Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee first approved the March 15, 2022 minutes and then took up House File 11, which was heard on section 9 only. Chair Schultz explained that the section would create a temporary small-business health insurance tax credit for employers with 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, covering 50 percent of their employee health insurance costs until a broader small-business coverage option is available. Supportive testimony came from small business owners Andrew Coplin and Ralph Bernstein, who said the credit would help them afford coverage, improve retention, and support growth; former Rep. Matt Dean offered cautionary testimony about MinnesotaCare financing and the Health Care Access Fund. After questions about reimbursement rates, the committee voted 11-9 to re-refer HF 11 to the Health Finance and Policy Committee. The committee then laid over House File 3776, which would expand emergency assistance for postsecondary students and make certain grant amounts tax deductible/excluded for students receiving emergency aid. Chair Noor said the bill would help students facing food, housing, and basic-needs insecurity, and noted a small fiscal impact. No one else testified, and the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus report. Next, the committee considered House File 4022, a local bonding-related bill for the city of Virginia. Representative Lesligard and Mayor Larry Cuffey explained that the bill would exempt a proposed USDA loan and related bonds for a new public safety building from the city’s net debt limit, with no cost to the state. Representative McDonald asked whether similar one-off city exemptions had been done before, but no answer was provided at the hearing. The chair laid HF 4022 over for possible inclusion in the omnibus report. The transcript then began discussion of House File 3713, a beginning farmer tax credit bill, but the excerpt ends before that bill is fully heard or acted on.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee heard House File 4021, as amended by the A1 amendment, which would establish a children’s crisis stabilization service. Representative Bolden explained that the amendment added technical licensing clarification from DHS, specified that the bill is focused on children, and clarified how the service could be funded. Supporters said the bill is intended to address a gap in care for children in mental health crisis who are often boarding in emergency departments, being routed through juvenile justice, or otherwise unable to access timely stabilization care. Testimony from Sue Abderholden of NAMI Minnesota described the need for a child-specific crisis option, citing examples of suicidal ideation, aggression, self-harm, panic attacks, school refusal, and long ER waits, and noting that adults already have crisis homes while children do not. Tim Hunter of the Southeast Regional Crisis Center described an existing 10-county model in southeast Minnesota that provides 24/7 crisis assessments and short-term residential stabilization, but currently relies on a shelter license and lacks clear statutory guidance on billing and staffing. He said the model has served many self-referrals and family referrals, with follow-up often coordinated through mobile crisis teams and case managers. Members asked about cost, Medicaid coverage, and how the bill interacts with less restrictive settings. Representative Bolden and Abderholden said the bill is largely policy but a fiscal note was pending, and that the intent is to allow children in crisis to access the service without delay, including through immediate recommendation by a mental health professional or physician. DHS said it had not yet completed a fiscal analysis. After discussion, the committee adopted the A1 amendment by voice vote and then approved the bill, as amended, on a roll call of 10 ayes and 0 nays, recommending House File 4021 to the Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee took up House File 1729, the Hunger Free Schools Act, and first adopted a DE1 amendment by voice vote. Representative Jordan then presented the bill, which would require eligible schools to participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision and expand access to free breakfast and lunch for Minnesota students. Jordan argued the bill would reduce childhood hunger, improve learning and mental health, and help close opportunity gaps. Several testifiers supported the measure. Youth and community advocates described personal experiences with food insecurity and the stigma and classroom impacts of not qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. A representative from the Minnesota Department of Education said school meals are a fundamental part of supporting the whole child and noted the administration supports the proposal. A school nutrition director also backed the bill, saying universal meals would help students, reduce lunch debt, and reflect the pandemic-era practice of feeding all students. Members asked about the bill’s effect on school funding formulas tied to free and reduced-price lunch counts, whether it would apply to private schools, and how it would interact with current meal programs. Jordan said he was concerned about paperwork barriers but wanted to prioritize feeding children, while the department witness noted there is ongoing work on alternative poverty measures. After discussion, the committee voted 16-2, with one absent, to refer the bill as amended to the Committee on Education Finance.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The Behavioral Health Policy Division approved the March 9, 2022 minutes and then heard House File 4021, as amended, which would establish a children’s crisis stabilization service. Representative Bolden said the bill is intended to address the shortage of appropriate crisis care for children who are boarding in emergency departments or entering the juvenile justice system instead of receiving stabilization treatment. The A1 amendment, adopted by voice vote, incorporated DHS technical assistance, clarified licensing, focused the bill on children, and improved funding language. Testimony from NAMI Minnesota and the Southeast Regional Crisis Center described the need for child crisis residential options, the difficulty of fitting youth services into existing licensure categories, and the goal of creating a safe, trauma-informed, 24/7 setting with follow-up care. Members asked about costs and Medicaid coverage; DHS said a fiscal analysis was still pending. The committee then voted 10-0 to recommend HF 4021, as amended, to the Human Services Finance and Policy Committee. The committee next heard House File 4105 from Representative Thompson, a grant program for culturally competent behavioral health providers serving underserved communities, including African American, Native American, African immigrant, Latino, Asian, and Pacific Islander populations. Thompson said the bill is meant to address gaps in access, trust, and provider capacity in communities facing high levels of trauma and disparities. Testifiers from United Not Divided, the Barbara Schneider Foundation, Voice of East African Women, and a South Minneapolis business owner supported the bill, emphasizing barriers such as stigma, lack of culturally responsive providers, historical trauma, and the need for community-based infrastructure. Thompson also shared personal experiences to explain the importance of culturally competent settings where people feel comfortable seeking care. Members questioned the bill’s fiscal note and what “culturally competent setting” means. Thompson and Mark Anderson explained that the proposal is structured as a grant program administered by the Department of Health, with funding levels depending on applications and agency decisions, and that culturally competent care means providers and settings where patients feel safe and understood. DHS had not yet completed a fiscal analysis. The transcript ends while the committee was still hearing testimony on HF 4105, with no final vote or action recorded in the excerpt.

Keywords: 1183, house

Keywords: 1183, house

Keywords: 1183, house

Keywords: 1183, house

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee met remotely, took roll, established a quorum, and adopted minutes from several March meetings. The main item was House File 2200, which the author described as creating a local government climate action grant program administered by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. An author’s amendment, A22, was adopted; it expanded the bill to include other local units of government such as counties and school districts. The bill was then laid over for possible inclusion, with no final vote on the bill itself. Testimony was strongly supportive. City officials from St. Louis Park, Moorhead, Red Wing, and Grand Rapids said local governments are already facing climate impacts and need state funding and technical assistance to develop climate action plans, resiliency plans, and implementation strategies. They cited examples such as flooding, drought, power outages, solar projects, and the difficulty and expense of planning for small and mid-sized cities. Several emphasized that climate action plans help cities measure progress, prioritize actions, and engage residents, while also noting that many communities still lack such plans. Dr. Kate Knuth summarized statewide planning data, saying only a limited number of Minnesota cities and one county have completed stand-alone climate action plans, and that local planning can address both emissions reductions and adaptation. Kathleen Doran Norton testified that county-level planning is also needed, describing severe flooding in her township and supporting the amendment to include counties. Committee members thanked the testifiers and noted the importance of local climate impacts and planning based on current and future conditions.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee met remotely on March 15, 2022, approved the March 10 minutes, and took up House File 2814, which would modify farm cervid requirements and was moved for re-referral to Ways and Means. The committee adopted the author’s E-2 amendment, which added provisions on escaped farm cervids, fencing, identification tags, a pause on new registrations, restrictions after CWD detection, live and postmortem RT-QuIC testing, a transfer of oversight from the Board of Animal Health to the DNR, and a $250,000 appropriation for testing. Representative Eklund said more cleanup would be needed later in the process. Testimony on the bill was divided. Dr. Peter Larson of the University of Minnesota supported RT-QuIC as a sensitive prion-detection tool and said it is being validated for live-animal testing, while noting soil testing still needs more research before it is ready for regulatory use. The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance supported the bill as a way to protect wild deer from chronic wasting disease. The Minnesota Deer Farmers Association and Minnesota Elk Breeders Association opposed or raised concerns about several provisions, including hunter possession of escaped animals, double fencing costs, the lack of approved soil testing, the 10-year restrictions, the statewide endemic-area language, and shifting authority from the Board of Animal Health to the DNR. The DNR supported measures that reduce disease transmission and said it preferred continuing co-management with the Board of Animal Health. Additional testimony came from Amy Cordray, who urged stronger action to prevent CWD from continuing to spread, and Farron Jackson Sr. of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, who described the disease’s impact on tribal hunting and subsistence and called for support for HF 3273 and a moratorium on cervid farms. During member questions, Dr. Larson explained that prions can remain infectious in the environment for many years, citing scrapie research showing persistence up to 16 years and noting CWD studies have shown environmental infectivity for at least several years.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee first adopted the minutes from its March 11 meeting by voice vote. It then took up House File 3955, a bill related to the Minnesota Board of Private Detective and Protective Agent Services. Chair Mariani and Executive Director Hugo McPhee described the bill as a board recommendation to make pre-assignment training more portable: recognizing training completed within the last three years, making the completion certificate belong to the student, and requiring employers to provide a copy. McPhee said the changes would reduce confusion, lower costs for employers and workers, and improve access to the industry. Rep. Poston asked for clarification on the difference between private detectives and protective agents and the number of licenses in the state; McPhee said private detectives do investigative work while protective agents are akin to security officers, with roughly 400 licenses statewide and about 13,000 people working under them. Rep. Lee Johnson raised concerns about the amount of training, especially for armed personnel, and suggested the committee may need to revisit training standards. The bill was then passed on a 19-0 roll call vote and referred to the General Register. The committee next turned to the chair’s Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Policy Bill, House File 3957. Chair Mariani said the bill would be laid over rather than sent immediately to Judiciary because some provisions would also be considered there in a related bill. The committee then handled several amendments. Department of Public Safety staff explained that the A1 amendment deleted a section to preserve DHS emergency response flexibility, the A2 amendment incorporated language from House File 3772 to expand the BCA advisory group and criminal justice data network, and the A3/A5 sequence concerned body-camera release footage language. After a procedural correction, the committee reconsidered A3, adopted A5 as an amendment to A3, and then adopted A3 as amended. Commissioner John Harrington then described the department’s policy proposals in the bill. He said one section would allow DPS to accept donations, grants, and gifts into a special revenue account, limited to the purposes for which the funds were given, so the department could support research and policy work such as the deadly force encounters working group or opioid-related projects. He also explained a “report optimization” section that would let the legislature reduce or eliminate outdated or duplicative statutory reports; he said DPS currently has 72 reports due in statute, including 62 recurring reports, and that staff time spent on obsolete reports could be redirected to other public safety work. The hearing continued with discussion of these proposals, but no final action on House File 3957 was taken in the portion provided.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee first approved the minutes from March 8 and then took up House File 3837, which was laid over after adopting the A3 amendment. The amendment extended the Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Program affordability period from 25 to 30 years, required affordable lot rents and long-term leases, allowed residents a purchase option if a property is sold during the affordability period, and permitted Minnesota Housing to use loans as well as grants and to fund lot preparation. Representative Bernardi described the bill as a major manufactured-housing preservation package that would raise ongoing program funding from $1 million to $5 million, provide $25 million for manufactured-home lending innovation, and provide $10 million to help residents buy their communities. Supportive testimony came from Victoria Clark of North Country Cooperative Foundation and a Park Plaza Cooperative board president, who emphasized infrastructure needs, financing barriers, vacant lots, and the importance of resident ownership and long-term affordability. Mark Brunner of the Manufactured and Modular Home Association supported continued infrastructure grants and broader down payment assistance, but strongly opposed the amendment’s resident purchase requirement and long-term lease language, arguing it could interfere with property rights, create litigation risk, and discourage investment or expansion of communities. Several members echoed concerns about the amendment’s impact and whether the bill would have support in the Senate. Representative Bernardi said the bill was intended to preserve affordable housing for workers and families. House File 3837 was then laid over. The committee next heard House File 4269, which Representative Agbaje moved to re-refer to Judiciary Finance and Civil Law. The bill would create a $170 million first-generation down payment assistance program to help at least 5,000 households over three years, with assistance structured as a five-year forgivable loan of up to 10 percent of the purchase price, capped at $30,000, administered through Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation and other qualified entities. Testifiers from Minnesota Realtors, the Minnesota Home Ownership Center, and NeighborWorks Home Partners supported the bill, saying down payment assistance is a major barrier to homeownership, especially for BIPOC and first-generation buyers, and that the proposal’s design—larger assistance, no geographic restrictions, reservation of funds, and administration by CDFIs—would improve access and competitiveness. Members discussed whether there would be enough housing stock to use the funds and whether the program could apply to manufactured homes; the author and testifiers said it could include manufactured homes and land trusts, and that the bill was intended as a pilot. The transcript ends during continued discussion of the bill.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee first approved the March 9, 2022 minutes, then heard House File 3626, authored by Representative Carlson. The bill, as amended by the DE-2 amendment, was described as a technical cleanup to Minnesota liquor statutes: it adds a statutory definition of “beer” and aligns the definition of “malt liquor” so it also covers fermented products made from malt substitutes. Testimony from the Minnesota Bureau of Wholesalers Association supported the clarification and said it would make state law consistent with administrative rules and federal definitions. The committee adopted the amendment and laid the bill over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill. The committee then took up House File 3296 by Chair Yuakim, which came from a salvage title task force. After adopting the A2 amendment, members heard that the bill addresses title-washing by requiring salvage branding and written disclosure for vehicles acquired as total losses or damaged beyond the 80 percent threshold, extending branding and disclosure rules to commercial vehicles and motorcycles, and improving consistency for in-state and out-of-state vehicles. Supportive testimony came from Legal Aid and the Driver and Vehicle Services Division, both emphasizing consumer transparency and noting no fiscal impact. Representative Lucero asked about whether the high-value/late-model definitions changed, and the author confirmed they did not. The committee then voted 16-0 to recommend the bill, as amended, to the General Register. House File 2629, by Vice Chair Kotyza-Witthuhn, was next. After adopting a DE1 amendment that removed a portion based on stakeholder feedback, the author and American Express’s Vicky Harris explained that the bill updates Minnesota’s credit card surcharge law to cover online and phone sales, which were not contemplated when the law was enacted in 1987. They said the measure does not change existing disclosure requirements for brick-and-mortar retailers, but applies the same rules to merchants doing business in Minnesota through remote sales. Representative Rasmussen asked how the law would be enforced against out-of-state businesses, and Harris said Minnesota could enforce it against merchants selling to Minnesota consumers; Representative Barr asked about debit cards, and Harris said debit card surcharges are not covered. The committee then recommended the bill, as amended, to the General Register. Finally, the committee heard House File 3724 from Representative Robbins, which she said was prompted by concerns about social media’s effects on teens, especially eating disorders and related harms. She described the bill as a first step to prohibit social media platforms from using algorithms to target content to users under 18, while leaving parental controls and account access otherwise intact. The committee then received supportive testimony from Dr. Brynn Austin, who cited research linking algorithm-driven feeds to harmful body image and eating-disorder outcomes among adolescents, and said state action could help protect young users. The bill was moved to the Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee, and the committee voted 9-7 to re-refer House File 3724, as amended, to that committee.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: The committee took up House File 3982, Representative Howard’s proposal to create local housing affordability aid for cities and counties. The A1 author’s amendment was moved and adopted, and Howard explained that the bill would provide a formula-based annual aid stream funded at about $100 million, with resources distributed to counties, larger cities, and a $10 million pot available to cities of any size under the amendment. He said the aid would be flexible and could be used for gap financing, acquisition, demolition, rehabilitation, or construction of housing, with income limits tied to affordable rental and homeownership targets. The revenue estimate discussed was about $96.72 million in general fund impact for both 2024 and 2025 after interactions with other tax provisions. Members asked about how the amendment changed eligibility for smaller cities, how counties could use or pass through funds, and whether the aid could help in places facing market pressures like Saint Paul. Howard said the amendment created a separate pool for any city to apply for, that counties were not restricted from partnering with cities or townships, and that the bill’s resources were intended to be flexible and locally directed. He also said the bill would not override local rent control ordinances, and that projects funded would still need to comply with those ordinances. Some members raised concerns that market forces and Saint Paul’s rent control policy could undermine housing production, while Howard argued the aid would help projects that otherwise do not pencil out. Testimony was largely supportive. Anne Mabady of the Minnesota Housing Partnership said local governments need more resources to preserve and produce affordable housing, citing statewide shortages, aging housing stock, racial disparities, and the need for preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing and rural federally assisted units. Sheila Kiskaden, speaking for county associations, said the bill would give local governments tools and flexibility to address different regional housing needs and noted a clawback provision if funds are not used. Todd Prafke of Saint Peter and Jack Swanson of Roseau County also supported the bill, emphasizing that housing is tied to economic development and that local needs vary from community to community. No final vote on the bill itself was described in the excerpt, but the A1 amendment was adopted and the bill was laid over for further consideration after testimony and questions.

Keywords: 1183, house

Summary: House File 3010, authored by Representative Edelson, was presented as a bill to prevent sexual-harassment settlement payments from being treated as severance when a non-disclosure agreement is involved, and to ensure those damages are not taxed in a way that reduces victims’ recovery. Edelson described the measure as addressing a loophole that can financially harm victims while benefiting employers, and said the bill was prompted by a constituent’s experience. The chair noted the committee was under a time crunch and asked members to keep comments focused on section one. Testimony was strongly supportive. Julie Risser described her own sexual-harassment settlement, saying she was surprised by the tax treatment and felt further victimized when the payment was treated like wages. Artika Roller of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault said the bill would help protect victims and prevent employers from hiding wrongdoing, and Caitlin Ryan of Rise testified that taxing settlement funds can discourage reporting and re-traumatize victims financially. Members then asked about how the bill would apply if no NDA were present and whether an NDA could be added later; the author and nonpartisan staff said they were not fully sure and would need to review existing law, which the author said was part of why the bill was being sent to Judiciary. Representative Edelson renewed her motion to refer House File 3010 to the Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. A roll call vote followed, and the motion passed 13-0. The chair announced that the bill was on its way to Judiciary Finance and Civil Law.