Greetings from the Floor,
The House started taking up omnibus finance bills on the floor this week. The first bill up was the E-12 Education Bill, and major provisions include:
- a 3% increase in FY2020 and a 2% increase in FY2021 for the general education basic formula
- additional special education funding to reduce the need for school districts to use general fund dollars for special education
- continues funding for Voluntary Pre-K programs
- provides $24 million for school safety
On Wednesday, we took up the Jobs and Energy Finance Bill, and started on the Health and Human Services Finance Bill. Major provisions of the Jobs and Energy Finance Bill include:
- paid family leave
- earned sick and safe time
- $70 million for broadband development
- net neutrality
- caps on payday loan interest rates
- Gov. Walz’s One Minnesota Path to Clean Energy proposal
Major provisions of the Health and Human Services Finance Bill include:
- steps to implement a public option buy-in for health care coverage
- establishment of a single administrator for Medical Assistance dental benefits
- adjustments of Medical Assistance reimbursement rates for dental benefits
- administration of a prescription drug program for Medical Assistance benefits
- continues the 2% provider tax to fund the Health Care Access Fund
- rebases the nursing home reimbursement structure
- parity of health insurance coverage for mental health and substance use disorder
The Tax Bill was taken up on Thursday. The bill contains the following major provisions:
- conformity between the state and federal income tax codes including section 179 expensing and the use of Adjusted Gross Income as the basis for Minnesota state income taxes
- $1.1 billion in new revenue generated from taxation on corporate profits held in offshore accounts and a 3% tax on capital gains over $500,000
- establishes a new state income tax standard 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
This week’s work concluded with the Agriculture and Housing Finance Bill on Friday. Major provisions of the Agriculture and Housing Finance Bill include:
- $548,000 for more mental health support and legal advocacy for farmers
- new guidelines for oversight, inspection and management to address Chronic Wasting Disease
- additional funding for food access programs across the state
- support for beginning farmers across Minnesota
- $26 million for housing support
I did vote for all of these budget bills to get them into conference committee with the Senate. The budget bill work will continue on the floor into early next week as House and Senate leadership work toward an agreed upon deadline to get conference committees set up for early May.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben