Greetings from the Floor,
The House passed 5 bills off the floor this week. They were: HFs 22 (exempting farm trusts from certain reporting requirements), 212 (regulating commission payments to issuers of individual health plans), 330 (requiring interim city ordinances to have a two-thirds vote and ten day notice by city councils), 444 (modifying MNvest registration exemptions) and 600 (preempting local laws on employee wages and benefits). The more notable of these bills were HFs 330 and 600. More specifically, HF 330 applies to interim city ordinances regarding housing developments. Current law allows a city council to temporarily stop housing or commercial developments to consider permanent changes to land use plans. The bill would require a city council to pass an interim ordinance by a two-thirds vote and publish a notice of the vote ten days in advance. I did not support the bill as I think it’s important to preserve a city council’s ability to make decisions for its community.
HF 600 would preempt a local government from implementing wage and benefit policies on private sector employers, and reverse any policies already adopted. The bill is a reaction to the cities of Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul adopting or looking to adopt wage and benefit policies (such as sick or family leave) that are different from the rest of the state. I see this bill as an unnecessary bill. I don’t foresee any cities in Minnesota, other than Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul, implementing wage or benefit policies different from the rest of the state; and furthermore, a city council (or county commission) would be subject to the voters at the next election if such policies were adopted, but not effective. It should be up to local governments to adopt policies that work for their local economies. It is again about local control, and I did not support the bill.
The February budget forecast was released by Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) on Tuesday. The forecast projected a $1.65 billion surplus for the next biennium, and a $2.12 billion surplus for the FY 2020-2021 biennium. Some factors that went into the forecast were income growth leading to higher income tax collections, higher sales tax collections and higher corporate tax collections. Also, higher than expected expenditures in education (because of larger student enrollment projections) and health care (because of more insurer participation in public health insurance programs and an increased projection in the cost of managed care) went into the forecast. For more information, please visit https://mn.gov/mmb/forecast/forecast/.
I had two bill hearings this week on HFs 200 and 430. HF 200 is the bill to establish a study to look at changes to agricultural property tax assessments. It was heard in the Property Tax and Local Government Division and laid over for possible inclusion in the division’s report to the full Tax Committee. This is a very common process for property tax and local government tax bills (such as local option sales taxes and Tax Increment Financing districts). The division puts together a report of recommended bills for the full Tax Committee to potentially incorporate in the Omnibus Tax Bill.
HF 430 is the bill to establish financing for non-profit nursing homes in Moorhead to better compete with nursing homes in Fargo. The bill was passed by the Health and Human Services Reform Committee, and referred to the Health and Human Services Finance Committee (where it’s scheduled to be heardon Tuesday).
A recent article released by U.S. News ranked all 50 states on a range of criteria like education, economics, health care, infrastructure and government. The publication ranked Minnesota as number three! To read more, please go to https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2017-03-02/minnesota-ranks-no-3-among-best-states.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben