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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Ben Lien (DFL)

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Legislative Update - Special Session, June 12, 2015

Friday, June 12, 2015
Greetings from the House Floor,
 
Last night at about 11:00 Governor Dayton called the Special Session for 10:00 this morning.  This came about after final talks with the four caucus leaders reached agreement on the bills for the Special Session.  The governor and Speaker Daudt have been negotiating final terms on the Jobs and Energy; K-12 Education; Environment and Agriculture; and Capital Investment bills over the last several weeks.  The final bill negotiated was the Jobs and Energy bill earlier this week to set up the Special Session.  I am quite relieved these talks have been resolved and we can finish the business of the state.  This is especially good for the 9,451 state employees who received layoff notices earlier this month.  Nobody wanted to see a state government shutdown and these employees will be able to continue working and earning paychecks beyond June 30th.
 
We also need to take up the Legacy and Corrections bill.  The House passed the Legacy bill during the regular session, but the Senate did not (much like the Senate passing the Capital Investment bill during the regular session, while the House did not).  The unfortunate reason both bodies did not pass these bills was because time ran out; in fact, the Senate passed the Capital Investment bill after midnight on the last day of the regular session.  The final Legacy bill is the same as was passed by the House during the regular session.  The Corrections bill is a bill that is passed at the end of every session to clean up and make technical changes to other bills passed throughout the session.   
 
Here some details of the final bills:
 
Jobs and Energy
·         Base level funding for the Jobs Creation Fund and Minnesota Investment Fund
·         $3.2 million for BDPI to fund public infrastructure for private sector development (with earmarks of $1.8 million to Cambridge and $100,000 to Taylors Falls)
·         $10.6 million for broadband development
·         $2.5 million for the Bridges program to assist folks with mental illness with housing
·         Allows cooperative and municipal utility companies to cancel out credits at the end of a calendar year for customers with solar panels who put energy back into the grid
·         Requires the MPCA and Dept. of Commerce to submit their Clean Power Plan (required by the federal EPA) to the Legislature for review and comment
 
K-12 Education
·         Increase in overall funding of $125 million providing a formula funding increase of 2% each year of the biennium
·         No pre-Kindergarten funding for school districts
·         $48.2 million in total new funding for Early Learning Scholarships
·         $10 million in total new funding for Head Start
·         Allows 19 and 20 year olds to participate in adult high school diploma programs
·         $3 million in fiscal year 2017 for English learning students
 
Environment and Agriculture
·         Provides additional funding for the avian flu response
·         Requires the MPCA to work with the Red River Basin Commission to achieve phosphorus reductions for wastewater discharge in communities in the Red River basin
·         Requires the MPCA to provide notice, take public comment and provide documentation on external peer reviews the agency does
 
Capital Investment
·         $80 million overall increase in the bill for a total of $180 million
·         $33 million for the Capitol restoration
·         $26.5 million for the University of Minnesota, including $8.5 to a Poultry Testing Laboratory
·         $31.8 million for the Minnesota State College and University system
·         $600,000 to Clay County for a solid waste transfer station
·         $10 million for flood mitigation for the Lake McDonald area in Ottertail County and $13.5 million for flood mitigation across the rest of the state
·         $8.8 million in funding for grade separations in Willmar, Plymouth and Rainy River
·         Authorization for improvements to U.S. Highway 53 (for which the funding was provided in the Omnibus Transportation Bill)
·         $10 million in Housing Infrastructure Bonds
 
Some very good news about the Capital Investment bill is that we will likely be able to complete the Oakport flood project.  The final amount needed to complete the project is $5.6 million and the $13.5 million in the bill will likely cover this.  I will continue to talk with the DNR about the flood mitigation funding this year and the Oakport project as it moves forward.  Although we were not able to secure funding for grade separations in Moorhead this session, Sen. Eken and I will keep pressing on with this issue.  I see these projects as a major improvement needed for safety and to support growth in our community.  The biggest reason we were not able to secure grade separation funding this year was because of the size in the overall Capital Investment Bill.  Had the bill been closer to $220 million, this project would have been more feasible to fund.  As the size of the Capital Investment bill was negotiated over the last couple of weeks, some folks in the House GOP caucus were not willing to go beyond the $180 million that became the final funding number.  The 2016 session will be short and I anticipate dominated by a larger Capital Investment bill.  The grade separation projects completed this year were smaller projects and will allow for more focus to be put on the Moorhead projects next year.
 
All in all, I am very happy the work of the state is being completed today.  Although I do think we missed many opportunities this year, we can only move forward from here.  Nearly $1 billion was left on the bottom line of the state budget this year will allow for additional investments in our state next year (not to mention the economy continues to perform very well which will keep the state’s fiscal health in good order).  I will work to do more next session for rail safety and infrastructure, property tax relief, broadband development and border city programs.  I will be out door knocking this year and plan to hold town halls early next year before the 2016 session begins to hear your concerns and have the conversations we need to have.  As always, please feel free to reach out to me at any time.
 
 
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben