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March
25, 2008 |
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Intergovernmental
Services Weekly Legislative Update Week
of March 24, 2008 This
week includes the third of three legislative “deadlines,” which were
agreed to by Senate and House leadership in early February. By
Friday, March 28, House and Senate finance committees must act favorably
on major appropriation and finance bills. However, this does not
always mean that legislation that has failed to meet any one of the
deadlines is considered “dead.” When a committee in either house
acts favorably on a bill after a deadline established in the concurrent
resolution, the bill must be referred in the Senate to the Committee on
Rules and Administration and in the House of Representatives to the
Committee on Rules and Legislative Administration for disposition.
Following
committee work in the House on Thursday and in the Senate on Friday, the
impact on counties of proposals to address the current biennial deficit
will be greatly clarified. AMC will provide a detailed analysis of
the funding changes and other proposals affecting counties once the budget
work is completed. House
committee adopts budget resolution The
House Ways and Means Committee today passed a budget resolution that would
erase the state’s $935 million deficit for the current biennium. The
House proposal would use $273 million of the state’s $653 million budget
reserve account and the entire $350 million from the state’s cash flow
account. By contrast, the governor’s plan only used $250 million
from the budget reserve account and used no money from the cash flow
account. However, the governor did propose taking $250 million from
the Healthcare Access Fund to bring the budget back into
balance. On
the revenue side of the budget, both the House and the governor have
already identified a source of new revenue available to the state by
eliminating a corporate tax provision the effect of which will generate
over $100 million in the current biennium. It is unclear if any
other sources of new revenues will be available to the legislature to
either offset cuts proposed by the governor in his supplemental budget
plan or provide support for additional spending. House
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Loren Solberg (DFL-Grand Rapids)
indicated that the resolution only sets broad targets; the real work will
be done by each committee to determine how they would meet their budget
goals. Each finance division is expected to move their proposals
forward tonight or Wednesday with the full Finance Committee scheduled to
hear all budget bills on Thursday March 27. House and
Senate tax bills to be released Following
the Easter Recess, both the House and Senate are expected to unveil their
tax bills this week. The Senate is scheduled to unveil their
proposal Wednesday March 26 while the House is expected to continue
discussion surrounding legislation that would repeal all corporate tax
benefits and reduce the overall corporate tax rate. The tax bill
will ultimately be used to pay for all of the spending in the rest of the
state budget, with Gov. Pawlenty’s staunch opposition to tax increases the
legislature will likely rely on reducing existing tax credits and closing
tax loopholes such as the one protecting Foreign Operating
Corporations. The governor included the FOC provision in his own
budget along with a 1/8th cent reduction in the state general
sales tax, a provision DFL members of the legislature have felt was in
response to the passage of the transportation funding package earlier this
year despite the governor’s veto. It is unclear whether increases in
taxes such as the income tax will even be discussed as part of either the
House or Senate budget packages. Transportation
/ Economic Development Governor’s
supplemental budget recommendation Last
week the House and Senate Transportation Finance Committees heard the
governor’s transportation supplemental budget recommendations (HF3964/SF
3686). Of interest to transportation advocates is the proposed $32.3
million in funding cuts to transit allocated $2.4 million to Greater MN
Transit and $29.9 million to Metro Transit. The bill was laid over
in both committees. Urban
partnership agreement HF
3725/HF3058 would authorize urban partnership agreements to provide for
user fees for use of high-occupancy vehicle lanes and dynamic shoulder
lanes. The bills were re–referred to their respective finance
committees. Weight
Exemptions for Milk Haulers HF1219/SF
2197 that removes the sunset date for weight exemption for trucks
hauling milk from the point of production to the point of first processing
has now passed both the House and the Senate and has been sent to the
governor’s office. Economic
development SF
3169 modifies business subsidy provisions by increasing the amount of
assistance that is not considered a subsidy from state or local government
from $25,000 to $200,000 and increasing the amount of a business loan or
guarantee that is not considered a subsidy from state or local government
from $75,000 to $200,000. The bill was heard in the Senate Business,
Industry and Jobs Committee and Re-referred to the Senate Tax
Committee. For
more information contact: Carol Lovro, AMC Policy
Analyst Health
/ Human Services Health Reform
proposal advances in the Senate SF3099
(Berglin), the comprehensive health reform proposal, moved through the
Senate Finance Committee last week. Originally scheduled for the
Senate floor last Wednesday, the bill will instead be heard on the floor
sometime this week. The House version is expected to be heard in the
full Finance Committee this week. House releases
HHS budgets The
House released its two health and human services budgets Monday afternoon.
The DHS budget was included in a delete-all amendment to HF3976
(Huntley). The bill largely mirrors the governor’s budget with some
relatively small reductions to counties and providers. Unlike
the governor’s budget, however, the House does not refinance the
Health Care Access Fund (HCAF) and Temporary Assistance for Needed
Families (TANF) fund balances. While other parts of the House budget have
not yet been released, this apparently means that the House has identified
other revenues to balance the state budget. The budget will be heard
in the HHS Finance Committee Tuesday and is scheduled for full Finance
Committee on Thursday. Significant
features of the budget include: -
Retains
virtually all of the HCAF for a balance of over $340 million in FY10 (the
governor proposed taking $250 million, leaving a balance of $73
million); -
Draws down $45
million in 2009 and $60 million in 2010 in TANF funds, which includes some
new TANF spending; -
Makes changes
to conform with the 2006 Federal Deficit Reduction
Act; -
Eliminates
federal share of funds to counties whose payments are over 90 days
past due ($2.2 million; same as governor’s
recommendation); -
Repeals the
family cap on MFIP for new spending of $1.4 million; -
Does NOT
include requirement that counties pay back their overspending on the MA
waiver(forgiven from several counties in 2007); -
Does NOT
refinance transitional GAMC to the Health Care Access Fund (this was
proposed by the governor as a way to free up general fund
dollars); -
Delays
payments to hospitals and counties to the next quarter of the fiscal
year; -
Delays
COLAs to long term care providers (excluding nursing
homes); -
Does NOT
eliminate the transitional MinnesotaCare and health care outreach programs
passed last year; and -
Limits growth
of Medicaid waiver programs similar to governor’s
budget. The
Housing and Public Health Finance bill will be heard in Representative
Clark’s Public Health Housing and Finance Committee on Tuesday evening.
That budget includes $2.3 million in reductions, mostly to agency
operations. County-Based
Purchasing bills scheduled for House HHS Finance HF3809 (Huntley) will be heard in HHS Finance on
Wednesday. The bill proposes to study and limit managed care
administrative expenses, and modifies county-based purchasing to conform
to recommendations in the 2007 OLA report on health care administration.
HF3380 (Liebling), which would allow expansion of county based purchasing
in Olmsted, Fillmore, Houston, Winona, and Mower, will also be heard.
Contact: Patricia Coldwell, AMC Policy
Analyst Environment / Natural
Resources Last week a handful of bills were heard relating to
environment and natural resources. One of the bills of greatest
interest to AMC members is one relating to landfills. HF3997 (Rep.
Bunn) is a bill relating to landfill siting. The bill has been
introduced by its author to try to address resident concerns about
groundwater contamination from landfills and is intended to restrict
landfills from being sited over geology that permits surface water and/or
contaminants from reaching the groundwater quickly. The latest
engrossment of the bill states that an indicator of aquifer susceptibility
to surface contamination is Tritium, and that tests for Tritium need to be
done prior to siting of all new landfills. AMC and the Solid Waste
Administrators Association have been in contact with Rep. Bunn to share
concerns with her regarding the language which could pose significant
consequences for future siting of all types of landfills in the state of
MN. The bill has not been heard in the Senate and has been heard in
committee and passed without recommendation in the house. It is
possible the bill will be included in the House Environment Omnibus
bill. This week the house Environment Committee will put
together its omnibus bill. Contact:
Annalee Garletz, AMC, Policy
Analyst *ADMINISTRATORS
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Association
of Minnesota Counties 125
Charles Avenue Saint
Paul, MN 55103-2108 Phone:
651.224.3344, Fax: 651.224.6540 |
