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The Legislature entered its fourth week of the session pushing bills through committee in order to meet the second committee deadline. The House Ways and Means Committee heard multiple omnibus finance bills that will probably be included in a supplemental budget bill. The Minimum Wage Conference Committee continued negotiations with the Senate, rejecting the most recent House proposal. The House Tax Committee released and passed a second omnibus bill that primarily includes property tax relief and the Education Finance committees in the House and Senate approved finance bills.
Supplemental Budget
After the February economic forecast revealed a $1.23 billion budget surplus, the legislature spent money to provide heating assistance to low-income households, provided tax reductions and increased the budget reserves. The remaining surplus totals almost $600 million, which will be utilized to finance a supplemental budget bill, fund further tax reductions and possibly further increase the budget reserve.
Today, the House Ways and Means Committee held an important hearing to discuss multiple omnibus finance bills covering transportation, jobs and economic development, public safety and higher education. Each of those bills is likely to be amended into HF3172, authored by Representative Lyndon Carlson (DFL-Crystal).
The committee will hold another hearing on Monday to discuss additional omnibus finance bills that may be added to the supplemental budget bill, which include appropriations for K-12 education, health and human services, environment, natural resources, and agriculture.
Minimum Wage
The Conference Committee on HF92/SF3, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) and Sen. Chris Eaton (DFL-Brooklyn Center), met this week to negotiate an agreement on raising the minimum wage. The House made an offer whereby the minimum wage for a large employer would increase to $8 an hour in 2014, $9 in 2015 and $9.50 in 2016. The minimum wage for small employers would increase to $7.25 an hour in 2014, $7.50 in 2015 and $7.75 in 2016. Minimum wages for the large and small employers would be increased in 2017 based upon an "implicit price deflator" used to measure inflation related to GDP growth. The Senate rejected the offer and expressed its continuing opposition to indexing.
An interesting development in the minimum wage debate occurred on Thursday when a bill was introduced in the Senate that proposes a constitutional amendment establishing an inflation adjusted minimum wage (SF2917-authored by Senator Ann Rest-DFL-Crystal). This bill was heard today in the Senate Jobs, Agriculture and Rural Development Committee and public testimony was taken. Numerous testifiers spoke against the legislation from both the business community and labor unions. However, the bill was passed out of committee and was referred to the Rules Committee.
Second Omnibus Tax Bill
The House Tax Committee released a second omnibus tax bill this week that largely included property tax relief. HF3170, sponsored by Representative Ann Lenczewski (DFL-Bloomington), increases various state aid, credits and refund programs. Highlights of the bill include the exclusion of the first $150,000 of value for each commercial-industrial property from the state general levy, changes to the June accelerated tax remittance, and modifications to expand the sales tax exemption for local governments.
The bill also provides for transition aid payments to cities and towns that undergo significant tax base losses due to changes in the definition of real property used in certain industrial processes. It extends the current exclusion for discharge of indebtedness income resulting from a foreclosure for one year as a subtraction from taxable income. Furthermore, the bill authorizes the Dakota County Community Development Agency to fund up to three housing projects under its allocation of federal low income housing credits. The bill passed the committee on a voice vote and was referred to the Ways and Means Committee.
K-12 Education Finance
This week, the House and Senate passed their respective omnibus education finance provisions. Senator Chuck Wiger (DFL-Maplewood) authored SF767, which was passed out of the Finance Committee today and was re-referred to the Tax Committee. The bill includes $41 million in new spending. Senator Wiger noted that three-fourths of the funding in the bill is directed to early childhood, including a $12 million appropriation to expand the early learning scholarships.
HF3171, authored by Representative Paul Marquart (DFL-Detroit Lakes), passed out of the Education Finance Committee and was referred to the Tax Committee. The bill includes $75 million in new spending. Unlike the Senate bill, there is no additional funding for the early learning scholarships. Both the House and Senate contain funding to increase students' access to English Language Learner programming from five years to six years.
Social Media Updates
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