# Local Government Pay Equity Act _Minnesota's 1984 law requiring every city, county, school district and other political subdivision to establish equitable pay between female-dominated, male-dominated and balanced job classes — its text, its authors and votes, its enforcement and its current form_ | Local Government Pay Equity Act | | |---|---| | Citation | Laws 1984, ch. 651 (H.F. 1766); Minn. Stat. §§ 471.991–471.999 | | Approved | May 2, 1984, Governor Rudy Perpich (DFL) | | House authors | Riveness, Rodriguez, Segal, Pauly (IR) and Solberg | | Votes | House, 109–16 (April 19, 1984); Senate, 64–0 (April 20, 1984); House repassage, 104–20 (April 24, 1984) | | Classes | female-dominated (70 percent or more female); male-dominated (80 percent or more male); balanced | | Covered | about 1,500 local government employers | | Administered by | Department of Employee Relations, later Minnesota Management and Budget | | Companion | [[State Government Pay Equity Act]] (1982) | | Parent articles | [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]] · [[DFL Feminists]] · [[GOP Feminists]] · [[How Minnesota Got Here]] | The **Local Government Pay Equity Act** is the 1984 Minnesota law that extended the comparable-worth method of the [[State Government Pay Equity Act]] to local government, providing that "every political subdivision of this state shall establish equitable compensation relationships" between female-dominated, male-dominated and balanced classes of its employees.[^1][^2] It was introduced in the House by five representatives, among them the Independent-Republican Sidney Pauly, passed the Senate without a dissenting vote, and was approved by Governor [[Rudy Perpich]] on May 2, 1984.[^3][^4][^5][^1] The act is instrument 13 of the ledger in [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]]; its other House authors and the senator who moved to make it voluntary are treated in [[DFL Feminists]], and its Independent-Republican co-author and votes in [[GOP Feminists]]. The parent account is [[How Minnesota Got Here]], whose audit assigns it to Perpich's second term.[^6] ## Text and definitions **Definitions.** Section 471.991 defines a "Female-dominated class" as one in which "70 percent or more of the members are female", a "Male-dominated class" as one in which "80 percent or more of the members are male", and a "Balanced class" as one in which no more than 80 percent are male and no more than 70 percent female; "Comparable work value" means value measured by skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.[^1][^7] The local thresholds differ from the 1982 state act's, which reaches classes in which "more than 70 percent of the incumbents are female."[^8] **The duty.** Section 471.992 requires each political subdivision to establish those relationships "in order to eliminate sex-based wage disparities in public employment in this state", with comparable work value as "A primary consideration" in setting compensation; that purpose clause was added by later amendment.[^2][^9] Section 471.993 requires reasonable relationships among classified, unclassified and management positions, and § 471.994 provides that "Every political subdivision shall use a job evaluation system" and meet and confer with exclusive representatives on it.[^10][^11] **Protections in the original act.** The 1984 act made job-evaluation results private data until July 31, 1987, barred their use as evidence in court before August 1, 1987, and provided that "No cause of action arises before August 1, 1987" for failure to comply.[^1][^12] It also carried an unrelated section on the powers of the town of Windemere in Pine County, added on the Senate floor.[^1][^5] **Reports.** The act required every political subdivision to report to the Commissioner of Employee Relations by October 1, 1985 on its implementation plan, and the commissioner to report to the Legislature by January 1, 1986.[^1] The department's 1986 report to the Legislature was made "Pursuant to 1984 Laws, chapter 651".[^13] ## Enactment **Authors.** H.F. 1766 was introduced on March 8, 1984 by "Riveness; Rodriguez, C.; Segal; Pauly and Solberg"; Sidney Pauly was an Independent-Republican.[^3][^4] The House first passed it 109–16 on April 19, 1984.[^14] The [[Council on the Economic Status of Women]], then a legislative commission, listed the act among the "Commission Legislation which passed" that year.[^12] **The Senate.** On April 20, 1984 Senator Linda Berglin moved to suspend the rules for the bill's final passage. Senator Florian Chmielewski moved an amendment to make the duty voluntary, which failed with "yeas 3 and nays 58"; the Senate then passed the bill "yeas 64 and nays 0".[^5][^15] **The House.** The House repassed the bill as amended by the Senate with "104 yeas and 20 nays" on April 24, 1984.[^16] A cross-reference of the journal's names against the Legislative Reference Library's member records, done for this series, puts all 20 nays among Independent-Republicans.[^16][^17] The Legislature was DFL in both houses.[^18] The office's later report says the bill "passed with only a handful of votes in opposition, and was signed by Governor Rudy Perpich."[^9] ## Enforcement and amendments The Legislative Reference Library states that "At first this law was voluntary, without any enforcement mechanism", and that it was later amended to require compliance reports, with financial penalties for failure.[^19] The office's report dates the changes: "In 1987, the legislature enacted a financial penalty for schools that did not submit pay equity reports"; "In 1988, the legislature required schools to achieve full pay equity implementation by December 31, 1991"; and "Also in 1988, the legislature established penalties for cities and counties."[^9] Section 471.9981 required each subdivision to file an implementation report by January 31, 1992 listing every job class, the number of female employees in each and its comparable work value, and set a penalty for failure to implement.[^20] An administrative law judge approved the compliance rule, Minnesota Rules chapter 3920, in August 1992.[^9] **The 2003 pause.** Under Governor [[Tim Pawlenty]], the 2003 First Special Session provided that "No report from a political subdivision is required for 2003 and 2004" and moved reporting to once every five years; the 2005 First Special Session restored the three-year cycle now in § 471.999.[^21][^22][^23] **Results.** The office reports an estimated 275,000 employees in "the approximately 1,500 local governments" covered; that "about 85 percent of these employers were in immediate compliance with the law" in recent reporting years; and that "In the past 17 years, 96 penalty cases were resolved", as a result of which "a total of $1.3 million was paid in restitution to approximately 1,300 employees" and $210,233 was collected in penalties.[^9] The Library reports that by 1994 almost 95 percent of local governments had achieved pay equity.[^19] ## Record and readings **Reading one.** On the At Issue spine's first reading, the act pushed a sex-keyed pay method onto every city, county and school district, enforced it with aid penalties, and was weakened only procedurally — by the 2003 reporting pause, which was reversed two years later.[^1][^9][^21][^22] **Reading two.** On the second reading, the act is a broadly supported equal-pay law: it defines male-dominated and balanced classes as well as female-dominated ones, rests on job evaluation of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, passed the Senate without a dissenting vote, and channels most enforcement into back pay for employees rather than penalties.[^7][^11][^5][^9] Neither reading is supported by a claim that the act was a one-party measure or that it has been repealed.[^3][^23] ## Open items 1. **The purpose clause.** The amendment that added "in order to eliminate sex-based wage disparities" to § 471.992 was not traced to its session law; the office's report places it in 1987–1990.[^2][^9] 2. **Minnesota Rules chapter 3920.** The compliance rule's text was not read.[^9] ## See also - [[State Government Pay Equity Act]] · [[Council on the Economic Status of Women]] · [[Pay equity]] · [[Comparable worth]] - [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]] · [[DFL Feminists]] · [[GOP Feminists]] · [[How Minnesota Got Here]] - [[Rudy Perpich]] · [[Tim Pawlenty]] ## Notes [^1]: Laws of Minnesota 1984, ch. 651 (H.F. 1766), approved May 2, 1984 — the Local Government Pay Equity Act, Minn. Stat. §§ 471.991–.999: definitions, the duty of every political subdivision, reports to the Department of Employee Relations. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1984/0/651/ [^2]: Minn. Stat. § 471.992 (2025), equitable compensation relationships — every political subdivision to establish them between female-dominated, male-dominated and balanced classes "in order to eliminate sex-based wage disparities in public employment." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/471.992 [^3]: Journal of the House, 1984, 62nd Day (Mar. 8, 1984; OCR) — introduction of H.F. 1766 by Riveness, Rodriguez, Segal, Pauly and Solberg, requiring every political subdivision to establish equitable compensation relationships. LRL archive. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/Journals/house/1983-1984/19840308062.pdf [^4]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Legislators Past & Present, record of Sidney J. Pauly — House 1983–92 (District 42A) and 1993–94 (42B); party when first elected, Independent Republican; Hennepin County. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?ID=10509 [^5]: Journal of the Senate, 1984, 83rd Day (Apr. 20, 1984; OCR), p. 6875 — Berglin's motion to suspend the rules for H.F. 1766; Chmielewski's amendments; the voluntary-compliance amendment fails "yeas 3 and nays 58"; passage "yeas 64 and nays 0." https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/Journals/senate/1983-1984/19840420083.pdf [^6]: Minnesota record, *How Minnesota Got Here — Minnesota's Administrative Discrimination Regime* (merged master, footnoted; compiled June 12, refreshed June 19, 2026), §4.7 — the four instruments (Duluth Model, comparable worth, the women's-economic-status organ, § 43A.191) and their construction schedule 1976–1985. [^7]: Minn. Stat. § 471.991 (2025), Local Government Pay Equity Act definitions — balanced, female-dominated and male-dominated classes; comparable work value; equitable compensation relationship. Office of the Revisor of Statutes. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/471.991 [^8]: Minn. Stat. § 43A.02 (2025), definitions — subd. 33: for affirmative action purposes "protected groups" means females, persons with disabilities and listed minorities; history from 1981 c 210 and 1982 c 634. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/43A.02 [^9]: Legislative Office on the Economic Status of Women, *Pay Equity: The Minnesota Experience*, 6th ed. (Dec. 2015; posted Feb. 2016) — the 1981 task force; the 1982 act's chief authors Berglin and Simoneau; bipartisan support; the 1984 local act, penalties and the 2003 reporting moratorium. https://mn.gov/mmb-stat/pay-equity/Pay_Equity-The%20Minnesota%20Experience.pdf [^10]: Minn. Stat. § 471.993 (2025), compensation relationships of positions — political subdivisions to assure reasonable relationships among classified, unclassified and management positions and among related job classes; definition of reasonable relationship. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/471.993 [^11]: Minn. Stat. § 471.994 (2025), job evaluation system — every political subdivision to use and maintain a system determining comparable work value and to meet and confer with exclusive representatives; history 1984 c 651 s 4; 1990 c 512 s 5. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/471.994 [^12]: Commission on the Economic Status of Women, Newsletter #79 (May 1984; OCR), legislative summary — commission legislation enacted in 1984, including the tip-credit phase-out, the local government pay-equity act (ch. 651), divorce statistics and child-care sliding fee. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2014/other/140947.pdf [^13]: Minnesota Department of Employee Relations, *Pay Equity in Minnesota Local Governments*, report to the Legislature (Jan. 30, 1986; scan) — implementation of Laws 1984, ch. 651, and the first local pay-equity reports due Oct. 1, 1985. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/mandated/860415.pdf [^14]: Journal of the House, 82nd Day, April 19, 1984, p. 9318 (Legislative Reference Library scan) — Riveness amendments and final passage of H.F. 1766, 109 yeas and 16 nays, with names. OCR text. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/Journals/house/1983-1984/19840419082.pdf [^15]: Cory Haala, "DFL Feminist Caucus," MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society; first published Apr. 23, 2018, modified Apr. 22, 2025) — the 1971 report; April 1973 founding; principles and endorsement rule; members; lobbying; conflicts within the DFL; 1980s candidacies. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/dfl-feminist-caucus [^16]: Journal of the House, 1984, 84th Day (Apr. 24, 1984; OCR), p. 9750 — repassage of H.F. 1766 as amended by the Senate: "There were 104 yeas and 20 nays." Minnesota Legislative Reference Library archive. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/Journals/house/1983-1984/19840424084.pdf [^17]: This project's research file for the GOP Feminists article (Oct. 28, 2026): party labels for each member named in the 1982, 1984 and 2014 roll calls, taken from the per-session party field of the Legislative Reference Library's member records and checked against its seat totals; it also lists sources that could not be retrieved, including the 2014 Senate journals and a 2008 Minnesota History article. [^18]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, "Party Control of the Minnesota Legislature and Governor's Office" — party control of the House, Senate and governorship by session, including 1981–82, 1983–84, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2017–18, 2019–20, 2023–24 and 2025–26. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/histleg/caucus_table [^19]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Women's Legislative Timeline, "1982 – State Government Pay Equity Act" — enacted "as a result of the task force efforts by the Council"; authors of both sexes with bipartisan House support; the 1984 local act. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/womenstimeline/details.aspx?recid=37 [^20]: Minn. Stat. § 471.9981 (2025), counties and cities; pay equity compliance — the 1992 implementation report on job classes, female employees and comparable work value; penalty for failure to implement; several subdivisions repealed 1990 and 2009. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/471.9981 [^21]: Laws of Minnesota 2003, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 1 (H.F. 1), signed May 28, 2003 — art. 2, sec. 112, amending § 471.999: no local reports for 2003 and 2004, then reports no more than once every five years. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2003/1/1/ [^22]: Laws of Minnesota 2005, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 1 (S.F. 69), state government appropriations — art. 4, sec. 1, creating § 3.303, subd. 7 (economic status of women); art. 4, sec. 113, restoring three-year local pay-equity reporting. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2005/1/1/ [^23]: Minn. Stat. § 471.999 (2025), local pay-equity reports — reporting no more than once every three years; no reports for 2003 and 2004; history 1984 c 651 s 11; 1Sp2003 c 1 art 2 s 112; 1Sp2005 c 1 art 4 s 113. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/471.999