The provisions made current refund policy retroactive in all plans included in the bills and increased the refund interest rate in the MSRS Judges Plan, enhanced surviving child and surviving spouse benefits, revised early retirement policy in the Elected State Officer Plan and Judges Plan, and made various changes of an administrative nature. The amendment is drawn as a blind amendment, with provisions which could be added in any vehicle that the Commission deemed appropriate. For purposes of discussion, the sections summarized below are numbered in the order in which they appear in the amendment. Policy issues applicable to the section appear after the summary of the section.
Prompt remittance allows the contributions to be invested sooner.
Revises Section 352.87, Subdivision 4, the MSRS Fire Marshal Division section, non-duty disability provision, by permitting the provision to apply to individuals who are age 55 or over. Revises Section 352.87, Subdivision 5, the MSRS Fire Marshal Division section, duty disability provision, by permitting the provision to apply to individuals who are age 55 or over. Sections 2 to 5 revise MSRS Fire Marshall and MSRS Correctional Plan law in a manner consistent with changes that MSRS, PERA, and TRA proposed several years ago to deal with age discrimination concerns in some of the plans. Those changes proposed by the plans were enacted into law, but it was never fully clear why these changes were required, or why they were proposed for some plans in some provisions of applicable plan law but not others. At the current time, by this drafting MSRS is indicating that changes in recently enacted MSRS Fire Marshal provisions, and more long-standing MSRS Correctional provisions, are needed to avoid age discrimination law suit concerns.