1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to retirement; public employees retirement 
  1.3             association; authorizing certain trades personnel 
  1.4             employed by independent school district No. 625 to 
  1.5             elect an exclusion from retirement plan coverage; 
  1.6             amending Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 353.01, 
  1.7             subdivision 2b; and Laws 1965, chapter 705, section 1, 
  1.8             subdivision 4. 
  1.9   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.10     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 353.01, 
  1.11  subdivision 2b, is amended to read: 
  1.12     Subd. 2b.  [EXCLUDED EMPLOYEES.] The following public 
  1.13  employees shall not participate as members of the 
  1.14  association with retirement coverage by the public employees 
  1.15  retirement plan or the public employees police and fire 
  1.16  retirement plan: 
  1.17     (1) elected public officers, or persons appointed to fill a 
  1.18  vacancy in an elective office, who do not elect to participate 
  1.19  in the association by filing an application for membership; 
  1.20     (2) election officers; 
  1.21     (3) patient and inmate personnel who perform services in 
  1.22  charitable, penal, or correctional institutions of a 
  1.23  governmental subdivision; 
  1.24     (4) employees who are hired for a temporary position under 
  1.25  subdivision 12a, and employees who resign from a nontemporary 
  1.26  position and accept a temporary position within 30 days in the 
  1.27  same governmental subdivision, but not those employees who are 
  2.1   hired for an unlimited period but are serving a probationary 
  2.2   period.  If the period of employment extends beyond six 
  2.3   consecutive months and the employee earns more than $425 from 
  2.4   one governmental subdivision in any one calendar month, the 
  2.5   department head shall report the employee for membership and 
  2.6   require employee deductions be made on behalf of the employee 
  2.7   under section 353.27, subdivision 4. 
  2.8      Membership eligibility of an employee who resigns or is 
  2.9   dismissed from a temporary position and within 30 days accepts 
  2.10  another temporary position in the same governmental subdivision 
  2.11  is determined on the total length of employment rather than on 
  2.12  each separate position.  Membership eligibility of an employee 
  2.13  who holds concurrent temporary and nontemporary positions in one 
  2.14  governmental subdivision is determined by the length of 
  2.15  employment and salary of each separate position; 
  2.16     (5) employees whose actual salary from one governmental 
  2.17  subdivision does not exceed $425 per month, or whose annual 
  2.18  salary from one governmental subdivision does not exceed a 
  2.19  stipulation prepared in advance, in writing, that the salary 
  2.20  must not exceed $5,100 per calendar year or per school year for 
  2.21  school employees for employment expected to be of a full year's 
  2.22  duration or more than the prorated portion of $5,100 per 
  2.23  employment period for employment expected to be of less than a 
  2.24  full year's duration; 
  2.25     (6) employees who are employed by reason of work emergency 
  2.26  caused by fire, flood, storm, or similar disaster; 
  2.27     (7) employees who by virtue of their employment in one 
  2.28  governmental subdivision are required by law to be a member of 
  2.29  and to contribute to any of the plans or funds administered by 
  2.30  the Minnesota state retirement system, the teachers retirement 
  2.31  association, the Duluth teachers retirement fund association, 
  2.32  the Minneapolis teachers retirement association, the St. Paul 
  2.33  teachers retirement fund association, the Minneapolis employees 
  2.34  retirement fund, or any police or firefighters relief 
  2.35  association governed by section 69.77 that has not consolidated 
  2.36  with the public employees retirement association, or any police 
  3.1   or firefighters relief association that has consolidated with 
  3.2   the public employees retirement association but whose members 
  3.3   have not elected the type of benefit coverage provided by the 
  3.4   public employees police and fire fund under sections 353A.01 to 
  3.5   353A.10.  This clause must not be construed to prevent a person 
  3.6   from being a member of and contributing to the public employees 
  3.7   retirement association and also belonging to and contributing to 
  3.8   another public pension fund for other service occurring during 
  3.9   the same period of time.  A person who meets the definition of 
  3.10  "public employee" in subdivision 2 by virtue of other service 
  3.11  occurring during the same period of time becomes a member of the 
  3.12  association unless contributions are made to another public 
  3.13  retirement fund on the salary based on the other service or to 
  3.14  the teachers retirement association by a teacher as defined in 
  3.15  section 354.05, subdivision 2; 
  3.16     (8) persons who are excluded from coverage under the 
  3.17  federal Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance 
  3.18  Program for the performance of service as specified in United 
  3.19  States Code, title 42, section 410(a)(8)(A), as amended through 
  3.20  January 1, 1987, if no irrevocable election of coverage has been 
  3.21  made under section 3121(r) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 
  3.22  as amended; 
  3.23     (9) full-time students who are enrolled and are regularly 
  3.24  attending classes at an accredited school, college, or 
  3.25  university and who are part-time employees as defined by a 
  3.26  governmental subdivision; 
  3.27     (10) resident physicians, medical interns, and pharmacist 
  3.28  residents and pharmacist interns who are serving in a degree or 
  3.29  residency program in public hospitals; 
  3.30     (11) students who are serving in an internship or residency 
  3.31  program sponsored by an accredited educational institution; 
  3.32     (12) persons who hold a part-time adult supplementary 
  3.33  technical college license who render part-time teaching service 
  3.34  in a technical college; 
  3.35     (13) foreign citizens working for a governmental 
  3.36  subdivision with a work permit of less than three years, or an 
  4.1   H-1b visa valid for less than three years of employment.  Upon 
  4.2   notice to the association that the work permit or visa extends 
  4.3   beyond the three-year period, the foreign citizens are eligible 
  4.4   for membership from the date of the extension; 
  4.5      (14) public hospital employees who elected not to 
  4.6   participate as members of the association before 1972 and who 
  4.7   did not elect to participate from July 1, 1988 to October 1, 
  4.8   1988; 
  4.9      (15) except as provided in section 353.86, volunteer 
  4.10  ambulance service personnel, as defined in subdivision 35, but 
  4.11  persons who serve as volunteer ambulance service personnel may 
  4.12  still qualify as public employees under subdivision 2 and may be 
  4.13  members of the public employees retirement association and 
  4.14  participants in the public employees retirement fund or the 
  4.15  public employees police and fire fund on the basis of 
  4.16  compensation received from public employment service other than 
  4.17  service as volunteer ambulance service personnel; and 
  4.18     (16) except as provided in section 353.87, volunteer 
  4.19  firefighters, as defined in subdivision 36, engaging in 
  4.20  activities undertaken as part of volunteer firefighter duties; 
  4.21  provided that a person who is a volunteer firefighter may still 
  4.22  qualify as a public employee under subdivision 2 and may be a 
  4.23  member of the public employees retirement association and a 
  4.24  participant in the public employees retirement fund or the 
  4.25  public employees police and fire fund on the basis of 
  4.26  compensation received from public employment activities other 
  4.27  than those as a volunteer firefighter; and 
  4.28     (17) pipefitters and associated trades personnel employed 
  4.29  by independent school district No. 625 (St. Paul) with coverage 
  4.30  by the pipefitters local 455 pension plan under a collective 
  4.31  bargaining agreement who were either first employed after May 1, 
  4.32  1997, or, if first employed before May 2, 1997, elected to be 
  4.33  excluded under section 3. 
  4.34     Sec. 2.  Laws 1965, chapter 705, section 1, subdivision 4, 
  4.35  is amended to read: 
  4.36     Subd. 4.  [INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 625; 
  5.1   APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN LAWS.] (a) As of July 1, 1965, the 
  5.2   organization, operation, maintenance and conduct of the affairs 
  5.3   of the converted district shall be governed by general laws 
  5.4   relating to independent districts, except as otherwise provided 
  5.5   in Extra Session Laws 1959, Chapter 71, as amended, and all 
  5.6   special laws and charter provisions relating only to the 
  5.7   converted district are repealed. 
  5.8      (b) Where an existing pension law is applicable to 
  5.9   employees of the special district, such law shall continue to be 
  5.10  applicable in the same manner and to the same extent to 
  5.11  employees of the converted district.  Notwithstanding this 
  5.12  requirement, pipefitters and associated trades personnel with 
  5.13  coverage by the pipefitters local 455 pension plan under a 
  5.14  collective bargaining agreement who either were first employed 
  5.15  after May 1, 1997, or, if first employed before May 2, 1997, 
  5.16  elected exclusion from coverage under section 3 are not covered 
  5.17  by the public employees retirement association. 
  5.18     (c) General laws applicable to independent school districts 
  5.19  wholly or partly within cities of the first class shall not be 
  5.20  applicable to the converted district. 
  5.21     (d) The provision of the statutes applicable only to 
  5.22  teachers retirement fund associations in cities of the first 
  5.23  class, limiting the amount of annuity to be paid from public 
  5.24  funds, limiting the taxes to be levied to carry out the plan of 
  5.25  such associations, and limiting the amount of annuities to be 
  5.26  paid to beneficiaries, all as contained in Minnesota Statutes, 
  5.27  Section 135.24, shall not be applicable to such converted 
  5.28  district, but the statutes applicable to such special district 
  5.29  prior to the conversion shall continue to be applicable and the 
  5.30  pension plan in operation prior to the conversion shall continue 
  5.31  in operation until changed in accordance with law, and the 
  5.32  teacher tenure law applicable to the special district shall 
  5.33  continue to apply to the converted district in the same manner 
  5.34  and to the same extent to teachers in the converted district; 
  5.35  provided further, where existing civil service provisions of any 
  5.36  law or charter are applicable to special district employees, 
  6.1   such provision shall continue to be applicable in the same 
  6.2   manner and to the same extent to employees of the converted 
  6.3   district.  Notwithstanding any contrary provision of Extra 
  6.4   Session Laws 1959, Chapter 71, as amended, if there was in the 
  6.5   special district a teachers retirement fund association 
  6.6   operating and existing under the provisions of Laws 1909, 
  6.7   Chapter 343, and all acts amendatory thereof, then such teachers 
  6.8   retirement fund association shall continue to exist and operate 
  6.9   in the converted district under and to be subject to the 
  6.10  provisions of Laws 1909, Chapter 343, and all acts amendatory 
  6.11  thereof, to the same extent and in the same manner as before the 
  6.12  conversion, and, without limiting the generality of the 
  6.13  foregoing, such teachers retirement fund association shall 
  6.14  continue, after the conversion as before the conversion, to 
  6.15  certify to the same authorities the amount necessary to raise by 
  6.16  taxation in order to carry out its retirement plan, and it shall 
  6.17  continue, after the conversion as before the conversion, to be 
  6.18  the duty of said authorities to include in the tax levy for the 
  6.19  ensuing year a tax in addition to all other taxes sufficient to 
  6.20  produce so much of the sums so certified as said authorities 
  6.21  shall approve, and such teachers retirement fund association 
  6.22  shall not be subject after the conversion to any limitation on 
  6.23  payments to any beneficiary from public funds or on taxes to be 
  6.24  levied to carry out the plan of such association to which it was 
  6.25  not subject before the conversion. 
  6.26     Sec. 3.  [PUBLIC PENSION COVERAGE EXCLUSION FOR CERTAIN 
  6.27  TRADES PERSONNEL.] 
  6.28     Subdivision 1.  [EXCLUSION ELECTION.] (a) A pipefitter or 
  6.29  an associated tradesperson who is employed by independent school 
  6.30  district No. 625 (St. Paul) on the effective date of this 
  6.31  section and who has pension coverage by the pipefitters local 
  6.32  455 pension plan under a collective bargaining agreement may 
  6.33  elect to be excluded from pension coverage by the public 
  6.34  employees retirement association. 
  6.35     (b) The exclusion election under this section must be in 
  6.36  writing on a form prescribed by the executive director of the 
  7.1   public employees retirement association and filed with the 
  7.2   executive director.  The exclusion election is irrevocable.  
  7.3   Authority to make the coverage exclusion election expires on 
  7.4   January 1, 1998. 
  7.5      Subd. 2.  [ELIGIBILITY FOR MEMBER CONTRIBUTION REFUND.] A 
  7.6   person who elects the pension coverage exclusion under 
  7.7   subdivision 1 is entitled to immediately apply for a refund 
  7.8   under Minnesota Statutes, section 353.34, subdivisions 1 and 2, 
  7.9   following the effective date of the exclusion election. 
  7.10     Subd. 3.  [DEFERRED ANNUITY ELIGIBILITY.] In lieu of the 
  7.11  refund under subdivision 2, a person who elects the pension 
  7.12  coverage exclusion under subdivision 1 is entitled to a deferred 
  7.13  retirement annuity under Minnesota Statutes, sections 353.34, 
  7.14  subdivision 3, and 353.71, subdivision 2, based on any length of 
  7.15  allowable service credit under Minnesota Statutes, section 
  7.16  353.01, subdivision 16, to the credit of the person as of the 
  7.17  date of the coverage exclusion election. 
  7.18     Sec. 4.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  7.19     Sections 1 to 3 are effective on the day following approval 
  7.20  by majority vote of the board of independent school district No. 
  7.21  625 (St. Paul) and compliance with Minnesota Statutes, section 
  7.22  645.021.