Minnesota Statutes Retirement (Ch. 352-356B) § 353G.01. Definitions

Subdivision 1. Scope. For the purposes of this chapter, the words or terms defined in this section have the meanings given to them unless the context of the word or term clearly indicates otherwise.

Subd. 2. Advisory board. “Advisory board” means the board established bysection 353G.03.

Subd. 2a. Association. “Association” means the Public Employees Retirement Association established under chapter 353.

Subd. 3. Board. “Board” means the board of trustees of the Public Employees Retirement Association operating undersection 353.03.

Subd. 4. Commissioner of management and budget. “Commissioner of management and budget” means the state official appointed and qualified undersection 16A.01.

Subd. 4a. Defined contribution fund. “Defined contribution fund” means that portion of the fund consisting of the assets attributable to the defined contribution plan.

Subd. 4b. Defined contribution plan. “Defined contribution plan” means the plan that is one of the two plans that comprise the statewide volunteer firefighter plan. The defined contribution plan provides each member with a retirement benefit equal to the member's individual account balance, to which state aid, contributions, forfeitures, and investment earnings and losses have been credited.

Subd. 4c. Defined benefit fund. “Defined benefit fund” means that portion of the fund consisting of the assets attributable to the defined benefit plan.

Subd. 4d. Defined benefit plan. “Defined benefit plan” means the plan that is one of the two plans that comprise the statewide volunteer firefighter plan. The defined benefit plan provides each member with a retirement benefit that is either a lump sum or a monthly pension in an amount determined by using a formula that takes into account years of service, vesting percentage, and the benefit level for the member's fire department. The defined benefit plan consists of the lump-sum division and the monthly division.

Subd. 5. Executive director; director. “Executive director” or “director” means the person appointed undersection 353.03, subdivision 3a.

Subd. 5a. Fire department account. “Fire department account” means the account in the name of each participating employer to which is credited the assets and, in the case of a participating employer in the defined benefit plan, the liabilities related to the retirement benefits for members who are or were providing service to the participating employer.

Subd. 5b. Firefighting corporation. “Firefighting corporation” means a firefighting corporation that is organized under the provisions of chapter 317A and that operates primarily for firefighting purposes.

Subd. 5c. Forfeiture. “Forfeiture” means the portion of an account or pension benefit that is forfeited when a volunteer firefighter ends service before becoming 100 percent vested in the account or pension benefit.

Subd. 6. Fund. “Fund” means the statewide volunteer firefighter fund established undersection 353G.02, subdivision 3.

Subd. 6a. Governing body. “Governing body” means the governing body of a municipality or firefighting corporation or, in the case of a joint powers entity, the governing bodies of the municipalities associated with the joint powers entity.

Subd. 6b. Individual account. “Individual account” means the account in a fire department account in the defined contribution plan established for a member undersection 353G.082to which allocations are credited and from which deductions are taken undersection 353G.082.

Subd. 7. Repealed byLaws 2023, c. 47, art. 10, § 10, eff. Jan. 1, 2024.

Subd. 7a. Repealed byLaws 2024, c. 102, art. 3, § 46,eff. Jan. 1, 205.

Subd. 7b. Lump-sum division. “Lump-sum division” means the division of the defined benefit plan governed bysection 353G.11.

Subd. 8. Member. “Member” means an individual who is or was a volunteer firefighter providing service to a municipality or a firefighting corporation that has elected coverage by the plan undersection 353G.05, and whose service is covered by the plan.

Subd. 8a. Repealed byLaws 2024, c. 102, art. 3, § 46,eff. Jan. 1, 205.

Subd. 8b. Monthly division. “Monthly division” means the division of the defined benefit plan governed bysection 353G.112.

Subd. 9. Municipality. “Municipality” means a city or township that has established a fire department, a city or township that has entered into a contract with a firefighting corporation, or a city or township that has entered into a contract with a joint powers entity undersection 471.59that has established or operates a fire department.

Subd. 9a. Relief association. “Relief association” means a relief association as defined undersection 424A.001, subdivision 4.

Subd. 9b. Normal retirement age. “Normal retirement age” means age 50.

Subd. 9c. Participating employer. “Participating employer” means the municipality or firefighting corporation that has joined the retirement plan and is associated with a fire department with volunteer firefighters who are covered by the retirement plan.

Subd. 10. Repealed byLaws 2024, c. 102, art. 3, § 46, eff. Jan. 1, 2025.

Subd. 10a.Retirement benefit plan document. “Retirement benefit plan document,” for an account in the monthly division, means the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the prior former firefighters relief association in effect on the day before the date on which the retirement coverage transfer undersection 353G.05occurred or as provided in the most recent modification undersection 353G.121.

Subd. 11. Retirement fund. “Retirement fund” means the statewide volunteer firefighter fund established undersection 353G.02, subdivision 3, consisting of the defined contribution fund and the defined benefit fund.

Subd. 12. Retirement plan. “Retirement plan” or “plan” means the statewide volunteer firefighter plan, consisting of the defined contribution plan and the defined benefit plan, established by this chapter.

Subd. 12a. Service credit. “Service credit” means the period of service rendered by a volunteer firefighter that is certified undersection 353G.07by the fire chief of the fire department in which the volunteer firefighter serves.

Subd. 13. Standards for actuarial work. “Standards for actuarial work” means the standards adopted by the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement undersection 3.85, subdivision 10.

Subd. 14. State Board of Investment. “State Board of Investment” means the board created byarticle XI, section 8, of the Minnesota Constitutionand governed by chapter 11A.

Subd. 14a. Vesting service credit. “Vesting service credit” means service credit plus any earlier period of service rendered as a volunteer firefighter, as defined in subdivision 15, in another fire department covered by the plan or in a fire department in the state that was not covered by the plan at the time the service was rendered.

Subd. 15. Volunteer firefighter. “Volunteer firefighter” means a person who is a member of the fire department of a municipality or a firefighting corporation and who, in that capacity, on either a volunteer or on-call basis, engages in: