Latest on the proposed PTSD legislation

March 30, 2023

Officer wellness is at the top of this year’s MCPA Legislative agenda. Specifically, we have been working diligently on the issue of PTSD. There are bills in the House and Senate that will help provide the necessary resources and funding to significantly help your agency. House File 1235 and Senate File 1959 have been heard in various committees over the past few weeks. 

These bills have two sections that address the recent PTSD trends. One section provides for treatment for those impacted by psychological injuries. The other section addresses the pension implications of the relatively recent increase in duty disability pensions. 

Because the bills have two sections, I will try to provide you with a very brief explanation of the two sections:

  1. PTSD Treatment and a requirement for agencies to have an Officer wellness program: 

The bills require a public safety employee to attempt treatment before applying for a duty disability. The bill requires them to attend up to 24 weeks of treatment with a possible extension of 8 weeks before a duty disability can be granted. The employee would continue to receive full pay and benefits while participating in the treatment. The agency will be reimbursed for the cost of the treatment and wages of the impacted employee while they are not able to perform their duties. The bills also require agencies to implement an officer wellness program. These sections have been worked on for over two years with stakeholders from labor (MPPOA, LELS, and the Professional Firefighters) and employer groups ( MCPA, Minnesota Sheriffs Assn, Minnesota Counties Assn., League of Minnesota Cities). All of the stakeholder groups have been at the table to negotiate the provisions of this part of the bill, and to our knowledge, they all support the treatment provisions. These changes were made with the understanding that requiring and funding treatment would allow many of the officers and firefighters to return to full duty after successfully completing treatment. Those who are not able to return will still be able to obtain a duty disability pension as they are under existing law. 

  1. PERA Changes: 

These areas of the bills were worked on by PERA. They include new provisions that may reduce the duty disability pension if the employee returns to work after they start receiving the duty disability pension. I want to be clear: if the person is unable to work again, they would not be impacted.  

The bills include what are called "offsets." An offset is the reduction of the duty disability pension when there is new employment (reemployment) earnings by the duty disability pension recipient. The offsets are being proposed to protect the police and Fire fund from further funding shortfalls. They are also being proposed to create equity with those who are still actively working as police officers or firefighters. I have described the duty disability pension as similar to an unemployment benefit. In that, if the person does not work, the pension continues at the same level indefinitely, but if the person goes back to work at a different job, the duty disability benefits are reduced commensurate with the new employment earnings. In any re-employment scenario, the person who is receiving a duty disability can continue earning at the same level or higher than a person still employed as a police officer or firefighter. Again, the goal of the offset is to create compensation equity with those still actively working as a police officer or firefighter and to help address a funding shortfall in the Police and Fire fund. If these changes are not implemented or if they are unsuccessful in addressing the funding shortfall, PERA may need to increase pension contributions by the employers and employees in the future. 

Any person who is granted a full and permanent disability (this is a different level of disability than a duty disability) is not impacted by the changes. In fact, if these bills pass, a person on a full and permanent disability would receive 99% of their pre-injury earnings (they are currently capped at 60% (tax-free with health insurance).

For more information on how the offsets work and a clarification about the duty disability reapplication process, please see the recently released statements from PERA at this link: https://mnpera.org/legislation/.

There has been some information sent out by other groups that are misleading. To help clear up any misunderstandings about what these bills do and don’t do, please feel free to share this information with others in your agency. For those attending ETI, there will be a PERA-specific session on Friday at 11:15: PERA Update: Police and Fire Plan Duty Disability Trends. I encourage you to attend to hear an in-person update.

As always, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this very important legislation.

JEFF POTTS
Executive Director
Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association