|
Minnesota Update
Legislature Halts Work Due to Snowstorm
With a major snowstorm bearing down on the state capitol, the Minnesota Legislature elected to halt operations after Tuesday of last week to allow legislators to return home before the storm. Both chambers passed a joint resolution on Tuesday that authorized skipping Thursday’s floor session and not returning until today. The unplanned closure led to the cancellation of dozens of committee hearings but did not stop the Minnesota Senate from meeting well into the evening on Tuesday to pass multiple significant policy initiatives.
Driver’s License and Voting Rights Reforms Pass Senate; Are Sent to Governor
In its last floor session before the blizzard, the Minnesota Senate passed two substantive policy measures. The first, H.F. 4, the bill dubbed “Driver’s License for All” will remove the requirement that individuals provide evidence of legal status as a prerequisite for securing a driver’s license. Proponents of the legislation argue the measure will increase public safety by allowing more individuals to legally drive and secure the requisite car insurance under the law. Opponents have raised numerous concerns regarding the issuing of government documents, like drivers’ licenses, to individuals without legal status in the United States, including concerns regarding election integrity. The Senate voted 34-31 in favor of the bill after the House of Representatives previously passed the bill. Gov. Walz is expected to sign the bill later this week.
The second high-profile policy proposal last week, H.F. 40, will restore the right to vote to individuals previously convicted of a felony upon their release from prison instead of requiring them to complete their parole before they can vote. The proposal, which passed the House of Representatives in early February 71-59, is expected to restore the right to vote to approximately 50,000 Minnesotans. The Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan vote of 35-30 and Gov. Walz is also expected to sign the bill in the coming days.
Bonding Bill Clears House Panel
The House Capital Investment Committee approved two bills that would appropriate roughly $1.9 billion towards roads, bridges, trails, parks, buildings, and other infrastructure projects. While the proposal would fund dozens of projects statewide, some of the more notable items include $235 million for water and wastewater programs, $173 million for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and $146 million for local road and bridge grants. The version that passed the Capital Investment Committee is similar to what was unveiled a few weeks ago. The bill moves on to the Ways and Means Committee, and then to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
It is important to note that while most bills require a straight majority to pass, capital investment bills require a three-fifths majority, or 60 percent, for passage. This can be difficult, especially with the current majority vote margin, to get enough buy-in from both parties to successfully pass a bill.
Updated Budget Forecast
Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) released an updated budget forecast that will be used to further guide the governor and legislature in putting together the FY 24-25 biennial budget, which must be passed prior to the end of the legislative session in May. MMB noted that the economic outlook was stable, with a $17.5 billion balance projected for the FY 24-25 biennium. For the first time in 20 years, inflation is accounted for in the budget. Individual income and corporate franchise tax forecast is up but is offset by inflation. MMB is projecting that revenues will exceed spending through FY2027.
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
Congress is back! At least for a little while. Fresh off a historic trip to Ukraine, and with the fight over federal spending and the debt limit about to ramp up, President Joe Biden will meet separately with House and Senate Democrats this week. Biden will speak to House Democrats on Wednesday during their retreat in Baltimore. On Thursday, Biden will attend a special Senate Democratic Caucus lunch.
East Palestine
With Congress returning, House and Senate committees will focus on the Feb. 3 train derailment and fire in rural East Palestine, Ohio, which has become a huge political issue. Three House panels and two committees in the Senate are currently looking into the still-unfolding disaster.
In the House, the Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Accountability, and Transportation and Infrastructure panels all began probing into the crash, which led to the release of toxic vinyl chloride as emergency responders and state officials sought to avoid an even more catastrophic explosion. East Palestine residents are worried about the long-term health impact of that exposure and are challenging the quality of the testing programs implemented by federal and state environmental agencies. Energy, Commerce, and Transportation will likely be the lead House panels. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), who represents East Palestine, is chair of the environment, manufacturing, and critical materials subcommittee on Energy and Commerce. Johnson and Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) have sought information from EPA Administrator Michael Regan on the agency’s response to the crash.
The Transportation Committee has jurisdiction over the Transportation Department and National Transportation Safety Board, the independent agency leading the federal review into the crash. On the Senate side, the Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the incident. That hearing – not officially scheduled yet – will take place on March 8, according to a source familiar with the situation.
We’re also told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will call on Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to testify at that hearing. Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have also sought information on how Norfolk Southern and other railroads handle hazardous materials. With all the media and congressional attention on the derailment, the Biden administration is trying to step up its outreach efforts in East Palestine and issuing a timeline detailing what’s been done on the federal level since Feb. 3.
House Could Block Labor-HHS-Education Earmarks
House GOP appropriators could potentially bar local projects from the fiscal 2024 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill and possibly the Financial Services measure. House Republican appropriators may roll out their earmarking guidance as soon as this week. Sources attributed the potential move, at least partly, to concern over earmarks in the fiscal 2023 omnibus spending package. Those included several projects related to LGBTQ and transgender services criticized by Republicans and conservative groups. Republicans also want to meet a pledge to cut more than $130 billion from current levels when they write their fiscal 2024 bills. There was $15.3 billion worth of earmarks in the fiscal 2023 omnibus, with the Labor-HHS-Education portion responsible for nearly $2.7 billion.
Aides to House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Texas) weren't immediately available for comment.
Supreme Court to do the Math on Student Loans
The Supreme Court hears oral arguments Tuesday in cases challenging the Biden administration's student loan relief program — one from a group of Republican-led states and another from borrowers who challenged their ineligibility for forgiveness. Congressional Republicans want the court to restrict the regulatory power of the Biden administration — even if that also would hamstring a future GOP president — via a legal doctrine that requires an agency to point to “clear congressional authorization” for rules on “major questions” of political and economic significance known as the significant questions doctrine.
The administration has countered that the authority to discharge debt is part of a federal benefit program — not a regulatory action — and is central to a 2003 law. Because of this, the government argued in its brief that the significant questions doctrine does not apply to its program to forgive as much or more than $400 billion in student loans owed to the government. Forty-three Republican senators filed a brief that calls for the court to find that the student debt relief plan goes beyond what Congress intended in that 2003 law; more than 100 House Republicans filed a brief that argues the debt program “undoubtedly” has the significance to trigger the major questions doctrine.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority expressly referenced the significant questions doctrine for the first time in a decision last term that the EPA had no authority to address the significant question of greenhouse gas emissions under current law.
|