1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to retirement; limiting the participation of 
  1.3             elected local government officials in the public 
  1.4             employees retirement association defined benefit plan; 
  1.5             amending Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 353.01, 
  1.6             subdivisions 2a and 2b; proposing coding for new law 
  1.7             in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 353. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 353.01, 
  1.10  subdivision 2a, is amended to read: 
  1.11     Subd. 2a.  [INCLUDED EMPLOYEES.] Public employees whose 
  1.12  salary from one governmental subdivision exceeds $425 in any 
  1.13  month shall participate as members of the association.  If the 
  1.14  salary of an employee is less than $425 in a subsequent month, 
  1.15  the employee retains membership eligibility.  The following 
  1.16  persons are considered public employees: 
  1.17     (1) employees whose annual salary from one governmental 
  1.18  subdivision exceeds a stipulation prepared in advance, in 
  1.19  writing, to be not more than $5,100 per calendar year or per 
  1.20  school year for school employees for employment expected to be 
  1.21  of a full year's duration or more than the prorated portion of 
  1.22  $5,100 per employment period expected to be of less than a full 
  1.23  year's duration.  If compensation from one governmental 
  1.24  subdivision to an employee under this clause exceeds $5,100 per 
  1.25  calendar year or school year after being stipulated in advance 
  1.26  not to exceed that amount, the stipulation is no longer valid 
  2.1   and contributions must be made on behalf of the employee under 
  2.2   section 353.27, subdivision 12, from the month in which the 
  2.3   employee's salary first exceeded $425; 
  2.4      (2) employees whose total salary from concurrent 
  2.5   nontemporary positions in one governmental subdivision exceeds 
  2.6   $425 in any month; 
  2.7      (3) except as provided in section 353.012, elected officers 
  2.8   for service to which they were elected by the public-at-large, 
  2.9   or persons appointed to fill a vacancy in an elective office, 
  2.10  who elect to participate by filing ~~an application for membership~~ 
  2.11  a form prescribed by the executive director, but not for service 
  2.12  on a joint or regional board that is a governmental subdivision 
  2.13  under subdivision 6, paragraph (a), unless the salary earned for 
  2.14  that service exceeds $425 in any month.  The option to become a 
  2.15  member, once exercised, may not be withdrawn during the 
  2.16  incumbency of the person in office; 
  2.17     (4) members who are appointed by the governor to be a state 
  2.18  department head and elect not to be covered by the Minnesota 
  2.19  state retirement system under section 352.021; 
  2.20     (5) employees of elected officers; 
  2.21     (6) persons who elect to remain members under section 
  2.22  136C.75, or 480.181, subdivision 2; 
  2.23     (7) employees of a school district who receive separate 
  2.24  salaries for driving their own buses; 
  2.25     (8) employees of the Minnesota association of townships 
  2.26  when the board of the association, at its option, certifies to 
  2.27  the executive director that its employees are to be included for 
  2.28  purposes of retirement coverage, in which case coverage of all 
  2.29  employees of the association is permanent; 
  2.30     (9) employees of a county historical society who are county 
  2.31  employees; 
  2.32     (10) employees of a county historical society located in 
  2.33  the county whom the county, at its option, certifies to the 
  2.34  executive director to be county employees for purposes of 
  2.35  retirement coverage under this chapter, which status must be 
  2.36  accorded to all similarly situated county historical society 
  3.1   employees and, once established, must continue as long as a 
  3.2   person is an employee of the county historical society and is 
  3.3   not excluded under subdivision 2b; and 
  3.4      (11) employees who became members before July 1, 1988, 
  3.5   based on the total salary of positions held in more than one 
  3.6   governmental subdivision. 
  3.7      Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 353.01, 
  3.8   subdivision 2b, is amended to read: 
  3.9      Subd. 2b.  [EXCLUDED EMPLOYEES.] The following public 
  3.10  employees shall not participate as members of the association: 
  3.11     (1) except as provided under subdivision 2a, any elected 
  3.12  public officers, or persons appointed to fill a vacancy in an 
  3.13  elective office, who do not elect to participate in the 
  3.14  association by filing ~~an application for membership~~ a form 
  3.15  prescribed by the executive director; 
  3.16     (2) election officers; 
  3.17     (3) patient and inmate personnel who perform services in 
  3.18  charitable, penal, or correctional institutions of a 
  3.19  governmental subdivision; 
  3.20     (4) employees who are hired for a temporary position under 
  3.21  subdivision 12a, and employees who resign from a nontemporary 
  3.22  position and accept a temporary position within 30 days in the 
  3.23  same governmental subdivision, but not those employees who are 
  3.24  hired for an unlimited period but are serving a probationary 
  3.25  period.  If the period of employment extends beyond six 
  3.26  consecutive months and the employee earns more than $425 from 
  3.27  one governmental subdivision in any one calendar month, the 
  3.28  department head shall report the employee for membership and 
  3.29  require employee deductions be made on behalf of the employee 
  3.30  under section 353.27, subdivision 4. 
  3.31     Membership eligibility of an employee who resigns or is 
  3.32  dismissed from a temporary position and within 30 days accepts 
  3.33  another temporary position in the same governmental subdivision 
  3.34  is determined on the total length of employment rather than on 
  3.35  each separate position.  Membership eligibility of an employee 
  3.36  who holds concurrent temporary and nontemporary positions in one 
  4.1   governmental subdivision is determined by the length of 
  4.2   employment and salary of each separate position; 
  4.3      (5) employees whose actual salary from one governmental 
  4.4   subdivision does not exceed $425 per month, or whose annual 
  4.5   salary from one governmental subdivision does not exceed a 
  4.6   stipulation prepared in advance, in writing, that the salary 
  4.7   must not exceed $5,100 per calendar year or per school year for 
  4.8   school employees for employment expected to be of a full year's 
  4.9   duration or more than the prorated portion of $5,100 per 
  4.10  employment period for employment expected to be of less than a 
  4.11  full year's duration; 
  4.12     (6) employees who are employed by reason of work emergency 
  4.13  caused by fire, flood, storm, or similar disaster; 
  4.14     (7) employees who by virtue of their employment in one 
  4.15  governmental subdivision are required by law to be a member of 
  4.16  and to contribute to any of the plans or funds administered by 
  4.17  the Minnesota state retirement system, the teachers retirement 
  4.18  association, the Duluth teachers retirement fund association, 
  4.19  the Minneapolis teachers retirement association, the St. Paul 
  4.20  teachers retirement fund association, the Minneapolis employees 
  4.21  retirement fund, or any police or firefighters relief 
  4.22  association governed by section 69.77 that has not consolidated 
  4.23  with the public employees retirement association, or any police 
  4.24  or firefighters relief association that has consolidated with 
  4.25  the public employees retirement association but whose members 
  4.26  have not elected the type of benefit coverage provided by the 
  4.27  public employees police and fire fund under sections 353A.01 to 
  4.28  353A.10.  This clause must not be construed to prevent a person 
  4.29  from being a member of and contributing to the public employees 
  4.30  retirement association and also belonging to and contributing to 
  4.31  another public pension fund for other service occurring during 
  4.32  the same period of time.  A person who meets the definition of 
  4.33  "public employee" in subdivision 2 by virtue of other service 
  4.34  occurring during the same period of time becomes a member of the 
  4.35  association unless contributions are made to another public 
  4.36  retirement fund on the salary based on the other service or to 
  5.1   the teachers retirement association by a teacher as defined in 
  5.2   section 354.05, subdivision 2; 
  5.3      (8) persons who are excluded from coverage under the 
  5.4   federal Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance 
  5.5   Program for the performance of service as specified in United 
  5.6   States Code, title 42, section 410(a)(8)(A), as amended through 
  5.7   January 1, 1987, if no irrevocable election of coverage has been 
  5.8   made under section 3121(r) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 
  5.9   as amended; 
  5.10     (9) full-time students who are enrolled and are regularly 
  5.11  attending classes at an accredited school, college, or 
  5.12  university and who are part-time employees as defined by a 
  5.13  governmental subdivision; 
  5.14     (10) resident physicians, medical interns, and pharmacist 
  5.15  residents and pharmacist interns who are serving in a degree or 
  5.16  residency program in public hospitals; 
  5.17     (11) students who are serving in an internship or residency 
  5.18  program sponsored by an accredited educational institution; 
  5.19     (12) persons who hold a part-time adult supplementary 
  5.20  technical college license who render part-time teaching service 
  5.21  in a technical college; 
  5.22     (13) foreign citizens working for a governmental 
  5.23  subdivision with a work permit of less than three years, or an 
  5.24  H-1b visa valid for less than three years of employment.  Upon 
  5.25  notice to the association that the work permit or visa extends 
  5.26  beyond the three-year period, the foreign citizens are eligible 
  5.27  for membership from the date of the extension; 
  5.28     (14) public hospital employees who elected not to 
  5.29  participate as members of the association before 1972 and who 
  5.30  did not elect to participate from July 1, 1988 to October 1, 
  5.31  1988; 
  5.32     (15) except as provided in section 353.86, volunteer 
  5.33  ambulance service personnel, as defined in subdivision 35, but 
  5.34  persons who serve as volunteer ambulance service personnel may 
  5.35  still qualify as public employees under subdivision 2 and may be 
  5.36  members of the public employees retirement association and 
  6.1   participants in the public employees retirement fund or the 
  6.2   public employees police and fire fund on the basis of 
  6.3   compensation received from public employment service other than 
  6.4   service as volunteer ambulance service personnel; and 
  6.5      (16) except as provided in section 353.87, volunteer 
  6.6   firefighters, as defined in subdivision 36, engaging in 
  6.7   activities undertaken as part of volunteer firefighter duties; 
  6.8   provided that a person who is a volunteer firefighter may still 
  6.9   qualify as a public employee under subdivision 2 and may be a 
  6.10  member of the public employees retirement association and a 
  6.11  participant in the public employees retirement fund or the 
  6.12  public employees police and fire fund on the basis of 
  6.13  compensation received from public employment activities other 
  6.14  than those as a volunteer firefighter. 
  6.15     Sec. 3.  [353.012] [ELECTED BODY OFFICIALS.] 
  6.16     A person first elected or appointed to fill a vacancy in an 
  6.17  elective position on the governing body of a governmental 
  6.18  subdivision after July 1, 1995, may not elect to participate as 
  6.19  a member of the association on the basis of that service unless 
  6.20  the person was a public employee or a member of one of the funds 
  6.21  listed under section 356.30, subdivision 3, at the time of 
  6.22  election or appointment. 
  6.23     Sec. 4.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  6.24     Sections 1 to 3 are effective July 1, 1995.