State grant extension due to COVID-19 gets OK by House division

Most COVID-19 pandemic assistance bills have been focused on the present situation; one approved Friday looks to the future.

Sponsored by Rep. Michael Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park), HF4500, as amended, may allow a state grant issued by June 30, 2020 to be certified for two fiscal years beyond the fiscal year the appropriation is scheduled to cancel.

Approved by the House State Government Finance Division, the bill was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Eric Hallstrom, deputy commissioner at Minnesota Management and Budget, said current law provides an opportunity to certify the appropriation for one extra year. “By allowing two years in this legislation, it’s giving you one more year than you would normally have available to you. … It would be for most grants a one-year extension.”

Rep. Michael Nelson

Nelson said the agreement has been worked out by officials from the Department of Administration’s Office of Grants Management, Minnesota Management and Budget, the University of Minnesota and nonprofits.

“Allowing organizations with state contracts additional time to fulfill those additional services they’re contracted to perform would be beneficial to the organizations, the Minnesotans they serve and the state,” said Marie Ellis, public policy director at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.

Chris Cramer, the university’s vice president for research, said the university has about 650 active state-funded awards now. The roughly 150 scheduled to expire on or before June 30 come from at least 18 different state agencies or programs with a cumulative award value of $55 million. Among the projects being funded are assessing the release of mercury on aquatic communities and training caregivers to help people with a disability live more independently.

“Under normal circumstances, university personnel would complete their projects by June 30, if not earlier. But due to most of our faculty members, students and others maintaining distance and staying safe at home, they’ve not been able to complete these projects as originally planned, although they’re poised to do so when public health conditions permit,” Cramer said.

Rep. Ginny Klevorn (DFL-Plymouth) said there is an opportunity cost without the change.

“If we were to lose the value of that research that has already been done, that’s an incredible cost and loss of resources that we have already expended. … We want to capture as much of the research as we had hoped to gain.”

A companion to the original bill, SF4403, is sponsored by Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake) and awaits action by the Senate State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee.