PERA Board votes against CO seat-arguments. What's next and options

On December 12, 2024 the PERA Executive Board voted unanimously not to support legislation to add a Correctional Officer seat to the PERA Board.

This is disappointing but will not dissuade MNCORA from again seeking a Bill with the Legislature.

I would like to counter some of the PERA Boards arguments.

At the planning meeting and in PERA's letter they argued that adding a seat would make the number on the Board even. So, we revised our proposal to add an additional Retiree seat. After all retirees are almost 30% of PERA membership and Retirees have only one member elected seat.

In their letter they state, “The current makeup of the board is 6 member positions to 3 employer positions, adding additional board members representing member groups would weigh the board’s makeup further towards the membership.” Not exactly true. It’s an 11 person board.

Source PERA 2023 PFAR

The 11 person Board is made up of 5 seats that are appointed by the Governor and one more is the State Auditor. One could argue those 6 are Government seats, not member. Of the 5 member elected seats, two of the 5 come from Police and Fire.

A concern raised during discussion at the December 12 meeting was they were afraid a CO on the Board wouldn’t be able to represent all PERA members. That is insulting on the face of it. Especially since 3 seats are held by Police and Fire! 2 elected and 1 appointed. I’d venture to say a large portion of the PERA Board’s discussions have to do with the poor state the Police and Fire plan is in.

They out of hand dismissed MNCORA’s argument that the State CO’s have a seat on their MSRS Pension Board.

One new argument is the fact that on January 1, 2025 the Federal Government will recognize all State and County Correctional Officers as Public safety, the same as Police and Fire. This means we no longer should be lumped together with the General Plan members as they currently do because tax and disability numbers must be calculated differently.

The new logical choices are to give Corrections Officers either their own seat or allow them to compete for the only other Public Safety seat-Police and Fire!

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...

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...

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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