The LPCR has been meeting since the start of the legislative session. The bipartisan commission develops pension bills most sessions that can range from minor revisions to the state’s defined-benefit plans to major changes to major shifts in deductions and benefits to respond to changing economics. So far, this session’s LPCR is focused primarily on small revisions. The Commission is working on Omnibus Pension Bill for this session but its scope is limited to making discrete changes within plans. Making benefits available to certain groups in the university system and some groups of ... Read More >>
Legislative updates
Significant Gains for State Employees
The conclusion of the Minnesota Legislature’s session brought some significant changes to state law. Many long-sought worker protections across a number of industries were won! The protections include state employees who work under MGEC’s contract. Several elements of the Public Employee Labor Relations Act (PELRA) were changed in the legislative session that are relevant to MGEC. Some of the changes include: Pay in the event of a government shutdown. The law now requires states employees to be paid upon the end of a shutdown. MGEC proposed similar language in 2015 because our ... Read More >>
Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement
The Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement (LPCR) met a number of times this legislative session and held its last regular meeting on Monday, April 17. Comprised of members from the House and Senate, it has produced an Omnibus Pension bill and a Pension Policy bill that have been sent on to the appropriate legislative committees. The issues of priority to the LPCR included lowering the “assumed rate of return” from 7.5% to 7%. While this puts some downward pressure on the asset projections moving forward, the LPCR’s perspective is that it’s important that the assumed rate of ... Read More >>
Legislative Pension Committee/PEPC Update
Minnesota’s legislature has a bipartisan committee of senators and representatives known as the Legislative Committee on Pensions and Retirement. It makes the fundamental decisions about our retirement security, administered on behalf executive branch employees by the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS) as well as all of the other state-wide pension systems for public employees. Because bargaining units are prohibited from negotiating retirement benefits under state law, it’s vital that unions track what the LCPR does as well as advocate on behalf of current employees and ... Read More >>
Contact Your Legislators
The 2021-2023 MGEC Contract is in effect. However, the legislature needs to approve of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for it to remain in effect once the current legislature adjourns. That deadline is currently scheduled for May 22. HF800 has been drafted to ratify the state employee contracts. It passed the House State Government Policy and Finance committee earlier this month. It still needs to make it through several steps of the legislative process. MGEC will work with the authors, MMB and others in the coming weeks. If you have any questions or concerns, let us know. ... Read More >>
Layoff Notices sent by MMB
Layoff Notices went out to most state employees. Governor Walz has communicated with employees that he hopes the general broad deal reached with House and Senate leadership will lead to a detailed budget agreement which needs to be passed into law before June 30, 2021. A special session is set to begin June 14th. Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) asked unions to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that acknowledges layoff if a budget bill is not passed and modifies union contracts pertaining to insurance, bumping, layoff notices, and other terms related to layoffs. At the heart of the ... Read More >>