2011 Minnesota Statutes

353A.02 DEFINITIONS.

Subdivision 1.Generally.

When used in sections 353A.01 to 353A.10, each of the following words and phrases shall have the meaning ascribed to it in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Subd. 2.Actions preliminary to consolidation finalization.

"Actions preliminary to consolidation finalization" means those actions undertaken by the commission, the state board, the Public Employee Retirement Association, the local police or firefighters relief association, and the municipality following initiation of the consolidation procedure as provided in section 353A.04.

Subd. 3.Assets.

"Assets" means the investment securities and other items of value held by the special fund of the relief association.

Subd. 4.Beneficiary.

"Beneficiary" means the natural person designated by any active, deferred, or retired member of the fund or of the local relief association consolidation account of the fund, whichever applies, as the recipient of any remainder interest to the credit of the designating person under law upon the death of the designating person, including the natural person receiving or entitled to receive the remainder portion of any elected optional retirement annuity form or automatic survivor benefit portion of a service pension or disability benefit.

Subd. 5.Benefit plan.

"Benefit plan" means that portion of a pension plan which deals specifically with the service pension or retirement annuity and retirement benefit coverage provided by the relief association or the fund, whichever applies, including, but not limited to, the types of coverage, the initial and continuing eligibility for and entitlement to service pensions or retirement annuities and retirement benefits, the amount of service pensions or retirement annuities and retirement benefits and the adjustment of service pensions or retirement annuities and retirement benefits.

Subd. 6.Board of trustees.

"Board of trustees" means the managing board of the local police or firefighters relief association.

Subd. 7.Chief administrative officer.

"Chief administrative officer" means the person who has primary responsibility for the execution of the administrative affairs of the municipality, in the case of a municipality, or of the relief association in the case of a local police or firefighters relief association, or the designee of that person.

Subd. 8.Commission.

"Commission" means the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement established by section 3.85.

Subd. 9.Deferred member.

"Deferred member" means a person who has credit for sufficient service in the relief association to gain entitlement to an eventual service pension but who has not yet applied for or started receipt of that service pension.

Subd. 10.Effective date of the consolidation.

"Effective date of the consolidation" means the date on which the consolidation shall occur as determined under section 353A.06.

Subd. 11.Existing relief association benefit plan.

"Existing relief association benefit plan" means the benefit plan of the relief association in effect on the day before the initiation of the consolidation procedure as provided in section 353A.04.

Subd. 12.Fund.

"Fund" means the public employees police and fire consolidation fund established by sections 353A.01 to 353A.10.

Subd. 13.Inappropriate investments.

"Inappropriate investments" means any investment security or other asset held by the relief association at or after the initiation of the consolidation procedure which does not comply with any applicable investment guidelines or objectives which are established and published by the state board.

Subd. 14.Ineligible investments.

"Ineligible investments" means any investment security or other asset held by the relief association at or after the initiation of the consolidation procedure which does not comply with the applicable requirements or limitations of sections 11A.09, 11A.23, and 11A.24.

Subd. 15.Local police or firefighters relief association.

"Local police or firefighters relief association" means a relief association governed by section 69.77, including the Duluth Firefighters Relief Association, the Duluth Police Pension Association, the St. Paul Fire Department Relief Association, and the St. Paul Police Relief Association, but does not mean the Bloomington Fire Department Relief Association or a relief association that is a member of the Minnesota Police Pension Council or the Minnesota Professional Firefighters Pension Council.

Subd. 16.Local relief association consolidation accounts.

"Local relief association consolidation accounts" means the special accounts consolidated with the Public Employees Retirement Association under sections 353.65, subdivision 1, and 353A.09, subdivision 1.

Subd. 17.Majority vote.

"Majority vote" means:

(1) for a local police or firefighters relief association, a number of votes of the membership of the relief association that equals or exceeds 50 percent of the number of members voting; or

(2) for a relief association that would not have met the definition of a local police or firefighters relief association under subdivision 15, on January 1, 1987, a number of votes that equals or exceeds 50 percent of the membership of the relief association.

Subd. 18.Membership of the relief association.

"Membership of the relief association" means the active, deferred, disabled, and retired members and the survivors of active, deferred, disabled, and retired members of a relief association. Volunteer firefighters or their survivors may not be included in determining the membership of a relief association.

Subd. 19.Minimum required proportion of relief association membership.

"Minimum required proportion of relief association membership" means ten percent of the membership of a local police or firefighters relief association or 30 percent of the membership of a relief association that would not have met the definition of a local police or firefighters relief association under subdivision 15, on January 1, 1987.

Subd. 20.

[Repealed, 2009 c 169 art 1 s 77]

Subd. 21.Other items of value.

"Other items of value" means any real property, personal property, or interest in real or personal property not evidenced by or appropriately characterized as a security as that term is defined by section 524.1-201, clause (32).

Subd. 22.Pension plan.

"Pension plan" means the various aspects of the relationship between a municipality and its police officers or salaried firefighters, whichever applies, who are members of the local police or firefighters relief association regarding the retirement benefit coverage provided by the relief association.

Subd. 23.Postretirement adjustment.

"Postretirement adjustment" means any periodic or regular procedure for modifying the amount of a retirement annuity, service pension, disability benefit, or survivor benefit after the start of that annuity, pension, or benefit, including but not limited to modifications of amounts under section 356.415, or any benefit escalation or benefit amount modification based on changes in the salaries payable to active police officers or salaried firefighters or changes in a cost-of-living index as provided for in the existing relief association benefit plan.

Subd. 24.Public employees police and fire fund benefit plan.

"Public employees police and fire fund benefit plan" means the provisions of sections 353.63 to 353.68, any general provisions of chapter 353 which may be applicable, any applicable provisions of chapter 11A or 356, any applicable provisions of any rules issued by the board of the Public Employees Retirement Association, and any applicable amendments in those statutes or rules.

Subd. 24a.Public Employees Retirement Association.

"Public Employees Retirement Association" means the retirement system that administers the public employees police and fire fund and the local relief association consolidated accounts.

Subd. 25.Public hearing.

"Public hearing" means a meeting held by the board of trustees of the relief association or the governing body of the municipality in which the relief association is located, whichever applies, in a place and at a time accessible to members of the general public, which is reasonably calculated to allow for participation by all affected interests, for which proper notice has been given and at which the views of the general public may be heard.

Subd. 26.Referendum.

"Referendum" means a vote of the total membership of a relief association on the question of the consolidation of the relief association with the fund as provided in section 353A.04 which shall occur upon the initiation of the consolidation and shall be conducted through the use of a mailed secret, written ballot and in accordance with procedures established by the board of trustees of the relief association for the issuance and collection of ballots.

Subd. 27.Relief association.

"Relief association" means the police or firefighters relief association for which consolidation procedures have been initiated.

Subd. 28.Special benefit coverage.

"Special benefit coverage" means any benefit provided for in the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the local relief association which, in the judgment of the executive director of the public employees retirement association, is not of the type regularly provided by the public employees police and fire fund because it involves one or a combination of the following factors:

(a) the benefit is other than a service pension, a disability or superannuation benefit, or a survivor benefit;

(b) the payment of the benefit does not occur monthly and does not continue beyond one or a small number of payments; or

(c) the payment of amounts from the pension fund is not made to individual benefit recipients or former members.

Subd. 29.State board.

"State board" means the State Board of Investment operating under chapter 11A.

Subd. 30.Survivor.

"Survivor" means the person who has or the persons who have, as of the death of the active, deferred, or retired member of the relief association, the relationship to the member of the legally married spouse or the dependent minor child as defined or specified by the benefit plan of the relief association.

History:

1987 c 296 s 9; 1990 c 426 art 1 s 4; 1991 c 341 s 26,27; 1992 c 423 s 1; 1992 c 432 art 2 s 25; 2009 c 169 art 1 s 45,46