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Minnesota Update
Legislature Worked Toward First Deadline
The Minnesota Legislature uses a series of “committee deadlines” to guide its work throughout the legislative session and narrow the number of proposals up for consideration as it moves towards its constitutional deadline to adjourn in May. Last Friday marked the first committee deadline. The first deadline requires a bill be heard and passed out of all policy committees in at least one legislative body. For all bills that met the first deadline, the companion file has until the second committee deadline (March 24th) to be heard in the other legislative body. Proposals that do not meet deadline are generally considered “dead” for the session unless the Rules Committee in one body elects to waive the rule. Additionally, the content of bills that were not heard can still show up in omnibus bills or be offered as amendments at any time during the legislative process. Committee agendas will continue to be long, and hearings will continue into the evening this week as the Legislature continues to consider a broad variety of policy and budget proposals.
House of Representatives Passes Bonding Bills
Last week, the House of Representatives passed two separate bills that would appropriate a combined $1.9 billion towards roads, bridges, trails, parks, buildings, and other infrastructure projects. The first bill, H.F. 669, Rep. Fue Lee (DFL-Minneapolis), is a $1.5 billion general obligation bonding package, which passed on a vote of 91-43. A few of the larger appropriations in the bill include: $235 million for water and wastewater projects, $174 million for Department of Natural Resources, $151 million for local road and bridge projects, and $134 million for higher education asset preservation.
A second bill, HF 670, also sponsored by Rep. Lee, passed 98-36. This is a $393 million cash bill appropriated from the general fund for community-based capital investment projects, as well as projects investments in minority-led non-profits. A few of the larger cash investments include: $13 million for Spirit Mountain in Duluth, $12 million for Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield, $12 million for a competitive swimming pool in North Minneapolis, $8 million for a homeless drop-in center in Anoka, among many others. This bill also included $185 million for projects important to the Republican Caucus. Rep. Dean Urdahl, (R-Grove City), offered an amendment on the House floor that included $66 million for a variety of transportation projects and $57 million for water and wastewater projects around the state. The amendment was adopted.
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. Both bills passed the House with more than the necessary 60 percent. It is now up to the Senate to pass their versions of bonding bills, but it will likely be a much more arduous task to reach the necessary vote threshold in the Senate.
Republican Caucuses Announce Public Safety Plan
Last week Republican legislators released their “Safe and Sound Minnesota” public safety plan, which includes seventeen bills championed by Republican legislators across the state. The “Safe and Sound Minnesota” plan is generally broken into three parts. The first part of the plan is aimed at providing support to Minnesota’s law enforcement with recruitment, training, and retention programs. The second part of the plan would establish new reporting requirements to track the charging and sentencing of felony-level crimes and establish a new database to be administered by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission for the public to research judges and their sentencing decisions. The final part of the plan aims to address concerns that violent, repeat offenders are often released when some believe they should still be incarcerated. A few proposed solutions include: a minimum mandatory sentence for individuals who commit crimes with a firearm, an increase in penalties for those convicted with at least two violent crimes, increasing fentanyl-related penalties to align with associated with heroine, and an increase in penalties for those who transfer firearms to an ineligible person. Republican members say this plan is aimed at ensuring the safety and security of families across the state.
House Tax Committee Considers Social Security Subtraction
Last Thursday, the House Tax Committee began the discussion on H.F. 300 (Lislegard), a bill that would allow the entire amount of a taxpayer’s social security benefits to be subtracted from their adjusted gross income for the purposes of their state income taxes. The taxation of social security benefits was a prominent topic on the campaign trial last election season. Some legislators on both sides of the aisle are seeking a full repeal of the state tax while others are considering either eliminating the tax for a lower-income population or leaving the full tax in place. Many capitol insiders believe that an eventual compromise on the taxability of social security benefits is likely essential to a comprehensive budget and capital investment package being passed before the May 22, 2023 deadline to adjourn the legislative session.
Legislative Deadlines
The following are a series of committee deadlines that will guide the Minnesota Legislature’s process as they move through the session:
- March 24, 2023: 2nd Committee Deadline - committees must act favorably on bills, or companions of bills, which met the first deadline in the other House.
- April 4, 2023, 5:00 p.m.: 3rd Committee Deadline - committees must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.
- April 4, 2023, 5:00 p.m. to April 10, 2023: Legislative Recess
- May 22, 2023: Deadline to adjourn legislative session.
Federal Update
Good morning. The White House gears up for a budget debate with Republicans. Senate Democrats examine public safety after a Supreme Court decision on guns. The White House readies to defend Biden's budget as Republicans lay into the president's spending and tax proposals.
Schedules
White House: Biden delivers remarks on the banking system in the morning. He then travels to San Diego to participate in meetings and events with the prime ministers of Australia and the United Kingdom. In the evening, Biden attends a Democratic National Committee reception in Rancho Santa Fe, CA.
House: Not in legislative session this week; convenes in a pro forma session on Tuesday.
Senate: Not in session; next convenes at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Young and Yellen Set to Testify on Biden's Budget
Remaining details on President Joe Biden's $6.9 trillion budget blueprint are expected today, including line-by-line spending details, analytical perspectives, and historical tables. The release was split into two days, with initial information unveiled Thursday, including proposals for a range of new spending, a tax increase for upper-income households, and an aim to curb deficits. Senate Republicans oppose the proposal and will try to pick it apart in a Budget Committee hearing Wednesday with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda D. Young. House Republicans slammed the administration’s tax proposals Friday in a hearing with Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen. Yellen testifies again, this time to Senate Finance, on Thursday.
Democrats Examine Safety Impact of Gun Rights Ruling
Democrats examine public safety after a landmark Supreme Court ruling on gun rights in a Senate Judiciary hearing Wednesday. The decision last year extended the Second Amendment right to bear arms to include carrying a handgun outside the home, with the court ruling 6-3 to strike down New York’s restrictions on concealed-carry licenses. The Bruen decision upended state judges’ standards for cases challenging firearms licensing. Democrats said it left the country less safe, and some legal experts said the opinion could spur legal challenges to other gun laws.
Senate Judiciary has yet to announce the witnesses testifying Wednesday. But legal experts are likely to be on the panel and weigh in on the impact of the high court's conservative-wing decision. Chairman Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said last year that the decision would mean more guns on streets across the country, at a time when Democrats are trying to pass gun control legislation to curb violence.
"This decision makes it all the more important for Congress to take actionable steps to protect our kids and communities from this nation’s gun violence epidemic," Durbin said in a statement last year.
On the radar: FDIC protections:
Federal banking regulators said Sunday they would protect all Silicon Valley Bank depositors, including those above the $250,000 deposit insurance limit provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "Depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13," the FDIC, Federal Reserve, and Treasury Department said in a joint statement. "No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer." The regulators also said would protect depositors at Signature Bank in New York City. Santa Clara, Calif. -based SVB collapsed on Friday. Signature was closed Sunday by state banking officials.
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