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LRB-0856/1
MIM:kjf
2019 - 2020 LEGISLATURE
February 4, 2019 - Introduced by Representatives Born, Edming, Brandtjen,
Brooks, Felzkowski, Horlacher, Jagler, Katsma, Krug, Kuglitsch, Kurtz,
Loudenbeck, Macco, Milroy, Murphy, Mursau, Novak, Petersen, Plumer,
Rohrkaste, Schraa, Shankland, Sinicki, Steffen, Steineke, Stuck, Subeck,
Swearingen, Thiesfeldt, Tranel, VanderMeer, Zimmerman, Sortwell and
Tusler, cosponsored by Senators Marklein, Bewley, Darling, Hansen,
Jacque, Johnson, Larson, Risser, Schachtner, Smith, Testin and Bernier.
Referred to Committee on Corrections.
AB5,1,7 1An Act to renumber and amend 40.05 (2) (ar); to amend 40.02 (48) (b) 3., 40.02
2(48) (c) and 40.23 (3) (a); and to create 40.02 (17) (n), 40.02 (48) (am) 23., 40.02
3(48) (b) 5., 40.05 (1) (a) 7., 40.05 (2) (ap), 40.05 (2) (ar) 2., 40.23 (3) (c), 40.65 (4w),
459.52 (8m) and 111.70 (4) (bn) of the statutes; relating to: classifying county
5jailers as protective occupation participants under the Wisconsin Retirement
6System and the treatment of county jailers under the Municipal Employment
7Relations Act.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, participants under the Wisconsin Retirement System
(WRS) whose principal duties involve active 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 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.
This bill classifies county jailers as protective occupation participants without
a requirement that their principal duties involve active law enforcement or active

fire suppression or prevention. The bill defines county jailers as persons employed
by a county whose principal duties involve supervising, controlling, or maintaining
a jail or persons confined in a jail, regardless of whether the jailers have been sworn
regarding their duties or whether they serve on a full-time basis.
Under the bill, county jailers who become protective occupation participants on
or after the bill's effective date and are employed by a county that did not classify
county jailers as protective occupation participants on July 1, 2018, are required to
pay all additional employer costs resulting from their classification as protective
occupation participants, including the cost of the duty disability program. County
jailers who were classified as protective occupation participants before the bill's
effective date and county jailers hired on or after the bill's effective date in counties
that did classify county jailers as protective occupation participants on July 1, 2018,
are not required to pay the additional employer costs. The bill also allows a county
jailer to elect at the time of hire not to become a protective occupation participant.
Finally, under the Municipal Employment Relations Act, public safety
employees may collectively bargain over wages, hours, and conditions of
employment, and general employees may bargain collectively over only an annual
percentage wage increase that does not exceed the annual percentage increase in the
consumer price index. Under MERA, public safety employees and general employees
may not be in the same collective bargaining unit. This bill amends MERA so that
a county that treats a county jailer as a public safety employee on the effective date
of this bill shall continue to treat any person it employs as a county jailer as a public
safety employee except that, if the county subsequently raises a question regarding
the appropriateness of including county jailers in a collective bargaining unit
containing public safety employees, no person the county employs as a county jailer
may be treated as a public safety employee.
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.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB5,1 1Section 1 . 40.02 (17) (n) of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,3,52 40.02 (17) (n) Notwithstanding par. (d), each participant who is a county jailer
3and who is classified as a protective occupation participant shall be granted
4creditable service as a protective occupation participant for all covered service as a
5county jailer that was earned on or after the effective date of this paragraph .... [LRB

1inserts date], but may not be granted creditable service as a protective occupation
2participant for any covered service as a county jailer that was earned before the
3effective date of this paragraph .... [LRB inserts date], unless that service was earned
4while the participant was classified under sub. (48) (a) and s. 40.06 (1) (d) as a
5protective occupation participant.
AB5,2 6Section 2 . 40.02 (48) (am) 23. of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,3,77 40.02 (48) (am) 23. A county jailer.
AB5,3 8Section 3 . 40.02 (48) (b) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB5,3,189 40.02 (48) (b) 3. A “deputy sheriff" or a “county traffic police officer" is any
10officer or employee of a sheriff's office or county traffic department, except one whose
11principal duties are those of a telephone operator, clerk, stenographer, machinist or
12mechanic and whose functions do not clearly fall within the scope of active law
13enforcement even though such an employee is subject to occasional call, or is
14occasionally called upon, to perform duties within the scope of active law
15enforcement. Deputy sheriff or county traffic police officer includes also does not
16include a county jailer, but does include
any person regularly employed and
17qualifying as a deputy sheriff or county traffic police officer, even if temporarily
18assigned to other duties.
AB5,4 19Section 4 . 40.02 (48) (b) 5. of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,4,520 40.02 (48) (b) 5. A “county jailer" is an employee of a county whose principal
21duties involve supervising, controlling, or maintaining a jail or the persons confined
22in a jail, as assigned by the sheriff under s. 59.27 (1), regardless of whether the
23employee has been sworn regarding his or her duties or whether the employee serves
24on a full-time basis. Notwithstanding par. (a), an employer may classify an employee
25who is a county jailer as a protective occupation participant under par. (am) 23.

1without making a determination that the principal duties of the employee involve
2active law enforcement or active fire suppression or prevention. A determination
3under this subdivision may not be appealed under s. 40.06 (1) (e) or (em). A county
4jailer is not a protective occupation participant if he or she so elects with the employer
5under s. 59.52 (8m) or 2019 Wisconsin Act .... (this act).
AB5,5 6Section 5 . 40.02 (48) (c) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB5,4,187 40.02 (48) (c) In s. 40.65, “protective occupation participant" means a
8participating employee who is a police officer, fire fighter, an individual determined
9by a participating employer under par. (a) or (bm) to be a protective occupation
10participant, county undersheriff, deputy sheriff, county jailer, state probation and
11parole officer, county traffic police officer, conservation warden, state forest ranger,
12field conservation employee of the department of natural resources who is subject to
13call for forest fire control or warden duty, member of the state traffic patrol, state
14motor vehicle inspector, University of Wisconsin System full-time police officer,
15guard or any other employee whose principal duties are supervision and discipline
16of inmates at a state penal institution, excise tax investigator employed by the
17department of revenue, person employed under s. 60.553 (1), 61.66 (1), or 62.13 (2e)
18(a), or special criminal investigation agent employed by the department of justice.
AB5,6 19Section 6 . 40.05 (1) (a) 7. of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,5,220 40.05 (1) (a) 7. For a county jailer covered under subd. 3., the percentage of
21earnings equal to the total actuarially required contribution rate, as approved by the
22board under s. 40.03 (1) (e), for a participating employee whose formula rate is
23determined under s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 3., less the contribution rate paid by the employer
24for a county jailer under sub. (2) (a). This subdivision applies only to a county jailer
25who becomes a protective occupation participant on or after the effective date of this

1subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], and is employed in a county that did not classify
2county jailers as protective occupation participants on July 1, 2018.
AB5,7 3Section 7 . 40.05 (2) (ap) of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,5,124 40.05 (2) (ap) The contributions under par. (a) that are required to be paid by
5a participating employer for a county jailer whose formula rate is determined under
6s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 3. shall be a percentage of earnings equal to one-half of the total
7actuarially required contribution rate, as approved by the board under s. 40.03 (1)
8(e), for an employee whose formula rate is determined under s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 1. This
9paragraph applies only to contributions paid for a county jailer who becomes a
10protective occupation participant on or after the effective date of this paragraph ....
11[LRB inserts date], and is employed in a county that did not classify county jailers
12as protective occupation participants on July 1, 2018.
AB5,8 13Section 8 . 40.05 (2) (ar) of the statutes is renumbered 40.05 (2) (ar) 1. and
14amended to read:
AB5,5,1815 40.05 (2) (ar) 1. Participating Except as provided in subd. 2., participating
16employers of employees subject to s. 40.65 shall contribute an additional percentage
17or percentages of those employees' earnings based on the experience rates
18determined to be appropriate by the board with the advice of the actuary.
AB5,9 19Section 9 . 40.05 (2) (ar) 2. of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,5,2420 40.05 (2) (ar) 2. County jailers who become protective occupation participants
21on or after the effective date of this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], and are
22employed in a county that did not classify county jailers as protective occupation
23participants on July 1, 2018, shall make the contribution under subd. 1. in lieu of
24their employers.
AB5,10 25Section 10 . 40.23 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB5,6,9
140.23 (3) (a) Except as provided in par. pars. (b) and (c), the initial monthly
2amount of any retirement annuity in the normal form shall not be less than the
3money purchase annuity which can be provided by applying the sum of the
4participant's accumulated additional and required contributions, including interest
5credited to the accumulations, plus an amount from the employer accumulation
6reserve equal to the participant's accumulated required contributions, less any
7accumulated contributions to purchase other governmental service under s. 40.25
8(7), 2001 stats., or s. 40.285 (2) (b) to fund the annuity in accordance with the
9actuarial tables in effect on the annuity effective date.
AB5,11 10Section 11 . 40.23 (3) (c) of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,6,1711 40.23 (3) (c) Under par. (a), for a county jailer described in s. 40.02 (48) (am)
1223., the amount to be paid from the employer accumulation reserve is equal to the
13employer required contributions, including interest, paid for a county jailer under
14s. 40.05 (2) (a). This paragraph applies only to a county jailer who becomes a
15protective occupation participant on or after the effective date of this paragraph ....
16[LRB inserts date], and is employed in a county that did not classify county jailers
17as protective occupation participants on July 1, 2018.
AB5,12 18Section 12 . 40.65 (4w) of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,6,2219 40.65 (4w) A county jailer who becomes a protective occupation participant on
20or after the effective date of this subsection .... [LRB inserts date], is not entitled to
21a duty disability benefit under this section for an injury or disease occurring before
22the effective date of this subsection .... [LRB inserts date].
AB5,13 23Section 13 . 59.52 (8m) of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,7,324 59.52 (8m) Employment of county jailers. The board shall provide an
25individual who is employed as a county jailer an option to elect not to be a protective

1occupation participant under s. 40.02 (48) (b) at the time the individual is hired as
2a county jailer. An individual shall make an election under this subsection in writing
3on a form provided by the board.
AB5,14 4Section 14 . 111.70 (4) (bn) of the statutes is created to read:
AB5,7,75 111.70 (4) (bn) Public safety employee determination regarding county jailers.
61. Except as provided under subd. 2., a county jailer, as defined in s. 40.02 (48) (b)
75., is a general municipal employee.
AB5,7,138 2. A county that treats a county jailer as a public safety employee on the
9effective date of this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], shall continue to treat any
10person it employs as a county jailer as a public safety employee except that, if the
11county raises a question concerning the appropriateness of including county jailers
12in a collective bargaining unit that includes public safety employees, no person it
13employs as a county jailer may be treated as a public safety employee.
AB5,15 14Section 15 . Nonstatutory provision.
AB5,7,2115 (1) County jailer opt out from protective occupation participant status
16under Wisconsin Retirement System.
No later than 60 days after the effective date
17of this subsection, if an individual employed as a county jailer on the effective date
18of this subsection does not want to be a protective occupation participant under the
19Wisconsin Retirement System, the individual shall notify his or her employer in
20writing on a form provided by the employer. An election not to be a protective
21occupation participant is irrevocable.
AB5,16 22Section 16 . Effective date.
AB5,7,2323 (1) This act takes effect on the January 1 after publication.
AB5,7,2424 (End)
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