AB 634

Under current law, participants under the Wisconsin Retirement System

(WRS) whose principal duties involve law enforcement or fire suppression or

prevention and require frequent exposure to a high degree of danger or peril and a

high degree of physical conditioning are classified as protective occupation

participants. Current law specifically classifies police officers, fire fighters, and

various other individuals as protective occupation participants. Under the WRS, the

normal retirement age of a protective occupation participant is lower than that of

other participants and the percentage multiplier used to calculate retirement

annuities is higher for protective occupation participants than for other participants.

This bill classifies county jail employees, county employees of a juvenile

detention facility, and state employees who are employed at state correctional

institutions, juvenile correctional facilities, the mental health institutes at Mendota

and Winnebago, the Wisconsin Resource Center, or secure mental health units or

facilities for sexually violent persons, as protective occupation participants, but only

if collective bargaining agreements covering the employees require the employees to

become protective occupation participants.

In addition, the bill makes protective occupation participant status under the

WRS and a county retirement system, if such status is available, for these specific

employees a mandatory subject of collective bargaining under the Municipal

Employment Relations Act and the State Employees Labor Relations Act. A

mandatory subject of collective bargaining is one primarily related to wages, hours,

and conditions of employment over which the employer is required to bargain.

Because this bill relates to public employee retirement or pensions, it may be

referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems for a report to be

printed as an appendix to the bill.