Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The Senate first took up House File 1442, which updates the Minnesota Code of Military Justice to better align with the federal Uniform Code of Military Justice. Senator Howe explained that the bill is an agency measure from the Department of Military Affairs and would make explicit that service members traveling to and from drill are covered, along with other technical updates. After brief discussion, the bill was read for third time and passed on a roll call vote of 65 ayes and 0 nays. The next bill, House File 3001, addressed county recording fees for military discharge papers. Senator Howe said the measure corrects a prior change that removed the fee for some branches but not others, and would ensure no veteran has to pay to record discharge papers from any armed force. The Senate gave the bill a third reading and passed it on a roll call vote of 67 ayes and 0 nays. After the bills, members discussed the status of end-of-session negotiations and conference committees. Senator Miller said some committees, including taxes, had reached agreement, while others were still working. Senator Lopez Franzen pressed for a clearer deadline and a roadmap for completing remaining omnibus bills, including bonding, health, transportation, education, mental health, public safety, and judiciary. The exchange focused especially on public safety, with Miller arguing the Senate needed more funding for police and Lopez Franzen and Senator Latz emphasizing compromise and a balance between law enforcement and crime prevention. The Senate then voted to recess to the call of the President.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund Appropriations Conference Committee reconvened with a quorum and took up House File 3765, the conference committee report. Members discussed the compromise package and several policy and funding changes, including the Senate’s eminent domain prohibition, removal of land acquisition language in some areas, clarification that easements are still allowed for the Masabi Trail, changes to State Parks and Trails funding to focus on maintenance and development rather than new acquisitions, removal of SNA acquisition language, and revisions to the Pixel Landfill Task Force language. The committee also noted that the report includes a wide range of projects across the state, including invasive species research, prion research, and conservation career diversity efforts. A substantial portion of the meeting focused on a Crane Lake-related land ownership issue and on questions about unencumbered funds being transferred in the bill. Senator Westrom said the Crane Lake matter was too complex to resolve in the bill and should be handled through the LCCMR, with a commitment to place it on the commission’s agenda for future recommendations. Fiscal staff and Ms. Nash from the LCCMR explained that the transferred amounts were truly unencumbered and would otherwise cancel back to the fund; Ms. Nash confirmed recent verification with project managers that the funds would not be used and that some projects had already returned funds. Representative Heintzman also sought confirmation on the transfers and received clarification that the money was being redirected to State Parks and Trails maintenance, not acquisitions. After discussion, members expressed support for the compromise and thanked the chairs and staff for their work. Senator Westrom moved adoption of the conference committee report, and the committee voted unanimously, 6-0, to adopt it. Members were then instructed to electronically sign the report so it could proceed to the House, Senate, and governor for final action, and the meeting was adjourned.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: Senator John Marty and several supporters held a floor discussion focused on Senate File 2491, a catalytic converter theft bill that Marty said had been repeatedly denied a hearing for three years. Marty described the measure as a simple, low-cost crime-prevention proposal: it would make it illegal to possess a used catalytic converter off a vehicle unless it is marked with the vehicle identification number, which he said would help police identify stolen converters and deter scrap-metal trafficking. He and others argued the problem is urgent and statewide, citing thefts from school buses, businesses, condos, and private vehicles, as well as incidents in St. Paul, Maplewood, Rochester, Moorhead, Redwood Falls, and other communities. Testimony from Chuck Wieger, Senator Ann Johnson Stewart, and Senator Jim Carlson echoed Marty’s concerns. They said thefts have increased, law enforcement supports action, and residents and fleet owners are changing parking habits or losing significant money. Johnson Stewart said her construction fleet regularly loses converters, while Marty cited a Keystone Community Services example where thefts from mobile food trucks disrupted service and cost thousands of dollars. Carlson said his police chief viewed the issue as a state problem and warned it could escalate into dangerous confrontations. The speakers repeatedly criticized Senate leaders for not giving the bill a hearing or floor consideration and said they had not been given a clear reason for the delay. In questions, Marty said he had received no private or public explanation for the bill’s blockage. He also said the proposal would require tracking and database reporting by licensed scrap dealers and would eliminate cash transactions, noting that used converters can sell for several hundred dollars because of precious metals such as rhodium, palladium, and platinum. The discussion then shifted briefly to broader end-of-session negotiations, with Senator Lopez Franzen saying budget talks were still unresolved but expressing guarded optimism about an E-12 education agreement and possible tax deal; no vote or formal action on the catalytic converter bill was taken.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: Senate and House tax conferees presented a negotiated Minnesota tax bill they described as historic, emphasizing that it was part of a broader agreement among legislative leaders and the governor and urging other conference committees to finish their work so the package could move forward. They said the bill would deliver about $3.8 billion in income tax cuts and more than $350 million in property tax reductions, with most of the relief coming through permanent changes rather than one-time rebates. Key provisions highlighted included a full repeal of state income tax on Social Security benefits, which they said would affect about 460,000 middle-class seniors; a permanent income tax reduction for about 2.4 million filers; expanded child and dependent care and K-12 credits; a new Great Start child care credit; and changes to the renters refund that would convert it into an income tax credit, use adjusted gross income instead of household income, and make it easier for eligible renters to claim. They also described property tax relief through a larger homestead value exclusion, expanded targeted property tax refunds, senior deferral changes, reduced state general levy impacts, and increased local government aid and county program aid. Members framed the bill as a bipartisan compromise intended to help families, seniors, renters, homeowners, and businesses cope with inflation and rising property values. They said the bill would take effect for tax year 2022, with benefits realized when taxes are filed, and noted that the package stayed close to the agreed fiscal targets, though slightly over in the second biennium. No formal vote was taken in the excerpt; the conferees instead asked leadership and other committees to complete the remaining budget agreements so the tax bill could advance.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The House and Senate K-12 Finance Policy Conference Committee met on May 21, 2022, to review the Senate’s fourth offer and the House’s response on a range of education finance and policy items. The Senate proposal included increased funding for literacy and dyslexia data collection, LETRS, Level 4 mental health innovative grants, a reappropriation for the Santa Foundation, special education cross-subsidy reduction aid, and regional literacy support directors. The policy portion included several mostly technical or noncontroversial changes, such as allowing school boards to designate education sites, raising the compensation cap for certain school board members, transportation agreements with nonpublic schools, updates to reading notification and screening requirements, concurrent enrollment reporting, literacy incentive aid changes, and various technical conforming changes across multiple articles. Members discussed the major policy differences, especially literacy-related provisions, student mental health, early learning scholarships, school staff dignity, and special education funding. House members said their offer moved significantly toward the Senate on the special education cross-subsidy, but argued that student well-being, meals, early learning scholarships, and support for school workers also needed dedicated funding. Senate members emphasized that the proposal should focus on special education cross-subsidy relief and literacy, and objected to provisions they said were outside the committee’s jurisdiction, including unemployment insurance. There was also discussion of continuing talks on K-3 dismissal language, recess for all, and teacher-of-color provisions. The Senate moved to adopt a delete-all amendment, A14, containing the Senate’s latest proposal and the noncontroversial policy items. The House objected that it had not received the amendment in time and that the committee should not vote on language not yet reviewed. A roll call was taken anyway, and A14 failed to pass, with the Senate side recording four ayes and one nay, and the House side recording four noes, one yes, and two pass votes. After the vote, both sides reiterated that literacy, special education, and Level 4 programs were agreed priorities, but they remained divided on the remaining funding and policy items.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The Agriculture, Rural Development Conference Committee met to review the final agreement on the agriculture, drought relief, and rural broadband portions of the bill. Senate fiscal staff walked through the spreadsheet, noting combined funding increases of $50.9 million in FY 2022-23 and $32.5 million in FY 2024-25 across the three areas. For broadband, the agreement included $25 million general fund appropriations in each of FY 2023 and FY 2024 for the Office of Broadband, plus federal and Border-to-Border funding for broadband expansion, including the Border-to-Border program, a lower population density pilot program, a broadband line extension program, and statewide mapping. During discussion, a correction was made that the federal infrastructure funding referenced was $100 million, not $1 million. Policy staff then reviewed the broadband provisions in Article 5. These created a broadband line extension program in DEED to award grants for extending service to unserved locations, required a web portal to collect and share information with providers, established a reverse auction process with grants up to $25,000 per extension, allowed use of the Border-to-Border account for the program, and authorized broadband providers to use existing utility easements subject to notice, damage, and right-of-way provisions. Members asked a few clarifying questions about the federal funding amounts, but no substantive objections were raised. Representative Sundin moved the delete-everything amendment coded A22-0491 and then renewed the motion to adopt it and direct staff to prepare the conference committee report on House File 3240 with any necessary technical corrections. The committee approved the motion by voice vote and then by roll call, with the report passing unanimously. Members then made brief closing remarks praising the work on agriculture, drought relief, and rural broadband, and staff instructed members to watch for the electronic report for signature. The meeting adjourned after no further business.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: A Republican legislator discussed the status of a state tax bill, saying he had not yet fully reviewed the spreadsheet but understood it would include full elimination of Social Security taxes, an income tax reduction, and property tax relief. He said those were among Senate Republicans’ top priorities and explained that the Social Security tax repeal was pursued because of strong public demand, especially from seniors, while property tax relief was paired with income tax cuts because of rising local property taxes and the homestead credit. He said the tax bill could help move other outstanding budget bills forward, but emphasized that public safety remained another major Republican priority. He pointed to violent crime and carjackings in Minneapolis as evidence that more funding for police and tougher crime policies were needed, and said he was involved in those negotiations while not yet engaged in education talks. He added that conference committees should focus on areas of agreement rather than disagreement if they want bills to pass. The legislator said there would be no rebate checks in the tax package, expressed continued optimism about reaching agreements, and said the tax bill should originate in the House. He said he hoped the House would not hold it up and predicted it could receive strong bipartisan support if finalized. He also said the deadline remained effectively midnight Sunday, that he had not spoken with the governor about extending it, and that the administration had been in conversation with conference committees as they worked through the bills.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The Senate briefly convened under announcements to the Senate. The only business noted was the excusal of Senator Murphy from 1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and Senator Nelson from 1:00 p.m. to 2:10 p.m. No other announcements were made. Senator Webber then moved that the Senate adjourn until Sunday, May 22nd at 11:00 a.m. The motion was put to a voice vote and passed unanimously by audible ayes, with no audible noes. The Senate adjourned.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The Senate began with quorum procedures, prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance, then received House messages on several bills. The House had passed Senate Files 3107 (education), 3338 (insurance), and 4108 (commerce), adopted the conference committee report on Senate File 3008 (liquor), and returned Senate File 3503 (commerce) with amendments. The Senate concurred in the House amendments to SF 3503 and then passed the bill 65-0. The chamber also agreed to a House request for a conference committee on House File 1829 (commerce), and appointed Senators Atki, Draheim, and Dietz to that committee. A major floor debate focused on Senator Marty’s motion to withdraw Senate File 2491 from committee and place it on general orders. The bill was described as a response to catalytic converter theft, with supporters citing rising thefts across Minnesota, impacts on families, schools, businesses, and transit vehicles, and the need for stronger tracking and purchase restrictions. Opponents argued the issue was not urgent enough to bypass committee, and the motion failed 34-30, so SF 2491 remained in committee. The Senate then moved to special orders. Senate File 2644, an education finance bill giving Eastern Carver County Schools authority to use lease-levy funding for a new pupil transportation hub if it produces savings and stays under a per-pupil cap, passed 66-0. House File 4670, the 2022 claims bill appropriating $822,315.32 for three claims under the imprisonment and exoneration remedies act, also passed 66-0 after Senator Latz raised concerns that one exoneration-related settlement would not be paid until next year because of processing delays. The Senate then recessed to the call of the President.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The House considered House File 402, a health bill establishing requirements for certain health care entity transactions. Representative Biermann moved to concur in Senate amendments, explaining that the changes raised the Attorney General oversight threshold for transactions from $40 million to $80 million and allowed the Minnesota Department of Health to collect data on transactions from $10 million to $80 million. The House agreed to the motion and gave the bill its third reading as amended by the Senate. During floor debate, supporters said the bill is needed to protect the public interest in health care transactions, noting that the Attorney General would serve as an appropriate arbiter and that any enforcement action would still go through district court. Opponents argued the bill remains too broad and gives the Attorney General too much authority over private health care mergers, with concerns about privacy, burdens on providers, and the potential to block transactions that could be necessary for struggling systems. Several members emphasized the complexity of the health care system and the need for continued work on the bill. After debate, the House took a roll call vote and repassed the bill as amended by the Senate by a vote of 70 ayes and 58 nays. The title was agreed to, and the House then adopted noncontroversial motions and adjourned until the following Monday.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The conference committee on House File 3669 reconvened to adopt several articles of the tax bill. Article One, federal conformity, was explained as largely unchanged from the House and Senate versions, but with revised retroactivity language and a new uncodified “catch-up adjustment” allowing taxpayers to use that adjustment instead of filing amended returns for certain retroactive provisions. Members discussed the term and structure of the catch-up adjustment, and the article was adopted on a voice vote. The committee then took up Article Eight, the renter’s tax credit. Staff said the article was essentially identical to the House version, aside from removing duplicate inflation-adjustment language that would appear elsewhere in the bill. Members and witnesses emphasized that the change would move the benefit from a refund process to an income tax credit, use adjusted gross income instead of household income, simplify filing, speed payment, and likely increase participation among eligible renters, especially seniors and people with disabilities. The committee also discussed the one-time cost increase caused by a calendaring issue, and the article was adopted on a voice vote. The committee next adopted the sales and use tax article, which members identified by its document title and timestamp. No substantive debate was recorded before the motion passed. The committee then announced plans to reconvene the next day, share the gavel as a bipartisan gesture, and finish adopting the remaining articles and assembling the conference committee report.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: House leaders opened by saying Minnesota had reached a historic tax agreement and urged that it be used as a model for a K-12 budget deal. They said the House had spent months listening to students, parents, paraprofessionals, teachers, counselors, administrators, and school board members, and that their K-12 proposal was built around effective literacy methods, special education funding, student well-being and mental health, school meals, and support for young children and families. The speaker emphasized that student mental health was a top priority, citing pandemic effects, family economic stress, social media pressures, and rising demand for services. They argued Minnesota had the resources and budget target to address these needs and called on the Senate to make a substantive counteroffer and move toward common ground. They also said several offers had already been sent to the Senate and that the House was ready to close out the bill. Callie Moreau, a middle school counselor in White Bear Lake Area Schools, testified in support of dedicated funding for school counseling and other student support staff. She said Minnesota ranks 49th in the nation for counselor-to-student ratios and described counselors’ work in classrooms, small groups, and with outside agencies to support coping skills, conflict resolution, grief, and mental health. In response to questions, the speaker said ongoing funding was included in the budget target, that House leadership had not taken over the bill, and that the last conference committee meeting produced no offer from the Senate; they said the House was awaiting a substantive response and that the “ball’s in the Senate court.”

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: Minnesota Senate Democrats and Attorney General Keith Ellison held a press event backing a bill to create state price-gouging protections, with baby formula shortages cited as the immediate catalyst. Senator Lindsey Port said the measure had been stalled in committee for two years, passed the House last March, and had just advanced in the Senate with 55 votes, which she said was enough to bring it to the floor. She urged Majority Leader Jeremy Miller to place it on special orders, while noting that if he did not, senators could try to suspend the rules with a two-thirds vote. Ellison argued the baby formula shortage exposed the dangers of market concentration and said sudden shortages of essential goods should not be used to justify price spikes. He said Minnesota is one of 13 states without a price-gouging law and described the bill as a bipartisan consumer-protection fix. He also said his office enforced Governor Walz’s pandemic executive order against profiteering, received about 2,400 complaints, and reached seven settlements involving items such as masks, toilet paper, eggs, and rice. In response to questions, Ellison said current consumer-protection laws generally require deception or fraud, so they do not adequately address simple exorbitant price increases. He said enforcement would be handled through the attorney general’s office, but that more staffing would help because his consumer action team is already at capacity. Senate Minority Leader Melissa Lopez Franson also supported the bill, said the Senate would be in session through the weekend, and emphasized that feeding children should be a top priority among the chamber’s remaining issues.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The discussion focused on Senator Chris Eaton’s long record of work to combat opioid abuse as she prepares to retire from the Minnesota Senate. Eaton reflected on the 2014 law she championed that required first responders to carry naloxone (Narcan) and provided immunity from certain drug charges for people seeking help, saying those measures have saved thousands of lives even though overdose deaths remain high. She also discussed the 2019 law that created a licensing/registration fee on opioid manufacturers and distributors and established the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council (ORAC), while criticizing the grant-based distribution process for favoring established organizations over grassroots and community-led efforts. Eaton said the opioid crisis has shifted from overprescribing to fentanyl, carfentanil, and counterfeit pills made to look like Percocet or oxycodone but containing deadly amounts of synthetic opioids. She urged more local, culturally responsive outreach, citing Somali community efforts that struggle to access funding because they lack grant-writing capacity, and called for more public education campaigns warning that street drugs may contain fentanyl. She also said prescription monitoring and public awareness have improved opioid prescribing practices, though some overprescribing remains. The conversation also noted Minnesota’s recent settlement allocation law directing 75 percent of the state’s $300 million opioid settlement share to cities and counties and 25 percent to the state. Eaton supported that local-first approach and said the money should help communities, schools, and people who cannot navigate grant systems. In closing, she said she is proud of her environmental work and wolf protection efforts, and that she will miss the relationships she built across party lines, including work with Republican colleagues on opioid legislation and with mental health advocates on human services issues.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The House E-12 Education Conference Committee met on May 20, 2022, with House and Senate members present by roll call and both sides working toward a final agreement on education finance and policy. The House chair said the offer was intended as a middle-ground framework that respected both parties’ priorities and included a list of no-cost policy items in response to the Senate’s second offer. House Education Policy Chair Richardson then walked through the policy package, which included Indigenous Peoples Day instruction, flexibility for school boards and transportation agreements, higher compensatory revenue spending at generating sites, tribal data sharing, recess protections, limits on local testing, extending the suspension ban through grade 3, non-exclusionary discipline, postsecondary reporting, a separate American Indian education liaison, tribal regalia at graduation, teacher shortage and teacher-of-color initiatives, Metro Deaf School provisions, school closure aid, a malicious and sadistic conduct prohibition, district-specific funding items, summer meals, library services for people with disabilities, tribal Head Start set-asides, early learning scholarships, and school trust lands items. On the finance side, House staff presented the spreadsheet for the May 20 offer. The House said it had shifted spending to increase special education cross-subsidy reduction aid and tails funding, while also funding compensatory revenue adjustments, English learner cross-subsidy aid, permanent VPK seats, literacy and dyslexia data collection, the LETRS/literacy administration, mental health grants and leads, student support personnel, school meals aid, early childhood social workers, and unemployment insurance costs for hourly school workers. Additional House priorities included transportation sparsity aid, consolidation transition aid, computer science blueprint funding, alternative programs support, Network for the Children of African Descent, educator-of-color and Grow Your Own programs, science teacher training, non-exclusionary discipline training, long-term facilities maintenance aid, and working groups on compensatory education and special education. The House said its priority spending totaled $266.83 million in fiscal year 2023 and $674.194 million in fiscal years 2024-25, with additional discretionary set-asides for the House, Senate, and administration. Commissioner Heather Mueller of the Department of Education testified in support of the overall package, saying the administration appreciated the strong budget and policy proposal. She emphasized the literacy plan, ongoing professional development and implementation support, expanded literacy and dyslexia data collection, making existing VPK seats permanent, and the cross-subsidy reductions for English learner and special education costs as ways to give districts more local flexibility. She also supported changes to ADM funding for children with disabilities, breakfast funding, extending special education services to age 22, and the House’s targeted investments in literacy, teacher recruitment and retention, and non-exclusionary discipline. No votes were taken in the portion of the meeting provided; the committee focused on presenting and explaining the House offer and hearing the commissioner’s response.