Greetings from the Floor,
The House passed the following bills off the House floor this week:
- HF50: prohibits hand held cell phone use while driving
- HF400: establishes an opioid stewardship fee on manufacturers and wholesalers; creates the Opioid Stewardship Advisory Council; places new limitations on dispensing of prescription opioids; mandates health plan coverage of alternative pain management for health plans regulated by the state; and funds law enforcement initiatives, children’s placement services, addiction programs, opiate public awareness, public safety opiate antagonist purchases, opioid abuse prevention pilot projects, state-wide assessment and community awareness for community based non-narcotic pain management, and culturally specific prevention programs for American Indian organizations
- SF1743: allows cancelled school days between January 29th and 31st to be forgiven
- HF10: changes sexual harassment standards in the workplace
- HF679: provides state funding to fill a gap in federal dollars for children’s residential treatment
- HF680: allows leashed dogs to track big game hunting recovery
- HF892: removes requirement that sellers of specific dialysis fluid have a licensed pharmacist present when selling to certain end-stage patients
- HF1503: modifies tribal health department access to birth records
The House continued with committee hearings through the week. Although I only had four hearings on bills this week, it was still very busy. The bill hearings I had were as follows:
- HF840 in the Health and Human Services Finance Division: expanding adult Medical Assistance benefits to include treatment for gum disease
- the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the division’s omnibus bill
- HF1828 in the Capital Investment Division: appropriating $39 million from state general obligation bond sales for Moorhead flood mitigation work
- the bill was heard as an informational hearing
- HF2431 in the Capital Investment Division: appropriating $75 million from state general obligation bond sales for state-wide flood mitigation work
- this was also heard as an informational hearing
- HF1862 in the Tax Committee: adding $400,000 each fiscal year to the existing funding of $400,000 each fiscal year for volunteer tax preparation services and allowing the money to also be used for client financial capability services (opening savings accounts, buying U.S. savings bonds, receiving financial counseling, etc.)
- the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the committee’s omnibus bill
Governor Walz released his revised budget proposal today after the February state budget forecast showed a surplus of $1 billion. This was $492 million less than what was projected in the November state budget forecast. The major elements of the governor’s revised budget proposal are:
- $97.8 million in reductions to General Fund expenditures
- $131.5 million in reductions to all expenditures by using additional federal dollars and money from other funds
- $64.5 million in tax policy adjustments to generate revenue
- returns $142 million in unused money appropriated last biennium for reinsurance back to the General Fund
- increases expenditures by $37 million from the General Fund
- most of these dollars go to the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State systems
For more information about Governor Walz’s revised budget proposal, please go to: https://mn.gov/mmb/budget/current-budget/governors-budget-recommendations/.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben