Greetings from the Floor,
The following bills were passed off the House floor this week:
HF 2764: technical updates to existing state law regarding business mergers, the designation of Minnesota courts as an exclusive forum and how businesses handle stock options
HF 1243: authorizes certain freezes on the credit reports of people under 16
I had two bill hearings on Tuesday. There were for HF 2601 in the Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee, and HF 2990 in the Transportation and Regional Governance Policy Committee. HF 2601 would eliminate the mandate that parents of adult children, for whom the parents are the guardian or conservator, need background checks every two years if the child turned 18 while living in an out of home care setting. The committee passed the bill onto the General Register where it awaits floor action. HF 2990 would allow the Department of Public Safety to issue temporary 180-day permits for people waiting to receive new license plates, vehicle registrations and vehicle registration tabs. This bill is a response to the problems caused by the launch of MNLARS to give people more assurance that they will not receive citations because of not having license plates and vehicle registrations (for new vehicle purchases) or updated vehicle registration tabs. The bill was laid over by the committee for possible inclusion in the committee’s omnibus bill later this session.
Also on Tuesday, a bipartisan press conference was held to announce proposals to address abuse in senior and long-term care facilities. The proposed bills would improve licensing regulations for assisted living facilities; strengthen the reporting and investigation procedures of abuse; and expand on the rights of people living in care facilities and their families. This is in addition to work already being done to reduce the backlog on abuse investigations and more efficiently process abuse reports. For more information, please go to: https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/?id=1055-330273.
I introduced a bill on Thursday that would expand upon the existing Border City Enterprise and Development Zone law. The bill would allow the five cities designated as “border cities” to use existing enterprise and development zone dollars to provide tax incentives for developers, businesses and homeowners to start new projects. The bill is designed after the Renaissance Zone in North Dakota that allows for similar tax incentives. The bill was referred to the Tax Committee.
Gov. Dayton delivered his final State of the State address on Wednesday evening. It was a nice speech in which he looked back to his success in turning around the state’s fiscal affairs (turning an inherited a $6.2 billion dollar deficit into stable, ongoing fiscal order and establishing healthy budget reserves), and making Minnesota’s schools stronger (paying back the $1.9 billion previously borrowed from K-12 schools to balance the state budget, starting all-day kindergarten and bringing attention to the needs for early childhood education). He closed his speech by looking forward to the challenges we continue to face, and urging legislators (as well as all Minnesotans) to come together to solve them.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben