These six bills were passed and signed by Governor Burgum during the recent 67th Legislative Assembly.
NDPERS Executive Director Scott Miller expressed “We had a very successful session. Our budget bill [HB 1023] provided us with additional funding for a new accountant and to have a dedicated receptionist for our new office. It also provided us with funding to have some major upgrades done to our business system, which will make us significantly more efficient at providing services to our members.
While the bills we proposed to improve the funding of the Main PERS defined benefit plan were all defeated, HB 1380 added the Main PERS plan as a recipient of some of the Legacy Fund earnings in the future. We do not yet have an actuarial analysis of the effect of that new income stream, but we anticipate it will provide help as we try to get our Main PERS plan back on the course to being 100% funded. As we learn more in the future I will provide some additional updates in our newsletter.”
Read this quick summary to stay in the loop:
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Health Insurance for Survivors of First Responders who die in the line of duty [HB 1435]
Survivors of a first responder who died in the line of duty on or after January 1, 2010 will receive the option to enroll in the NDPERS health insurance plan with coverage effective August 1, 2021 without having to pay premium towards the coverage.
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Financial Penalties for Employers [HB 1041]
Establishes financial penalties for employers violating statutory requirements in regards to retirement and insurance reporting and payment processes. This bill is effective August 1, 2021.
NDPERS will communicate directly with employers on the implementation of this bill.
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Funding of the Highway Patrol Retirement Plan [SB 2043]
Establishes a gradual retirement contribution increase into the Highway Patrol increase as follows:
Effective Date
Employer Monthly Contribution Increase
Employee Monthly Contribution Increase
January 1, 2022 0.5% 0.5% January 1, 2023 0.5% 0.5% January 1, 2024 0.5% 0.5% January 1, 2025 0.5% 0.5%
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Funding of the NDPERS Defined Benefit Hybrid – Main – Retirement Plan [HB 1380]
Adds the Main Retirement Plan as a recipient of future Legacy Fund earnings if the Plan’s actuarial funded ratio is less than 90% and other defined parameters. NDPERS will monitor the implementation of this bill and provide future updates on the Plan’s actuarial funded ratio.
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NDPERS Technical Corrections [SB 2044]
- Clarifies eligibility of members or surviving spouses to receive Retiree Health Insurance Credit (RHIC) benefits.*
- Establishes that a benefit payment owed to a member, surviving spouse or alternate beneficiary, which was not paid before the death of the member, surviving spouse or alternate beneficiary, must be paid to the named beneficiary of the recipient or, if there is not named beneficiary, to the recipient’s estate.
- Changes the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) age from 70 ½ to 72 for members who attain age 70 ½ after December 31, 2019. This aligns NDPERS practices with recent federal law changes.
- Reduces the period from 2 years to one year for NDPERS to consider a member “missing,” which allows NDPERS to implement more public efforts to reach the member.
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Health Insurance Clarification [HB 1042]
Clarifies which health insurance plans need to meet Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) transparency requirements.*
* These statements are informational only and do not change how these benefits have been and will continue to be administered by NDPERS.