1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to retirement; general state employees 
  1.3             retirement plan of the Minnesota state retirement 
  1.4             system and public employees retirement association; 
  1.5             authorizing the purchase of prior and uncredited 
  1.6             interim military service credit; amending Minnesota 
  1.7             Statutes 1999 Supplement, section 353.01, subdivision 
  1.8             16; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota 
  1.9             Statutes, chapter 352. 
  1.10  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.11     Section 1.  [352.272] [PRIOR OR UNCREDITED MILITARY SERVICE 
  1.12  CREDIT PURCHASE.] 
  1.13     Subdivision 1.  [SERVICE CREDIT PURCHASE AUTHORIZED.] An 
  1.14  employee who has at least three years of allowable service 
  1.15  credit with the general state employees retirement plan and who 
  1.16  performed service in the United States armed forces before 
  1.17  becoming a state employee, as defined in section 352.01, 
  1.18  subdivisions 2 and 2a, or who failed to obtain allowable service 
  1.19  credit for a military leave of absence within five years of the 
  1.20  date of discharge under the provisions of section 352.27 or 
  1.21  352.271, is entitled to purchase allowable service credit for 
  1.22  the initial period of enlistment, induction, or call to active 
  1.23  duty without any voluntary extension by making payment under 
  1.24  section 356.55, if the state employee is not entitled to receive 
  1.25  a current or deferred retirement annuity from a United States 
  1.26  armed forces pension plan and has not purchased service credit 
  1.27  from any other defined benefit public employee pension plan for 
  2.1   the same period of service. 
  2.2      Subd. 2.  [APPLICATION AND DOCUMENTATION.] A state employee 
  2.3   who desires to purchase service credit under subdivision 1 must 
  2.4   apply to the executive director to make the purchase.  The 
  2.5   application must include all necessary documentation of the 
  2.6   employee's qualifications to make the purchase, signed written 
  2.7   permission to allow the executive director to request and 
  2.8   receive necessary verification of applicable facts and 
  2.9   eligibility requirements, and any other relevant information 
  2.10  that the executive director may require.  
  2.11     Subd. 3.  [SERVICE CREDIT GRANT.] Allowable service credit 
  2.12  for the purchase period must be granted by the general state 
  2.13  employees retirement plan to the purchasing state employee upon 
  2.14  receipt of the purchase payment amount.  Payment must be made 
  2.15  before the employee's effective date of retirement. 
  2.16     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section 
  2.17  353.01, subdivision 16, is amended to read: 
  2.18     Subd. 16.  [ALLOWABLE SERVICE.] (a) "Allowable service" 
  2.19  means service during years of actual membership in the course of 
  2.20  which employee contributions were made, periods covered by 
  2.21  payments in lieu of salary deductions under section 353.35, and 
  2.22  service in years during which the public employee was not a 
  2.23  member but for which the member later elected, while a member, 
  2.24  to obtain credit by making payments to the fund as permitted by 
  2.25  any law then in effect. 
  2.26     (b) "Allowable service" also means a period of authorized 
  2.27  leave of absence with pay from which deductions for employee 
  2.28  contributions are made, deposited, and credited to the fund.  
  2.29     (c) "Allowable service" also means a period of authorized 
  2.30  leave of absence without pay that does not exceed one year, and 
  2.31  during or for which a member obtained credit by payments to the 
  2.32  fund made in place of salary deductions, provided that the 
  2.33  payments are made in an amount or amounts based on the member's 
  2.34  average salary on which deductions were paid for the last six 
  2.35  months of public service, or for that portion of the last six 
  2.36  months while the member was in public service, to apply to the 
  3.1   period in either case immediately preceding commencement of the 
  3.2   leave of absence.  If the employee elects to pay employee 
  3.3   contributions for the period of any leave of absence without 
  3.4   pay, or for any portion of the leave, the employee shall also, 
  3.5   as a condition to the exercise of the election, pay to the fund 
  3.6   an amount equivalent to both the required employer and 
  3.7   additional employer contributions for the employee.  The payment 
  3.8   must be made within one year from the expiration of the leave of 
  3.9   absence or within 20 days after termination of public service 
  3.10  under subdivision 11a.  The employer by appropriate action of 
  3.11  its governing body, made a part of its official records, before 
  3.12  the date of the first payment of the employee contribution, may 
  3.13  certify to the association in writing its commitment to pay the 
  3.14  employer and additional employer contributions from the proceeds 
  3.15  of a tax levy made under section 353.28.  Payments under this 
  3.16  paragraph must include interest at an annual rate of 8.5 percent 
  3.17  compounded annually from the date of the termination of the 
  3.18  leave of absence to the date payment is made.  An employee shall 
  3.19  return to public service and receive a minimum of three months 
  3.20  of allowable service to be eligible to pay employee and employer 
  3.21  contributions for a subsequent authorized leave of absence 
  3.22  without pay. 
  3.23     (d) "Allowable service" also means a periodic, repetitive 
  3.24  leave that is offered to all employees of a governmental 
  3.25  subdivision.  The leave program may not exceed 208 hours per 
  3.26  annual normal work cycle as certified to the association by the 
  3.27  employer.  A participating member obtains service credit by 
  3.28  making employee contributions in an amount or amounts based on 
  3.29  the member's average salary that would have been paid if the 
  3.30  leave had not been taken.  The employer shall pay the employer 
  3.31  and additional employer contributions on behalf of the 
  3.32  participating member.  The employee and the employer are 
  3.33  responsible to pay interest on their respective shares at the 
  3.34  rate of 8.5 percent a year, compounded annually, from the end of 
  3.35  the normal cycle until full payment is made.  An employer shall 
  3.36  also make the employer and additional employer contributions, 
  4.1   plus 8.5 percent interest, compounded annually, on behalf of an 
  4.2   employee who makes employee contributions but terminates public 
  4.3   service.  The employee contributions must be made within one 
  4.4   year after the end of the annual normal working cycle or within 
  4.5   20 days after termination of public service, whichever is 
  4.6   sooner.  The association shall prescribe the manner and forms to 
  4.7   be used by a governmental subdivision in administering a 
  4.8   periodic, repetitive leave. 
  4.9      (e) "Allowable service" also means a period during which a 
  4.10  member is on an authorized sick leave of absence, without pay, 
  4.11  limited to one year.  An employee who has received one year of 
  4.12  allowable service shall return to public service and receive a 
  4.13  minimum of three months of allowable service to receive 
  4.14  allowable service for a subsequent authorized sick leave of 
  4.15  absence. 
  4.16     (f) "Allowable service" also means an authorized temporary 
  4.17  layoff under subdivision 12, limited to three months allowable 
  4.18  service per authorized temporary layoff in one calendar year.  
  4.19  An employee who has received the maximum service allowed for an 
  4.20  authorized temporary layoff shall return to public service and 
  4.21  receive a minimum of three months of allowable service to 
  4.22  receive allowable service for a subsequent authorized temporary 
  4.23  layoff. 
  4.24     (g) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, "allowable 
  4.25  service" also means a parental leave.  The association shall 
  4.26  grant a maximum of two months service credit for a parental 
  4.27  leave, within six months after the birth or adoption, upon 
  4.28  documentation from the member's governmental subdivision or 
  4.29  presentation of a birth certificate or other evidence of birth 
  4.30  or adoption to the association. 
  4.31     (h) "Allowable service" also means a period during which a 
  4.32  member is on an authorized leave of absence to enter military 
  4.33  service, provided that the member returns to public service upon 
  4.34  discharge from military service under section 192.262 and pays 
  4.35  into the fund employee contributions based upon the employee's 
  4.36  salary at the date of return from military service.  Payment 
  5.1   must be made within five years of the date of discharge from the 
  5.2   military service.  The amount of these contributions must be in 
  5.3   accord with the contribution rates and salary limitations, if 
  5.4   any, in effect during the leave, plus interest at an annual rate 
  5.5   of 8.5 percent compounded annually from the date of return to 
  5.6   public service to the date payment is made.  The matching 
  5.7   employer contribution and additional employer contribution under 
  5.8   section 353.27, subdivisions 3 and 3a, must be paid by the 
  5.9   governmental subdivision employing the member upon return to 
  5.10  public service if the member makes the employee contributions.  
  5.11  The governmental subdivision involved may appropriate money for 
  5.12  those payments.  A member may not receive credit for a voluntary 
  5.13  extension of military service at the instance of the member 
  5.14  beyond the initial period of enlistment, induction, or call to 
  5.15  active duty. 
  5.16     (i) "Allowable service" additionally means a period which 
  5.17  the member who has at least three years of allowable service 
  5.18  credit under the other paragraphs of this subdivision served in 
  5.19  the United States armed forces before becoming a public employee 
  5.20  as defined in subdivisions 2 and 2a, or for which the member 
  5.21  failed to obtain credit under paragraph (h), and in either case 
  5.22  limited to the initial period of enlistment, induction, or call 
  5.23  to active duty without any voluntary extension, and which the 
  5.24  member purchases by making payment under section 356.55, and for 
  5.25  which the member is not entitled to receive a current or 
  5.26  deferred retirement annuity from a United States armed forces 
  5.27  pension plan and for which the member has not purchased service 
  5.28  credit from any other defined benefit public employee pension 
  5.29  plan for the same period of service.  A member who desires to 
  5.30  purchase service credit under this paragraph must apply to the 
  5.31  executive director to make the purchase.  The application must 
  5.32  include all necessary documentation of the member's 
  5.33  qualifications to make the purchase, signed written permission 
  5.34  to allow the executive director to request and receive necessary 
  5.35  verification of applicable facts and eligibility requirements, 
  5.36  and any other relevant information that the executive director 
  6.1   may require.  The allowable service credit must be granted by 
  6.2   the plan upon receipt of the purchase payment amount.  Payment 
  6.3   must be made before the member's effective date of retirement. 
  6.4      (j) For calculating benefits under sections 353.30, 353.31, 
  6.5   353.32, and 353.33 for state officers and employees displaced by 
  6.6   the Community Corrections Act, chapter 401, and transferred into 
  6.7   county service under section 401.04, "allowable service" means 
  6.8   combined years of allowable service as defined in paragraphs (a) 
  6.9   to (i) and section 352.01, subdivision 11.  
  6.10     ~~(j)~~ (k) For a public employee who has prior service covered 
  6.11  by a local police or firefighters relief association that has 
  6.12  consolidated with the public employees retirement association or 
  6.13  to which section 353.665 applies, and who has elected the type 
  6.14  of benefit coverage provided by the public employees police and 
  6.15  fire fund either under section 353A.08 following the 
  6.16  consolidation or under section 353.665, subdivision 4, 
  6.17  "applicable service" is a period of service credited by the 
  6.18  local police or firefighters relief association as of the 
  6.19  effective date of the consolidation based on law and on bylaw 
  6.20  provisions governing the relief association on the date of the 
  6.21  initiation of the consolidation procedure. 
  6.22     Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  6.23     (a) Sections 1 and 2 are effective on the day following 
  6.24  final enactment. 
  6.25     (b) Section 1 is repealed effective on May 16, 2002. 
  6.26  Minnesota Statutes, section 353.01, subdivision 16, paragraph 
  6.27  (i), expires on May 16, 2002.