1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to retirement; volunteer firefighters; 
  1.3             allowing relief associations to pay service pensions 
  1.4             to former members who are full-time employees of the 
  1.5             fire department; amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, 
  1.6             section 424A.02, subdivision 1. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 424A.02, 
  1.9   subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subdivision 1.  [AUTHORIZATION.] (a) A relief association, 
  1.11  when its articles of incorporation or bylaws so provide, may pay 
  1.12  out of the assets of its special fund a service pension to each 
  1.13  of its members who:  (1) separates from active service with the 
  1.14  fire department; (2) reaches age 50; (3) completes at least five 
  1.15  years of active service as an active member of the municipal 
  1.16  fire department to which the relief association is associated; 
  1.17  (4) completes at least five years of active membership with the 
  1.18  relief association before separation from active service; and 
  1.19  (5) complies with any additional conditions as to age, service, 
  1.20  and membership that are prescribed by the bylaws of the relief 
  1.21  association.  A service pension computed under this section may 
  1.22  be prorated monthly for fractional years of service, if the 
  1.23  bylaws or articles of incorporation of the relief association so 
  1.24  provide.  The service pension may be paid whether or not the 
  1.25  municipality or nonprofit firefighting corporation to which the 
  1.26  relief association is associated qualifies for fire state aid 
  2.1   under chapter 69.  
  2.2      (b) In the case of a member who has completed at least five 
  2.3   years of active service as an active member of the fire 
  2.4   department to which the relief association is associated on the 
  2.5   date that the relief association is established and 
  2.6   incorporated, the requirement that the member complete at least 
  2.7   five years of active membership with the relief association 
  2.8   before separation from active service may be waived by the board 
  2.9   of trustees of the relief association if the member completes at 
  2.10  least five years of inactive membership with the relief 
  2.11  association before the payment of the service pension.  During 
  2.12  the period of inactive membership, the member is not entitled to 
  2.13  receive disability benefit coverage, is not entitled to receive 
  2.14  additional service credit towards computation of a service 
  2.15  pension, and is considered to have the status of a person 
  2.16  entitled to a deferred service pension under subdivision 7. 
  2.17     (c) No municipality or nonprofit firefighting corporation 
  2.18  may delegate the power to take final action in setting a service 
  2.19  pension or ancillary benefit amount or level to the board of 
  2.20  trustees of the relief association or to approve in advance a 
  2.21  service pension or ancillary benefit amount or level equal to 
  2.22  the maximum amount or level that this chapter would allow rather 
  2.23  than a specific dollar amount or level.  
  2.24     (d) No relief association as defined in section 424A.001, 
  2.25  subdivision 4, may pay a service pension or disability benefit 
  2.26  to a former member of the relief association if that person has 
  2.27  not separated from active service with the fire department to 
  2.28  which the relief association is directly associated, unless that 
  2.29  person is employed by the municipality to perform duties within 
  2.30  the fire department on a full-time basis. 
  2.31     Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.32     Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment.