Dear Neighbor,
The Legislature is back in session after its Easter break. All the regular budget bills have passed the House, and are now in conference committees with the Senate where the process of negotiating out the differences between the bills is beginning.
We are about three weeks ahead of our normal schedule at this point. The governor, some weeks back, requested that all parties arrive at agreement on the spending amounts for each budget area by April 28, so, if he holds to his earlier request, there should be a lot of negotiating going on in the next week. Hopefully, he will follow through with his commitment of being involved in these negotiations now instead of waiting until the end so that we can avoid the chaos that so often seems to define the end of legislative sessions.
A number of provisions I have chief authored or authored remain in various omnibus packages (below is a partial list). They include:
Jobs/energy
- H.F. 2112 provides for the construction of several thousand more affordable housing units each year. It does this by re-prioritizing federal bonding money the state currently receives, allowing us to make better use of federal matching monies that are available.
- H.F. 2266 provides funding for Central Minnesota opportunity grants which will help economic development in the Saint Cloud area.
- An amendment I added in the Ways and Means Committee changes criteria so the Saint Cloud area will still be eligible for Job Creation funds.
Taxes
- H.F. 387 increases and expands the state’s education tax credit for public, private and home school students.
- H.F. 610 benefits owners of farmland by clearing up confusion in current law so that farmers are allowed to get agricultural homestead tax treatment even if they exercise common estate tax planning techniques.
- Another bill I introduced which exempts purchases of gold and silver coins from sales tax is included in the Senate tax bill.
Health and Human Services
- H.F. 139 allows child care providers to receive the higher of the two maximum reimbursement rates from each county for the child care assistance programs in the Saint Cloud area.
- H.F. 1341 simplifies the payment process for people who are paying for the health care for a relative in a nursing facility by making the payment amount more predictable and providing more notice of changes in rates.
K-12 education
- An amendment I added in the Ways and Means Committee provides over $10 million in additional funding for school districts with higher than usual transportation costs. District #742 will receive an extra $333,000 per year as a result of this proposal.
Higher education
- An amendment I added in the Ways and Means Committee prohibits the Minnesota State College and University system from renewing the lease on their current Central Office space and require them to explore relocating on one or more college campuses.
Public Safety
- H.F. 1932 provides additional grants to local units of government to fight sex trafficking
Agriculture
- H.F. 1006 changes the Minnesota partition fence law so that only landowners of more than 20 acres with livestock on either side of a fence can be required to pay for the construction and maintenance of fences. Currently a landowner can be forced to pay for half the cost of the fence if their neighbor wants it even if they don’t.
State Government Finance
- H.F. 2290 changes law to allow Sherburne County to continue hiring their title examiner as they have instead of requiring him to be a county employee.
On a different subject, the nonprofit authorizer (Friends of Education) of Stride Academy recently announced that they will not be renewing their contract with Stride, which means that, absent changes in the law, Stride will be closing this next year.
I have been contacted by many Stride parents and employees about this. I have discussed this with the authorizing nonprofit, the Department of Education, and several legislators. It does appear that Friends of Education has met all the legal requirements in canceling their relationship with Stride, though not all parents may have received full communication of the possibility of closure. There may be alternative authorizers who are interested in taking over the position of Friends of Education and keeping Stride open. I will be continuing to discuss and research this issue and whether legislative involvement is necessary or feasible.
Look for more news from the Capitol as budget bills start to come together so we can provide final approval and send them to the governor. Hopefully we can have this all done by our constitutional adjournment date of May 22.
Sincerely,
Jim