Greetings from the Floor,
Bills passed off the floor this week included:
- HF586: declares the first Saturday every October as Veterans Suicide Prevention Awareness Day
- HF819: allows certain cardiovascular technologists to operate x-ray machines
- HF1244: technical bill for drainage regulations that came from the Drainage Work Group
- HF349: adding e-cigarettes to the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act
Friday this week was the first committee deadline for the Legislature. This is the deadline for policy bills to pass out of committees in either the House or the Senate. The second deadline for policy bills to clear committees in the other body is March 29, and the third committee deadline is April 12 for finance bills to clear committees in both bodies.
The committee work is fast and furious during these deadline weeks, and I had nine committee hearings on my bills this week. These hearings were on the following bills:
- HF578 in the Education Policy Committee: changes the income eligibility guidelines to match the free and reduced price lunch income eligibility guidelines for K-12 tax credits that can be used for supplies and after school activities
- the bill was sent to the Tax Committee
- HF1862 in the Government Operations Committee: appropriates $800,000 over the biennium for volunteer tax preparation sites and financial capability services
- the bill was sent to the Tax Committee
- HF2240 in the Education Finance Division: appropriates $6 million in general obligation bonds for a career academy facility that would be established between the Moorhead and Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton school districts that could also serve other districts in Clay County
- the bill was sent to the Capital Investment Division
- HF1828 in the Environment and Natural Resource Finance Division: appropriates $39 million in general obligation bonds for flood mitigation work in Moorhead
- the bill was sent to the Capital Investment Division
- HF1340 in the Commerce Committee: requires the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Department of Health, to report to the Legislature on state enforcement of mental health parity laws by health insurers
- the bill was sent to the Health and Human Services Policy Committee
- HF1104 in the Property Tax and Local Government Division: appropriates $1 million each year in ongoing funding for the Border City Enterprise and Development Zone
- the bill was laid over by the division for possible inclusion in its division report that gets sent to the Tax Committee
- HF1019 in the Jobs and Economic Development Finance Division: appropriates $3 million over the biennium for Small Business Development Centers around the state to help with business succession and transition planning
- the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the division’s omnibus bill
- HF2154 in the Commerce Committee: Gambling Control Board technical policy bill
- the bill was sent to the General Register (this is where bills go before they hit the House floor)
- HF1340 in the Health and Human Services Policy Committee: second bill hearing of the week on mental health parity
- the bill was sent to the Ways and Means Committee (I assume it will be referred from Ways and Means to the Health and Human Services Finance Division)
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben