meeting that they hadn't been notified. They represent a large amount of County Corrections Officers in some of Minnesota's largest jails like Hennepin County and Sherburne County. Surely they would be a stakeholder for the County Corrections members.

Corrections needs to be cut out of this Police and Fire Bill!

MNCORA encourages everyone to contact their State Senators and the members of the Senate Finance Committee and tell them not to adopt the changes found in HF 1234. The companion Senate File is SF 1959 and does not contain the changes adding Corrections that are found in HF 1234.

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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