1.2relating to retirement; Public Employees Retirement Association defined benefit
1.3retirement plans; increasing the minimum salary threshold for plan coverage
1.4eligibility;amending Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 353.01,
1.5subdivisions 2a, 2b.
1.6BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7    Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 353.01, subdivision 2a,
1.8is amended to read:
1.9    Subd. 2a. Included employees; mandatory membership. (a) Public employees
1.10whose annual salary from one governmental subdivision is stipulated in advance to exceed
1.11$5,100 $14,800 if the person is not a school year employee or $3,800 $11,100 if the
1.12person is a school year employee and who are not specifically excluded under subdivision
1.132b or who have not been provided an option to participate under subdivision 2d, whether
1.14individually or by action of the governmental subdivision, must participate as members of
1.15the association with retirement coverage by the general employees retirement plan under
1.16this chapter, the public employees police and fire retirement plan under this chapter, or the
1.17local government correctional employees retirement plan under chapter 353E, whichever
1.18applies. Membership commences as a condition of their employment on the first day of
1.19their employment or on the first day that the eligibility criteria are met, whichever is later.
1.20Public employees include but are not limited to:
1.21(1) persons whose salary meets the threshold in this paragraph from employment in
1.22one or more positions within one governmental subdivision;
1.23(2) elected county sheriffs;
2.1(3) persons who are appointed, employed, or contracted to perform governmental
2.2functions that by law or local ordinance are required of a public officer, including, but
2.3not limited to:
2.4(i) town and city clerk or treasurer;
2.5(ii) county auditor, treasurer, or recorder;
2.6(iii) city manager as defined in section 353.028 who does not exercise the option
2.7provided under subdivision 2d; or
2.8(iv) emergency management director, as provided under section 12.25;
2.9(4) physicians under section 353D.01, subdivision 2, who do not elect public
2.10employees defined contribution plan coverage under section 353D.02, subdivision 2;
2.11(5) full-time employees of the Dakota County Agricultural Society;
2.12(6) employees of the Red Wing Port Authority who were first employed by the
2.13Red Wing Port Authority before May 1, 2011, and who are not excluded employees
2.14under subdivision 2b;
2.15(7) employees of the Seaway Port Authority of Duluth who are not excluded
2.16employees under subdivision 2b;
2.17(8) employees of the Stevens County Housing and Redevelopment Authority who
2.18were first employed by the Stevens County Housing and Redevelopment Authority before
2.19May 1, 2014, and who are not excluded employees under subdivision 2b;
2.20(9) employees of the Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging who were first
2.21employed by a Regional Development Commission before January 1, 2016, and who are
2.22not excluded employees under subdivision 2b; and
2.23(10) employees of the Public Employees Retirement Association.
2.24    (b) A public employee or elected official who was a member of the association on
2.25June 30, 2002, based on employment that qualified for membership coverage by the public
2.26employees retirement plan or the public employees police and fire plan under this chapter,
2.27or the local government correctional employees retirement plan under chapter 353E as of
2.28June 30, 2002, retains that membership for the duration of the person's employment in that
2.29position or incumbency in elected office. Except as provided in subdivision 28, the person
2.30shall participate as a member until the employee or elected official terminates public
2.31employment under subdivision 11a or terminates membership under subdivision 11b.
2.32(c) If in any subsequent year the annual salary of an included public employee is
2.33less than the minimum salary threshold specified in this subdivision, the member retains
2.34membership eligibility.
3.1(d) For the purpose of participation in the general employees retirement plan, public
3.2employees include employees who were members of the former Minneapolis Employees
3.3Retirement Fund on June 29, 2010.

3.4    Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 353.01, subdivision 2b, is
3.5amended to read:
3.6    Subd. 2b. Excluded employees. (a) The following public employees are not eligible
3.7to participate as members of the association with retirement coverage by the general
3.8employees retirement plan, the local government correctional employees retirement plan
3.9under chapter 353E, or the public employees police and fire retirement plan:
3.10    (1) persons whose annual salary from one governmental subdivision never exceeds
3.11an amount, stipulated in writing in advance, of $5,100 $14,800 if the person is not a
3.12school district employee or $3,800 $11,100 if the person is a school year employee. If
3.13annual compensation from one governmental subdivision to an employee exceeds the
3.14stipulated amount in a calendar year or a school year, whichever applies, after being
3.15stipulated in advance not to exceed the applicable amount, the stipulation is no longer
3.16valid and contributions must be made on behalf of the employee under section 353.27,
3.17subdivision 12 , from the first month in which the employee received salary exceeding
3.18$425 $1,235 in a month;
3.19(2) public officers who are elected to a governing body, city mayors, or persons who
3.20are appointed to fill a vacancy in an elective office of a governing body, whose term of office
3.21commences on or after July 1, 2002, for the service to be rendered in that elective position;
3.22    (3) election judges and persons employed solely to administer elections;
3.23    (4) patient and inmate personnel who perform services for a governmental
3.24subdivision;
3.25    (5) except as otherwise specified in subdivision 12a, employees who are employed
3.26solely in a temporary position as defined under subdivision 12a, and employees who
3.27resign from a nontemporary position and accept a temporary position within 30 days of
3.28that resignation in the same governmental subdivision;
3.29    (6) employees who are employed by reason of work emergency caused by fire,
3.30flood, storm, or similar disaster, but if the person becomes a probationary or provisional
3.31employee within the same pay period, other than on a temporary basis, the person is a
3.32"public employee" retroactively to the beginning of the pay period;
3.33    (7) employees who by virtue of their employment in one governmental subdivision
3.34are required by law to be a member of and to contribute to any of the plans or funds
3.35administered by the Minnesota State Retirement System, the Teachers Retirement
4.1Association, or the St. Paul Teachers Retirement Fund Association, but this exclusion
4.2must not be construed to prevent a person from being a member of and contributing to
4.3the Public Employees Retirement Association and also belonging to and contributing to
4.4another public pension plan or fund for other service occurring during the same period
4.5of time, and a person who meets the definition of "public employee" in subdivision 2 by
4.6virtue of other service occurring during the same period of time becomes a member of the
4.7association unless contributions are made to another public retirement plan on the salary
4.8based on the other service or to the Teachers Retirement Association by a teacher as
4.9defined in section 354.05, subdivision 2;
4.10    (8) persons who are members of a religious order and are excluded from coverage
4.11under the federal Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance Program for the
4.12performance of service as specified in United States Code, title 42, section 410(a)(8)(A),
4.13as amended, if no irrevocable election of coverage has been made under section 3121(r) of
4.14the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended;
4.15    (9) persons who are:
4.16    (i) employed by a governmental subdivision who have not reached the age of 23
4.17and who are enrolled on a full-time basis to attend or are attending classes on a full-time
4.18basis at an accredited school, college, or university in an undergraduate, graduate, or
4.19professional-technical program, or at a public or charter high school;
4.20    (ii) employed as resident physicians, medical interns, pharmacist residents, or
4.21pharmacist interns and are serving in a degree or residency program in a public hospital
4.22or in a public clinic; or
4.23    (iii) students who are serving for a period not to exceed five years in an internship
4.24or a residency program that is sponsored by a governmental subdivision, including an
4.25accredited educational institution;
4.26    (10) persons who hold a part-time adult supplementary technical college license who
4.27render part-time teaching service in a technical college;
4.28    (11) except for employees of Hennepin County or employees of Hennepin
4.29Healthcare System, Inc., foreign citizens who are employed by a governmental subdivision
4.30under a work permit or under an H-1b visa initially issued or extended for a combined
4.31period of less than three years of employment but upon extension of the employment of
4.32the visa beyond the three-year period, the foreign citizen must be reported for membership
4.33beginning on the first of the month following the extension if the monthly earnings
4.34threshold as provided under subdivision 2a, paragraph (a), is met;
5.1    (12) public hospital employees who elected not to participate as members of the
5.2association before 1972 and who did not elect to participate from July 1, 1988, to October
5.31, 1988;
5.4    (13) except as provided in section 353.86, volunteer ambulance service personnel, as
5.5defined in subdivision 35, but persons who serve as volunteer ambulance service personnel
5.6may still qualify as public employees under subdivision 2 and may be members of the
5.7Public Employees Retirement Association and participants in the general employees
5.8retirement plan or the public employees police and fire plan, whichever applies, on the
5.9basis of compensation received from public employment service other than service as
5.10volunteer ambulance service personnel;
5.11    (14) except as provided in section 353.87, volunteer firefighters, as defined in
5.12subdivision 36, engaging in activities undertaken as part of volunteer firefighter duties,
5.13but a person who is a volunteer firefighter may still qualify as a public employee under
5.14subdivision 2 and may be a member of the Public Employees Retirement Association and
5.15a participant in the general employees retirement plan or the public employees police
5.16and fire plan, whichever applies, on the basis of compensation received from public
5.17employment activities other than those as a volunteer firefighter;
5.18    (15) pipefitters and associated trades personnel employed by Independent School
5.19District No. 625, St. Paul, with coverage under a collective bargaining agreement by the
5.20pipefitters local 455 pension plan who were either first employed after May 1, 1997, or,
5.21if first employed before May 2, 1997, elected to be excluded under Laws 1997, chapter
5.22241, article 2, section 12;
5.23    (16) electrical workers, plumbers, carpenters, and associated trades personnel who
5.24are employed by Independent School District No. 625, St. Paul, or the city of St. Paul,
5.25who have retirement coverage under a collective bargaining agreement by the Electrical
5.26Workers Local 110 pension plan, the United Association Plumbers Local 34 pension plan,
5.27or the pension plan applicable to Carpenters Local 322 who were either first employed
5.28after May 1, 2000, or, if first employed before May 2, 2000, elected to be excluded under
5.29Laws 2000, chapter 461, article 7, section 5;
5.30    (17) bricklayers, allied craftworkers, cement masons, glaziers, glassworkers,
5.31painters, allied tradesworkers, and plasterers who are employed by the city of St. Paul
5.32or Independent School District No. 625, St. Paul, with coverage under a collective
5.33bargaining agreement by the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 pension plan,
5.34the Cement Masons Local 633 pension plan, the Glaziers and Glassworkers Local L-1324
5.35pension plan, the Painters and Allied Trades Local 61 pension plan, or the Twin Cities
5.36Plasterers Local 265 pension plan who were either first employed after May 1, 2001, or if
6.1first employed before May 2, 2001, elected to be excluded under Laws 2001, First Special
6.2Session chapter 10, article 10, section 6;
6.3    (18) plumbers who are employed by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, with
6.4coverage under a collective bargaining agreement by the Plumbers Local 34 pension plan,
6.5who either were first employed after May 1, 2001, or if first employed before May 2,
6.62001, elected to be excluded under Laws 2001, First Special Session chapter 10, article
6.710, section 6;
6.8    (19) employees who are hired after June 30, 2002, solely to fill seasonal positions
6.9under subdivision 12b which are limited in duration by the employer to 185 consecutive
6.10calendar days or less in each year of employment with the governmental subdivision;
6.11    (20) persons who are provided supported employment or work-study positions by a
6.12governmental subdivision and who participate in an employment or industries program
6.13maintained for the benefit of these persons where the governmental subdivision limits the
6.14position's duration to up to five years, including persons participating in a federal or state
6.15subsidized on-the-job training, work experience, senior citizen, youth, or unemployment
6.16relief program where the training or work experience is not provided as a part of, or
6.17for, future permanent public employment;
6.18    (21) independent contractors and the employees of independent contractors;
6.19    (22) reemployed annuitants of the association during the course of that reemployment;
6.20(23) persons appointed to serve on a board or commission of a governmental
6.21subdivision or an instrumentality thereof;
6.22(24) persons employed as full-time fixed-route bus drivers by the St. Cloud
6.23Metropolitan Transit Commission who are members of the International Brotherhood
6.24of Teamsters Local 638 and who are, by virtue of that employment, members of the
6.25International Brotherhood of Teamsters Central States pension plan; and
6.26(25) electricians or pipefitters employed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation
6.27Board, with coverage under a collective bargaining agreement by the IBEW local 292, or
6.28pipefitters local 539 pension plan, who were first employed before May 2, 2015, and who
6.29elected to be excluded under Laws 2015, chapter 68, article 11, section 5.
6.30(b) Any person performing the duties of a public officer in a position defined in
6.31subdivision 2a, paragraph (a), clause (3), is not an independent contractor and is not an
6.32employee of an independent contractor.