Greetings from the Floor:
The House passed the following bills this week:
- SF1339: includes light rail operators in the state’s careless and reckless laws
- HF637: adds background checks for certain licensure
- HF1883: requires school placements for foster children
- HF1960: Department of Commerce technical policy bill
- HF2154: Gambling Control Board technical policy bill
- HF622: modifies requirements for real estate advertisements
- HF2225: Legislative Audit Commission technical policy bill
- HF1188: adds recycling, solid waste vehicles to the existing “move over” law on roadways
- HF2181: creates a “Telecommuter Forward! Community” designation for communities that wish to highlight that they are telecommuter friendly
- HF1983: creates a “family and community intervener” definition in state law for paraprofessionals who work with deafblind children
- HF990: allows manufactured home dealers to talk with customers about financing options
- HF1840: removes references to “subprime” in state law for mortgages
The House Capital Investment Bill was released on Tuesday. The bill would fund $1.5 billion in state wide infrastructure projects. Included in the bill are $150 million each for the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State systems, $10 million for state-wide flood mitigation projects, $10 million for the Local Roads Wetland bank, $25 million for the Minnesota Zoo, $100 million each for the Local Road and Local Bridge programs, $3 million for the Becker County Museum, $62 million for municipal water infrastructure, and $30 million in housing bonds. The bill also includes great projects for Clay County:
- $8.5 million for a new county resource recovery/waste transfer station
- $52 million for an underpass at 11th Street in Moorhead
The bill has to be worked out with the Senate, which has indicated there may not be a Capital Investment Bill this session, but this is a good starting point. It’s important we keep up with the infrastructure needs around the state, and the Capital Investment Bill is the way to do this. Much of the Senate’s opposition is that this is not a typical bonding year (being that it’s the budget year of the biennium). I disagree as we always seem to pass a Capital Investment Bill, although it may be much smaller than $1.5 billion in the budget year. I also look to the current back log of projects around the state. We have debt service capacity for $3 billion in bonding over the next two fiscal years, and the annual demand for projects is between $3 billion and $4 billion each year.
The House Tax Committee and Higher Education Division passed their bills to the Ways and Means Committee this week. The Tax Bill would get the state’s income tax code into conformity with the new federal income tax code that became law in late 2017. Some of the conformity provisions allow states to tax corporate profits held in offshore accounts, and for Minnesota this would generate $745 million over the next two fiscal years. The Tax Bill would generate a total of $1.2 billion in new revenue next biennium primarily through taxes on profits held in offshore accounts and a 3% tax on capital gains income over $500,000 (this would generate $381 million in the next biennium). These new dollars would be invested into education funding from early childhood through higher education as the E-12 budget target is $900 million and the higher education budget target is $305 million.
Other provisions of the Tax Bill include:
- Federal conformity for section 179 expensing
- uses Adjusted Gross Income as the basis for state income taxes
- establishes a new state standard income tax deduction
- maintains a state income tax deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses, medical expenses, casualty and theft losses, local taxes, and moving expenses
- allows a dependent exemption
- agricultural land property tax cuts (moving the current ag. to school property tax credit from 40% to 70%)
- tax cuts for senior citizens who receive Social Security
- an expansion of the Working Family Credit
- property tax cuts for homeowners and renters through an expansion and increase of the Property Tax Refund and Renter’s Credit
- increases to Local Government Aid and County Program Aid by $30 million each
- $1 million annual appropriations for the Border City Enterprise and Development Zone
The Higher Education Bill would fund a tuition freeze at both the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State systems, and includes an increase of $15.4 million in the State Grant program. This $15.4 million is on top of $20 million the Office of Higher Education has in existing funds that could be used next biennium. The bill also funds mental health services and campus food banks at the Minnesota State system, and programs to train teachers of color and teachers in parts of the state experiencing teacher shortages. The education dollars in the House budget (both higher education and primary/secondary education) are the major pieces of our plan for the next two years. To me this is about ensuring our state’s future prosperity by giving every student the opportunity to succeed.
The Legislature begins its spring recess next week. The Red River Valley League of Women Voters is hosting a legislative town hall on Thursday April 18 at 6:30 at the Rourke Art Gallery in Moorhead (521 Main Avenue, Moorhead). When we get back to St. Paul, the floor sessions will be frequent and long as we pass the omnibus budget bills to set up conference committees with the Senate. Speaker Hortman set a very ambitious schedule for those first couple of weeks we are back, and I commend her on the job she’s doing as Speaker of the House. She is making every move possible to get the Legislature’s work done correctly and on time to avoid passing bills in the final hour of session. This is good legislative practice for staff, legislators, and most importantly, the people of Minnesota.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben