Conference committees for each of the omnibus budget bills continued working this week. In the absence of global budget targets — spending totals that have been agreed upon by the House, governor, and Senate majority — most committees spent time working through policy provisions or items that have no associated cost.
Updates on conference committees are posted at this link on the legislative website: https://www.leg.mn.gov/leg/cc/. From there, click on each bill to see a full listing of all meetings and meeting materials that have been distributed to this point. Below is a short summary of developments for each committee this week:
Agriculture (SF 958): met on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to adopt some agreed upon policy provisions on pesticide applicator licensing and cottage food laws; waiting on target before starting budget work in earnest
Commerce/Energy (SF 972): met briefly on Monday to adopt some noncontroversial provisions; no meetings for the remainder of the week.
Housing (HF 1077): met on Monday and adopted some/similar provisions; no meetings for the rest of the week.
Jobs and Economic Development (SF 1098): met on Monday and adopted some provisions related to: fire sprinklers in public high rise apartments, wedding barns, certified building officials continuing education, and donations to State Services for the Blind. The conference committee did not meet for the remainder of the week.
Judiciary (SF 970): met on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday with the House, making additional offers each time the House had the gavel. Senate Republicans have yet to respond to any of the House offers. The Senate Chair didn’t meet on Wednesday, saying the Senate needed time to consider the provisions in the House offer and that he would prefer to see a global offer. The Senate has the gavel on Friday and it is uncertain if the conference committee will meet.
State Government (HF 1952): met Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Monday, the committee unanimously adopted the same and similar language related to elections policy that was vetted by the Secretary of State, mostly derived from the OSS technical bill. Tuesday, the committee heard testimony on the Veterans Restorative Justice Act (VRJA) language. While taking testimony from veteran advocate groups and legal experts, Senate Republicans accused testifiers, who supported the House bill, of not showing enough appreciation for the work Senate Republicans have done on the issue. No testifier expressed support for the Senate language. While agreement has yet been reached on the VRJA, advocates and DFLers remains hopeful that Senate Republicans will ultimately support the House language that is strongly supported by Veterans and legal experts. Additionally, the committee took unexpected testimony from individuals opposing Ranked Choice Voting.
On Wednesday, the committee heard testimony from state agencies, unions, and other stakeholders on a proposal in both the senate and house language to implement a reverse auction for a pharmacy benefit manager through SEGIP. No agreement was reached. The House has the gavel on Friday and plans to further discuss military code of justice modifications and go through additional policy provisions from Article 2 that have not yet been addressed.
Taxes (HF 991): met each day to discuss details of the bills. The U.S. Treasury released final guidance on how states are allowed to spend federal funds passed through the American Rescue Plan. On Tuesday, Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter provided comments on this guidance to the conference committee. He is scheduled to provide another update on Friday, hopefully with more concrete numbers once staff have had an opportunity to interpret the information.
Transportation (HF 1684): met only on Monday to adopt various non-controversial House and Senate only provisions that had all been previously agreed upon. The House has the gavel on Friday and plans to hear a MnDOT presentation on project selection, trunk highway spending, and contracting issues.
Legacy (HF 1709): has not met since May 5.
Health and Human Services (HF 2128): met each day to discuss the differences between both bills. There has been good discussion but little progress made for major funding pieces without global targets. Same and similar policy language has slowly been adopted over the week.
Environment (SF 959): met several times, though the Senate conferees left early on during the meetings when the House held the gavel – if they attended at all. Clean Cars rulemaking continues to be a sticking point, and the Senate refuses to negotiate anything with a fiscal impact, including pieces that do not impact general fund spending. The House has now made four offers while the Senate has only made two – both of which were entirely contingent upon the House accepting the Senate’s position on Clean Cars.
E-12 Education (HF1065): met each day but made very little progress. Non-exclusionary discipline procedures remain a sticking point, with the Senate Republicans refusing to accept the K-3 non-dismissal requirement. Good news: last Friday (May 7), the anti-lunch shaming policy was adopted as well as the seizure teacher training provisions. There is also potential future agreement on Teachers of Color provisions, but no decisions yet on the funding.
Higher Education (SF975): met only twice this week; adopted a $6,500 cap for the child care grants. Discussion on Thursday about federal COVID-19 funding and guidance for institutional use.
Conference committees for each of the omnibus budget bills continued working this week. In the absence of global budget targets — spending totals that have been agreed upon by the House, governor, and Senate majority — most committees spent time working through policy provisions or items that have no associated cost.
Updates on conference committees are posted at this link on the legislative website: https://www.leg.mn.gov/leg/cc/. From there, click on each bill to see a full listing of all meetings and meeting materials that have been distributed to this point. Below is a short summary of developments for each committee this week:
Agriculture (SF 958): met on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to adopt some agreed upon policy provisions on pesticide applicator licensing and cottage food laws; waiting on target before starting budget work in earnest
Commerce/Energy (SF 972): met briefly on Monday to adopt some noncontroversial provisions; no meetings for the remainder of the week.
Housing (HF 1077): met on Monday and adopted some/similar provisions; no meetings for the rest of the week.
Jobs and Economic Development (SF 1098): met on Monday and adopted some provisions related to: fire sprinklers in public high rise apartments, wedding barns, certified building officials continuing education, and donations to State Services for the Blind. The conference committee did not meet for the remainder of the week.
Judiciary (SF 970): met on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday with the House, making additional offers each time the House had the gavel. Senate Republicans have yet to respond to any of the House offers. The Senate Chair didn’t meet on Wednesday, saying the Senate needed time to consider the provisions in the House offer and that he would prefer to see a global offer. The Senate has the gavel on Friday and it is uncertain if the conference committee will meet.
State Government (HF 1952): met Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Monday, the committee unanimously adopted the same and similar language related to elections policy that was vetted by the Secretary of State, mostly derived from the OSS technical bill. Tuesday, the committee heard testimony on the Veterans Restorative Justice Act (VRJA) language. While taking testimony from veteran advocate groups and legal experts, Senate Republicans accused testifiers, who supported the House bill, of not showing enough appreciation for the work Senate Republicans have done on the issue. No testifier expressed support for the Senate language. While agreement has yet been reached on the VRJA, advocates and DFLers remains hopeful that Senate Republicans will ultimately support the House language that is strongly supported by Veterans and legal experts. Additionally, the committee took unexpected testimony from individuals opposing Ranked Choice Voting.
On Wednesday, the committee heard testimony from state agencies, unions, and other stakeholders on a proposal in both the senate and house language to implement a reverse auction for a pharmacy benefit manager through SEGIP. No agreement was reached. The House has the gavel on Friday and plans to further discuss military code of justice modifications and go through additional policy provisions from Article 2 that have not yet been addressed.
Taxes (HF 991): met each day to discuss details of the bills. The U.S. Treasury released final guidance on how states are allowed to spend federal funds passed through the American Rescue Plan. On Tuesday, Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter provided comments on this guidance to the conference committee. He is scheduled to provide another update on Friday, hopefully with more concrete numbers once staff have had an opportunity to interpret the information.
Transportation (HF 1684): met only on Monday to adopt various non-controversial House and Senate only provisions that had all been previously agreed upon. The House has the gavel on Friday and plans to hear a MnDOT presentation on project selection, trunk highway spending, and contracting issues.
Legacy (HF 1709): has not met since May 5.
Health and Human Services (HF 2128): met each day to discuss the differences between both bills. There has been good discussion but little progress made for major funding pieces without global targets. Same and similar policy language has slowly been adopted over the week.
Environment (SF 959): met several times, though the Senate conferees left early on during the meetings when the House held the gavel – if they attended at all. Clean Cars rulemaking continues to be a sticking point, and the Senate refuses to negotiate anything with a fiscal impact, including pieces that do not impact general fund spending. The House has now made four offers while the Senate has only made two – both of which were entirely contingent upon the House accepting the Senate’s position on Clean Cars.
E-12 Education (HF1065): met each day but made very little progress. Non-exclusionary discipline procedures remain a sticking point, with the Senate Republicans refusing to accept the K-3 non-dismissal requirement. Good news: last Friday (May 7), the anti-lunch shaming policy was adopted as well as the seizure teacher training provisions. There is also potential future agreement on Teachers of Color provisions, but no decisions yet on the funding.
Higher Education (SF975): met only twice this week; adopted a $6,500 cap for the child care grants. Discussion on Thursday about federal COVID-19 funding and guidance for institutional use.
