Greetings from the Floor,
Conference committees continued this week, and the Higher Education Conference Committee started meeting on Tuesday. We’ve adopted same and similar technical policy language between the House and Senate bills, and started looking at House policy provisions. We’ve agreed not to address fiscal matters until House and Senate leadership agree on global budget targets for all conference committees.
The global target negotiations started earlier in the week, and stalled out toward the end of the week. Gov. Walz started negotiations by lowering his overall expenditure number by $200 million. The House agreed to come down from our overall expenditure number by $664 million if the Senate would come up on their overall expenditure number by $332 million. The Senate did not accept this offer. Instead the Senate wanted to see the House come down on our tax revenue number, but did not make any specific offers. With the fishing opener on Sunday and legislative leadership spending the weekend with Gov. Walz, I hope we come back to St. Paul on Monday with more movement toward a global agreement.
Aside from conference committees meeting, the House passed the following bills off the floor this week:
- HF2542: Housing Omnibus Policy Bill
- provisions related to tenant eviction records and manufactured home parks
- SF1703: modifies the process for federal credit unions to convert to state chartered credit unions
- HF1300: designates May as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month
- SF558: technical clarification for public procurement disputes
- HF559: updates law around recognized means for obtaining ophthalmic prescriptions in consideration of new technologies
- SF1732: allows the Department of Health to issue conditional outpatient surgical center licenses
- HF2849: State Grant relief for students of the recently closed Argosy University
- HF1262: technical changes to marriage and family therapist law
- SF278: licenses and regulates Pharmacy Benefit Managers
- HF70: creates a task force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
- HF2697: pays claims to individuals harmed by the state (this most often pertains to inmates in correctional facilities)
- HF90: Elder and Vulnerable Adults Protection Act
- HF71: resolution requesting Congress to remove the ratification deadline for ERA in the U.S. Constitution
- HF810: allow for a new memorial plaque to be placed on the state capitol grounds
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben |
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