Greetings from the Floor,
The House spent a lot of time this week on the floor taking up omnibus bills. We started floor work on the omnibus bills last Thursday with the E-12 and Higher Education Bill, and continued with the Tax Bill and Legacy Bill on Monday. Highlights of these bills are below.
Tax Bill
- changes the basis for state income tax collections from the Federal Taxable Income to the Federal Adjusted Gross Income
- cuts the corporate tax rate from 9.8% to 9.06% by 2020
- eliminates of the corporate Alternative Minimum Tax
- reduces the second tier income tax rate from 7.05% to 6.75% by 2020
- conforms to the new federal tax law around individual deductions and increases the state standard deduction
- the bill does not include any provisions proposed by Governor Dayton for new state individual deductions or credits
- the bill does not include any provisions for property tax cuts (property tax refunds, renters credits, Local Government Aid, County Program Aid and township aid)
I did not vote for the bill because I think Minnesota needs to do more to provide individuals with tax cuts as a result of the new federal tax bill. I understand that corporations provide jobs for folks, and are good community partners; however, they received most of the benefits of the new federal tax bill, and this is Minnesota’s opportunity to provide more tax cuts for individuals.
Legacy Bill
- $113.9 for the Outdoor Heritage Fund
- $25.6 million for the Clean Water Fund
- $1.820 for Arts and Cultural Heritage
The Outdoor Heritage Fund is the only fund from which dollars are appropriated annually. The other three funds (Clean Water, Arts and Cultural Heritage, and Parks and Trails) do not need annual appropriations, and this bill represents supplemental budgeting while maintaining mandatory reserve levels. I did vote for the bill.
Health and Human Services Bill
The most notable provision in the Health and Human Services bill is $27 million to prevent a 7% rate cut to Direct Service Providers. This possible rate cut is a result of the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid not recognizing recent increases the state made for Direct Service Providers from being included in the base of the state’s budget. A waiver from Minnesota to the federal government is pending, and this $27 million will prevent cuts to the disability community until the waiver is granted. The bill did not include significant provisions to directly address elder and vulnerable adult abuse, but instead strengthens the infrastructure of the Office of Health Care Complaints to investigate cases of abuse and develop training recommendations for health care workers. I did vote for the bill to help the disability community offset the possible 7% cut.
Transportation Bill
The Transportation Bill was combined with the Health and Human Services Bill, and provides $101 million to the Department of Transportation and $250 million in Trunk Highway Bonds.
Public Safety Bill
- $182,000 for the Supreme Court
- $618,000 for District Courts
- $3,667,000 for Guardian Ad Litems
- $850,000 for the Public Defense Board
- $118,000 for a vulnerable adults work group, establishment of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Taskforce and the ignition interlock program
- $1,500,000 for the Department of Corrections
- $12,000 for the Department of Human Services
The bill also includes policies to enhance penalties for protestors on freeways and airports, statutory revisions for criminal sexual conduct crimes and enhanced penalties for certain sexual offenders. Although I strongly oppose the enhanced penalties for freeway and airport protestors, I did vote for the bill to provide funding for the courts, Public Defense Board and Guardian Ad Litems.
Omnibus Supplemental Budget Bill (Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Jobs and Energy, and State Government Finance Articles)
This bill was passed by the Senate as the body’s supplemental budget bill for all areas of the state budget. The House already passed omnibus bills for many of the articles in the Senate’s bill. The House took up the articles of the bill related agriculture, environment and natural resources, jobs and energy, and state government finance. Some provisions of the bill that the House took up are as follows:
- $250,000 for rural mental health advocates and agricultural educators
- $35 million in bonding capacity for the Rural Finance Authority
- prohibition of adoption of the state Department of Agriculture’s proposed nitrogen fertilizer restriction rule
- $750,000 for chronic wasting disease surveillance and response by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
- nullifies both the existing state standard and the new proposed Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) state standard for wild rice waters
- establishes a fund for money awarded in the recent 3M lawsuit, and mandates reporting on expenditures of the fund by the DNR and MPCA
- $15 million for the Office of Broadband Development
- cuts $12 from the Job Creation Fund and Minnesota Investment Fund
- permission from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for large scale nuclear power providers to recover cost overruns from ratepayers for expansions or upgrades before actual costs are incurred (existing law mandates the permission from the PUC must come after costs are incurred)
- $1 million for the Homework Starts at Home program to assist highly mobile students and families who face homelessness
- $750,000 for grants to communities to help with start-up costs and increase the number of child care providers
- cuts $7 million from various state government agencies and mandates the agencies to spend at least 3.5% of their budgets on cyber security
- transfers surplus money from the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (funding to pay for U.S. Bank Stadium) for three veteran’s homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston as part of the state’s share for construction of the homes (the state must also seek federal matches and approval)
I support several provisions of this bill, especially the initial funding for new veteran’s homes. However, I am very disappointed by the underfunding for the Office of Broadband Development, cuts to the Job Creation Fund and Minnesota Investment Fund, and authorization for large nuclear power providers to recover cost overruns from rate payers before actual costs are incurred. 25% of Greater Minnesota households still do not have access to adequate broadband. This impedes business development, educational opportunities and quality of life in rural Minnesota. The Job Creation Fund and Minnesota Investment Fund have leveraged $28 in private sector investment for every $1 in state funding, and created over 14,000 jobs in both the metro and Greater Minnesota. I did not vote for the bill.
Other bills passed off the House floor this week were:
SF 3306: puts new Campaign Finance Board rules into law
SF 3525: establishes new compensation limits for the Metropolitan Airports Commission
SF 2777: technical changes to the Commission on Deaf, Deafblind and Hard-of-Hearing
SF 3466: modifications to the motorcycle instruction permit
HF 3265: modifications to child foster care training requirements
HF 1876: allows trade associations to access vehicle registration information
HF 3232: increases the capacity for the solar rewards and solar standards program
HF 4157: 2018 State Claims Bill
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben