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Minnesota Update
Minnesota Legislature Continues Fast-Paced Work on Policy and Budget
As the legislature gets closer to the first committee deadline in early March, committee activity continues to increase with agendas focusing on a broad variety of policy and budget initiatives, including numerous proposals included in Gov. Walz’s budget recommendations and infrastructure proposals. Some of the more notable proposals advancing through the committee process last week include legislation that would legalize adult-use of cannabis, a bill establishing preference for electric vehicles for the state government’s fleet, and bills that would provide sick time and family/medical leave for Minnesota workers.
Safe and Sick Time Proposal Passes House of Representatives
The House of Representatives passed H.F. 19 (Olson) last week on a vote of 69-54. H.F. 19 would require all Minnesota employers to provide their employees up to 48 hours of earned safe and sick time per year. The paid time off would accrue at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. For the purposes of the mandate, the bill defines an employer as any person who has one or more employees and includes both public entities and private businesses. Many critics of the proposal sought to create a threshold number of employers before the requirements would become effective but were unsuccessful during the nearly eight hours of floor debate.
Under H.F. 19, workers would be able to use their earned safe and sick time to:
- Care for themselves or a family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or other health condition;
- Seek preventative medical or health care;
- Seek relief from domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking of themselves or a family member, including obtaining services from a victim’s services organization;
- Obtain psychological counseling, relocation, or legal advice/legal action, for sexual assault, domestic abuse, or stalking; or
- Employee’s need to care for a family member whose school or place of care has been closed due to weather or public emergency.
House of Representatives Capital Investment Proposal
Capital investment proposals are generally not unveiled until later in a typical session. However, last week the House of Representatives released a $2 billion capital investment package citing the legislature’s failure to pass a capital investment package last session. The proposal was introduced in the House Capital Investment Committee in the form of amendments to bills already introduced by Rep. Fue Lee (DFL-Mpls.). Some of the more notable proposals include:
- $177 million for various colleges and universities around the state to revive old buildings and for asset preservation and replacement;
- $72 million for public housing rehabilitation;
- $245 million for projects within the Department of Transportation, the largest totals going to local bridge and road improvement and replacement. These grants have not yet been designated to specific projects;
- $87 million for Water Infrastructure Funding Program, including clean water and drinking water grants;
- $72 million for bus rapid transit; and,
- $22.4 million for the Minnesota Department of Administration. $9 million of that would go toward upgrading security at the Capitol Complex.
The bill also includes $151 million in General Fund dollars to support roughly 50 projects managed by nonprofits and local governments. Many of these projects would be funded with surplus dollars from the state general fund as opposed to revenues generated by the state’s sale of general obligation bonds.
It is important to note that while most bills require a straight majority to pass, capital investment bills require three-fifths majority, or 60 percent, for passage. This majority can be difficult, especially with the current majority vote margin, to get enough buy-in from both parties to successfully pass a bill.
DEED Commissioner Departure
Commissioner Steve Grove, the current head of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), announced last week that he is leaving the Walz administration to become the new publisher and CEO of the Star Tribune. He has been with the Walz administration since 2019. Gov. Walz will need to appoint a new DEED Commissioner, who then must be approved by the Senate.
Legislative Deadlines
The following are a series of committee deadlines that will guide the Minnesota Legislature’s process as they move through the session:
- February 27, 2023: February forecast released
- March 10, 2023: 1st Committee Deadline - committees must act favorably on bills in the House of origin.
- March 24, 2023: 2nd Committee Deadline - committees must act favorably on bills, or companions of bills, that met the first deadline in the other House.
- April 4, 2023, at 5:00 pm: 3rd Committee Deadline - committees must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.
- April 4, 2023, at 5:00 pm - April 10, 2023: Legislative Recess
- May 22, 2023: Deadline to adjourn legislative session
Federal Update
Senate appropriators issue guidance for fiscal 2024 earmarks
The Senate Appropriations Committee released its guidance Friday for fiscal 2024 earmarks, laying out the same transparency guidelines as the last Congress and setting deadlines for requests in late March and early April. Earmarks, formally known as congressionally directed spending, will remain capped at 1 percent of total discretionary spending, and for-profit entities remain prohibited from receiving earmarks. Senators are required to publish their requests online, and the Government Accountability Office will audit a sample of enacted earmarks.
The first deadline for earmark requests is for the Energy-Water appropriations bill on March 30, with the other bills’ deadlines in the following weeks. The final deadline is for the Labor-HHS-Education bill on April 13. The Defense, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign Operations bills are not eligible for earmarks, but senators are able to request programmatic and language requests for all bills.
The deadlines for all 12 spending bills are:
- Agriculture — March 31
- Commerce-Justice-Science — April 5
- Defense (not accepting earmarks) — April 14
- Energy-Water — March 30
- Financial Services — March 31
- Homeland Security — April 11
- Interior-Environment — April 4
- Labor-HHS-Education —April 13
- Legislative Branch (not accepting earmarks) —March 30
- Military Construction-VA — April 7
- State-Foreign Operations (not accepting earmarks) —April 12
- Transportation-HUD —April 6
The House Appropriations Committee is expected to release its own earmark guidance after the current recess — either in the waning days of February or in early March. Republicans, who won control of the committee this year, are considering changes to ensure that there is a “federal nexus” for projects. That change would put at risk a number of categories of earmarks for private entities or those operated at the state or local level, including museums.
Congressman Stauber has set his deadline for March 3rd, and Congressman Finstad has set his deadline for March 10th. Expect further updates on additional deadlines in the near future. If you have any interest in pursuing federal earmarks, please reach out for our assistance.
In the fiscal 2023 omnibus law, Congress provided $15.3 billion worth of earmarks, well ahead of the prior year's $9, the first year the practice was reintroduced after a 10-year ban.
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