Greetings from the Floor,
The House released a Capital Investment bill last week. The bill would fund $600 million in infrastructure projects around the state, including the Moorhead grade separation at $42.3 million. This is an important step forward in getting a Capital Investment bill, and the Moorhead project, funded this year. The discussion will now begin between the House, Senate and governor over a final Capital Investment bill. The Senate put a bill forward at a funding level of $1.2 billion (this was the bill from last year that didn’t become law), and Governor Dayton introduced a proposal earlier this year at $1.5 billion. Notable differences between the House and governor’s Capital Investment bills are funding levels for local government drinking and waste water infrastructure, higher education infrastructure, transportation and the Department of Natural Resource’s flood mitigation program.
Governor Dayton signed HF 792 into law on Tuesday last week. This is the bill that removes the mandate on fire sprinklers in new twin-homes. Rep. Theis was the chief author, and I worked with her to get the bill through committee hearings and passed off the House floor. This is a good bill to get more affordable homes on our local housing market. If home builders, or other interested parties have questions on the new law, please contact me. I’d be happy to look into any technical questions people may have.
The Tax Conference Committee has adopted several provisions of importance to our district. These include:
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Clay County local option sales tax for the new jail and law enforcement center
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Extension of the Moorhead Tax Increment Financing District
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Funding for the Border City Enterprise and Development Zone at $3 million
The House and Senate agreed to joint budget targets last week. The targets were basically set by splitting the differences between the previous budget targets the two bodies set for themselves earlier this year. Some results of the joint targets are reflected in the House-Senate Conference Committee Reports now released, and include:
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1.5% formula increase for K-12 school districts (less than the rate of inflation)
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The elimination of voluntary pre-Kindergarten
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An increase of $125 million for the higher education budget (the Minnesota State system had requested $178 million and the University of Minnesota system had requested $143 million). The $125 million funding increase would cause cuts to local campuses and/or tuition increases. Minnesota State University Moorhead and Minnesota Community and Technical College would see budget shortfalls of $3.98 million and $2.75 million, respectively.
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No wage increases for Direct Service Professionals who work at long-term care facilities for people with mental and/or physical disabilities
We have two weeks left in the legislative session this year, and I sincerely hope these budget bills improve. The Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader will now begin meeting with Governor Dayton to work out differences for the state budget. Although I’m not on any conference committees, I will continue to fight for better education budgets and to ensure our tax provisions hold through the end of session.
Bills passed by the House last week were:
HF 947: Technical changes to the general education aid formula
HF 997: Adds cities, counties, local social service agencies, townships and park districts to the list of government entities that can transfer money electronically to settle claims
HF 1242: Requires cities to post notices of proposed ordinances at least 10 days prior to taking action on them
HF 1545: Extends the sunset for the Food Safety and Defense Task Force
HF 2174: Allows Ramsey County to fill job listings through a supported work program
SF 799: Technical changes to reporting of inter/intra-agency agreements for MNSure, the department of health and the department of human services
SF 844: Modifications to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency permits for Class I demolition landfill facilities
SF 870: Clarification to allow local governments to spend public dollars and raise private contributions for National Night Out activities
SF 1020: Eliminates spending caps for local governments, American Legions and veterans organizations to make expenditures for awards and trophies
SF 1113: Allows county law libraries to transfer money to counties for construction of law libraries and court facilities
SF 1135: Technical changes to Ramsey County human resource statutes
HF 106: Modifications to Community Medical Response Emergency Medical Technician services and Medical Assistance reimbursements
HF 712: Updates statutory language regarding new biological drug technology
HF 827: Conformity with federal law for discharges from 72-hour emergency hold facilities to protect patient drug or alcohol abuse records
HF 952: Amends orientation and training requirements for Nursing Homes and Home Care to allow for orientation and training when working with people with hearing loss
HF 959: Repeals a sunset on a medical faculty license at Mayo Clinic
HF 1186: Changes to the definition of a health practitioner to allow for program staff who have completed required training to perform allowable procedures under the clinical supervision of a mental health professional
SF 1616: Establishes alternative retroactive payments methods for children’s hospitals if new federal policies are implemented for patients eligible for Medical Assistance and have private insurance
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben