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February
26, 2008 |
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Intergovernmental
Services Weekly Legislative Update Week
of Monday, February 25 through Friday, February 29 The
AMC Monday Update summarizes the prior week’s legislative action,
highlighting the current week’s anticipated action. This
week Following
passage of the comprehensive transportation bill, this week’s attention
will turn to the size of the projected state deficit. On Thursday
the state will announce the budget forecast for the remainder of the
current FY08-09 biennium and projections for the following FY10-11
biennium. The size of the deficit has been estimated to reach nearly
$1 billion, or over twice the estimate from the November
forecast. Transportation Veto override
on transportation funding bill successful Yesterday
was a historic day for transportation advocates that have worked for years
trying to convince the legislature to invest in a long-term strategy to
fund Minnesota’s transportation systems. This hard work finally came
to fruition as the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to override
the governor’s veto by a 91-44. The Senate
followed suit shortly thereafter with a confirming vote to override the
governor 47-20. In a small
ceremony attended by many of the transportation advocates, Speaker of the
House Margaret Kelliher and President of the Senate Jim Metzen signed the
bill into law over the governor’s objections. On
behalf of AMC and your individual counties, please make sure to personally
thank all the legislators that took this courageous vote, especially the
six Republicans in the House of Representatives that had the courage to do
the right thing to make this legislation become a reality. Those six
are:
Representative Jim Abeler;
Representative Kathy
Tingelstad; Representative Bud
Heidgerken
Representative Rod
Hamilton;
Representative Neil Peterson;
and Representative Ron
Erhardt None
of this success would have been possible without the dogged determination
and leadership of Senator Steve Murphy and
Representative Bernie
Lieder. They have championed this cause for
years. Please make sure to personally thank them for a job well
done. Last,
but certainly not least, the House and Senate Leadership was relentless in
negotiating a compromise that was finally acceptable to most parties
involved. Thank you Speaker Kelliher, Representative Sertich, Senator Pogemiller and Senator
Metzen. While
the magnitude of the impact of this legislation on the average citizen has
been has been exaggerated by the opposition, the increased revenue will
finally begin to address unmet needs throughout the state. This
increased revenue will save lives, reduce injuries, put people back to
work and provide economic benefits to the state. The
final enacted bill includes the following
elements: ·
A
5 cent gas tax increase phased in over a few months, 2-cents on April 1,
and 3-cents on October 1, 2008. ·
¼
percent sales tax in the metropolitan area authorized by the county
boards. The funds can only be used for transit. No referendum
would be required. ·
$1.8
billion in trunk highway bonding over 10 years, $417 million in year one
and $500 million in year two, $100 million in each of the following
years. Of the $500 million in year one and year two, $300 million in
each of these first two years will be targeted to a trunk highway bridge
improvement program created in the legislation. ·
Up
to 3.5-cent gas surcharge for debt service for trunk highway bonding
beginning with a half-cent surcharge effective on August
1. ·
Increased
motor vehicle registration fees by removing the caps and changing the
depreciation schedule ·
U
p to ½ percent county option sales tax by referendum for Greater
Minnesota ·
The
AMC county state aid highway formula for new Highway Trust Fund revenue:
60% needs and 40% motor vehicle registrations. ·
To
provide funding for the mega highway projects in the metropolitan area,
funding from a portion of the leased motor vehicle sales tax and the
excess sum in the flexible highway account was
authorized. ·
$50
million for the Local Bridge Replacement program. ·
$10
million for the Local Road Improvement Program Other
identified appropriations and policy provisions Trunk
Highway ·
In
2009 $40 million for construction of interchanges involving trunk
highways. ·
In
2009 and 2010 $300 million each year for pre-design, design, preliminary
engineering, right-of-way acquisition, construction and reconstruction and
maintenance of bridges through the implementation of a new trunk highway
bridge improvement program. ·
$4.2
million for the Great River Road. ·
$24.7
million for the Urban Partnership Agreement. ·
$23.9
million for the Mankato District Headquarters. ·
$8.6
million for the Chaska Truck Station-Carver County
Partnership. ·
$2
million for the Rochester and maple Grove Truck Stations
Design. The Local Road
Improvement Program ·
The
language for the use of the proposed $10 million for the Local Road
Improvement Program will now be available 1/3 to the metropolitan area and
2/3 to Greater Minnesota for rural road safety capital improvement
projects on county state aid highways. Local Option
Taxes Metropolitan
Area Sales Tax Establishes
a minimum guarantee county defined as any metro county or eligible county
that is participating in the joint powers agreement whose proportion of
the annual sales tax revenue collected within the county is less than or
equal to three percent. Authorizes
the boards of the counties participating under the joint powers agreement
by board resolution to impose a one-half percent sales tax and a $20.00
motor vehicle excise tax. Allows
any other eligible county by board resolution to join the joint powers
board and impose the one-half percent sales tax. Provides
a withdrawal provision for any participating county. Gives
bonding authorization to the joint powers board or any county acting under
the joint powers agreement. Greater
Minnesota Sales Tax Authorizes
any county outside of the metropolitan transportation area or more than
one county acting under a joint powers agreement to impose up to a
one-half percent sales tax plus the $20.00 excise tax by
referendum. Toll
Roads ·
Prohibits
a road authority from converting a public roadway to a toll road, but
grandfathers in the existing HOV lanes. ·
Prohibits
a road authority from converting a public roadway to a BOT
facility. Flexible
Highway Account (Turnback Account) ·
Restricts
funding of the flexible turnback account to metro counties, county and
city turnbacks, to safety improvements on county highways, city streets or
township roads and to routes of regional
significance. Transit
Funding ·
Prohibits
a county regional rail authority from contributing more than ten percent
of the capital costs of a transit project ·
Prohibits
a county regional rail authority from contributing any funds to pay for
the operating and maintenance costs of any transit project.
Click here to view information on the House
Bill Click here to view House vote
counts Click here to view the Senate
Bill Click here for the Senate vote
counts For
more information, contact:
Carol Lovro, AMC Policy Analyst
Health
and Human Services The
Senate HHS Finance Committee heard the legislative auditor’s report on
Health Care Administration, which includes an analysis and recommendations
on county-based purchasing. The Senate HHS Policy Committee heard
and passed out of committee SF 2324 (Marty), which
provides for a single payer health care system. Both the House and
Senate continued review of bonding proposals in health and human services
committees. Upcoming
events: House
and Senate Health and Human Services Committees are scheduled to hear
reports of the Health Care Transformation Task Force and the Legislative
Commission on Health Care Access. These groups were charged to
develop plans to achieve universal health care coverage by
2015. For
more information contact: Patricia Coldwell, AMC Policy
Analyst Public
Safety Last
week the Public Safety Budget Division in the Senate finalized its bonding
priorities to be forwarded to Capital Investment. Details are as
follows: For
the Department of Corrections, the highest priority is the third phase of
the Faribault correctional facility expansion, at $16.341 million in FY08
and $37.05 million in FY10. The second priority is the ventilation
system at the Oak Park Heights correctional facility, at $2.44 million in
FY08. The department's emergency asset preservation needs, at $8.619
million in FY08, comprise the third priority. On the medium list are
$6 million in FY08 for the vocational education building at the Red Wing
correctional facility and $4.05 million in FY 08 for the perimeter
security system at Oak Park Heights. The low
priority list contains only one item, $550,000 in FY 08 and $7.138 million
in FY10 for the perimeter security fence at the Shakopee women's
correctional facility. Other
projects fall within the Department of Public Safety. The highest
priority on the list is $500,000 in FY08 to pre-design a new State
Emergency Operations Center. Secondly, $5 million in FY08 and
$10.191 million in FY10 for the Camp Ripley Public Safety Training Center.
A public safety training center to serve Southeastern Minnesota, at
$3.655 million in FY 08, was placed third. Fourth is $8 million in FY 08
for the Minneapolis Emergency Operations and Fire Training Center.
The final item on the high list is $6 million in FY 08 for the Anoka
County Regional Forensic Crime Lab. The
medium list consists of five projects: $7.8 million for a public safety
training facility in Dakota County, $2.7 million in FY08 and $12.3 million
in FY10 for the Minneapolis Forensic Crime Lab, $1.452 million in FY08 for
a public safety training facility in Grand Rapids, $975,000 in FY 08 for
the Minnesota Emergency Response and Industry Training Center in Marshall
and $164,000 in FY08 for the Annandale Tactical Training Center. The
low priority list includes: $6.04 million in FY08 for a regional emergency
operations center in Northfield, $3.2 million in FY08 for the Scott County
Public Safety Training Facility and $3 million in FY08 for a public safety
training facility in Princeton. Upcoming
events: This
week there will be hearings on the report of the working group to study
the possible re-establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman for
Corrections. The report recommends that the office should be
recreated, but in light of the state’s budget situation, there may not be
the resources to do it. Short of reestablishment, some other
recommendations call for additional reporting requirements for both state
and county facilities. Also
this week there will be hearings on proposed legislation to help counties
with the hold costs for the civil commitments of sex offenders. The
bill contains a variety of provisions that came out of a MICA-sponsored
working group on the subject. More on this will come in future
updates as the bill makes its way through the
process. For
more information contact: Ryan Erdmann, AMC Policy
Analyst General
Government and Taxes House moves
forward with tax bill The
House moved two tax bills forward through committee, however only one was
sent to the floor for final approval. HF 3201 authorizes counties
and other local governments to create trusts to find their OPEB
liabilities, increases the borrowing limit for the Capital Improvement
Program and also increases the class rate on property taxes for
utilities. The only provision of the bill to attract significant
attention has been the utility class rate component; however efforts to
remove the provision from the bill were handily defeated. The bill
is expected on the House floor sometime this week. In the event of a
gubernatorial veto, HF 3200, a smaller tax bill
that only provides for partial conformity to the federal tax code, would
be passed and sent to the governor’s desk instead. Rep. Anne
Lenzcewski (DFL-Bloomington) has indicated that one of the two bills must
be passed this week by March 1, 2008, or efforts to conform the state’s
tax code would be pointless for this filing season. For
more information contact:
Joe Mathews, AMC Policy
Analyst Environment
& Natural Resources Last
week the House and Senate Environment Committees continued to hear bonding
requests. This week there will be several energy-related bills that
are scheduled for the Energy Committees and the Environment
Committees. Last
Tuesday Senator Steve Dille's comprehensive planning bill was passed with
recommendation out the Agricultural Committee on to Senate State and Local
Government. No hearing is scheduled at this time. As written,
AMC and the Minnesota Association of County Planning and Zoning
Administrators have many concerns with the bill. Another
bill that was heard last Tuesday was Representative Morrie Lanning's
Watershed District Bill, which was heard in the House Environment
Committee. The bill was amended from its original language and the
provision granting levy authority was deleted. AMC expressed
concerns about the additional layer of government that this would
create. The bill passed out of committee and will move next to the
House Local Government Committee. AMC staff will continue to discuss
various options for this bill. It is understood that many counties
have concerns with the language in the bill. For more
information contact: Annalee Garletz, AMC Policy
Analyst *ADMINISTRATORS
/AUDITORS: Please share a hard copy of all AMC UPDATE emails with
any county board members who do not have email. **If
you do not wish to receive these emails in the future, please reply to
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Association
of Minnesota Counties 125
Charles Avenue Saint
Paul, MN 55103-2108 Phone:
651.224.3344, Fax: 651.224.6540 |
