Omnibus pension, retirement law

Fourteen largely non-controversial bills approved by the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement have been rolled into the omnibus pension and retirement law, which mostly is effective May 25, 2002.

Sponsored by Rep. Michael Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and Sen. Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont), the lone provision with a onetime, $125,000 fiscal impact requires the Department of Labor and Industry to study benefit adequacy for disabled or injured police officers. A report would be due the commission and Legislature by Jan. 15, 2023.

A 2008 law to help a former Minneapolis bomb squad commander who suffered a debilitating injury called for such a study by the Public Employees Retirement Association but was never conducted.

Minnesota law lets retirees return to public employers and continue to receive pension payments, provided they work less than a full-time schedule.

Similar to what was done for health care workers earlier in 2022 to help in the fight against COVID-19, the law will allow teachers to return to teaching at a public school without having their pension reduced. This section expires Jan. 1, 2026.

Other law provisions will:

• expand the right to purchase up to five years of service credit for periods of military service beyond rights in current law;

• allow residential program leads and dental hygienists, eligible to join the Minnesota State Retirement System Correctional Plan, to transfer prior eligible service from the General Plan;

• permit the surviving spouse of a deceased state employee to purchase one month of service credit to make her eligible for an annuity death benefit;

• effective Jan. 1, 2023, permit teachers to purchase service credit for periods of service as a teacher in another state;

• to fix an administrative error, allow a Corrections Department employee to transfer prior service credit from the General Plan to the Correctional Plan;

• exempt Duluth Transit Authority employees covered by a Teamsters pension plan from Public Employees Retirement Association membership, and non-union employees would receive vesting credit when they become public employees. This takes effect when authority employees or any subdivision thereof become public employees;

• effective Jan. 1, 2023, makes several largely technical changes — recommended by the State Auditor’s Volunteer Fire Relief Association Working Group — to provisions governing volunteer firefighter relief associations;

• require the state auditor to provide an investment report to each firefighter relief association comparing their investment returns to those made by the State Board of Investment;

• authorize advanced practice registered nurses to provide disability assessments; and

• make administrative and technical changes clarifying the classification of State Board of Investment professional employees.

HF4017/SF3540*/CH81

HF2354* / SF2352 / CH81