PERA Board vote on CO seat

On October 12th the PERA Board voted unanimously NOT to recommend legislation for a CO seat on the PERA Board.

They want no legislation on it this year. They understand CO's wanting a voice on their plan and agreed to discuss it at their workshop next year.

In other words the can was kicked down the road.

It is not necessary to have the PERA Board's support as all pension changes come from the Minnesota Legislature. We have a good working relationship with the PERA Board and we didn't want to blindside the Executive Director with this and hoped for their support, but we will proceed taking the legislative path.

For too long our PERA Correctional Plan has had threats to it with little to no warning or input.

-The 2018 'share the pain' which changed our COLA from an annual 2.5% to a variable one based on Social Security's raise capping us at 2.5% resulting in years with a lower COLA.

-The attempt two years ago to add dispatchers to our pension which would have resulted in a $79 million hit to our plan.

-Last years 'Police and Fire' Bill HF1234 that changed our disability!

-Last years omnibus bill that gives a higher Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to every PERA pension for 2024 except the PERA Correctional Plan!

The path forward is two possible ways.

Preferred is to get our own dedicated seat on the PERA Board.

The second is to get added to the Police and Fire seat if option one fails. President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act contains the Secure Act 2.0 which designates that all County and City CO's are Public Safety Officers effective January 1, 2025. The Police and Fire seat on the PERA Board is a Public Safety seat!

Let's see what this year holds!

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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