Intergovernmental Services Weekly Legislative Update

Week of Monday, April 14, 2008

The supplemental budget conference committee assigned to resolve the differences between the House- and Senate-passed budget bills continues to meet. Both bills include provisions to address the state’s projected $935 million budget deficit. Discussion in this morning’s meeting centered around whether many of the policy provisions that are not linked to spending items in the House-passed version would survive given that the Senate bill is nearly void of such provisions. There was general agreement that the policy-only items be stripped from the final budget bill; however, there was no conclusion or consensus between the House and Senate negotiators on where the policy items would go (e.g., other omnibus bill or separate bills).

Transportation

Governor line-item vetoes transit projects

On Monday, April 7, the governor chose to line-item veto $208 million worth of projects in HF 3800 the Omnibus Capital Investment Bill. Especially hard hit were all of the transit projects that had been proposed including the Central Corridor that had initially part of the governor’s bonding recommendations. Many are speculating that Central Corridor will survive as part of the final negotiations before the end of session. See attached document for line item veto details.

Transportation policy bills are on the move

The House Finance Committee heard the House 2008 transportation policy bill, HF 3800. A controversial amendment that added Farmington and Lakeville to the metro area transit taxing district was removed from the bill. The bill was passed and re-referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The Senate Finance Committee heard the 2008 omnibus transportation policy bill, SF 3223. An amendment was added that exempts vehicles hauling heating fuel or liquefied propane gas for heating from weight limits. The bill was passed and re-referred to the Senate Tax Committee.

The Conference Committee for the 2007 transportation omnibus policy bill HF 1351, met to discuss the REAL ID program that the governor raised concerns about. The rest of the bill is considered noncontroversial and is expected to be signed by the governor if this provision is addressed.

For more information, contact: Carol Lovro, AMC Policy Analyst

Health and Human Services

Health Reform bill passes House floor

HF 3391 (Huntley), the comprehensive health reform bill, passed the House floor last Thursday night on a near-party line vote. The bill includes measures to reduce health care costs, increase affordability of health care, and reform payment to health providers for outcomes. It would provide $20 million for the first year and $40 million in subsequent years in funding for community health boards (primarily counties) for a Statewide Health Improvement Plan. This funding would support health promotion efforts aimed at reducing costs associated with risk factors (such as obesity, tobacco use, and alcohol abuse) for chronic disease. The House bill would finance this through use of the Health Care Access Fund, which currently has a structural fund balance. However, according to planning estimates, if the bill passes in its current form, the fund would be depleted by 2012.

Other provisions include expanding MinnesotaCare, supplementing health insurance for people between 300% and 400% of federal poverty level, creating health care homes, and payment reform for these homes based on improved outcomes for chronic health conditions. The bill now moves to conference committee, where there are significant differences in financing and some policy provisions.

AMC supports the Statewide Health Improvement Plan and expansion of MinnesotaCare (as long as counties are adequately funded to enroll additional people). The AMC Health Care Task Force has also supported the concept of health care homes for coordinating health care for people with chronic health conditions. The House bill includes language that would allow county health and social services staff to contract with clinics as care coordinators for clinics that opt to become health care homes.

Upcoming events:

The conference committee on HF1812/SF1813, the omnibus supplemental budget bill, continues this week. The health and human services provisions are included in this bill.

For more information contact: Patricia Coldwell, AMC Policy Analyst

Public Safety

The major public safety issues that the legislature is dealing with are wrapped up in the overall budget negotiation. As progress is made toward determining how much money needs to be cut from the courts and public safety, the exact impact to counties will become clear. In the last couple of weeks, that progress has not been made. The language that provides some relief for the hold costs of sex offenders awaiting a decision on their civil commitment petition is also in the omnibus budget bill and its fate will be decided as part of a larger discussion on whether the budget bill includes policy items.

For more information contact: Ryan Erdmann, AMC Policy Analyst

General Government and Taxes

Legislature making progress on state budget

The House and Senate have both passed their versions of the 2008 supplemental budget. The bill, HF 1812, contains the entire supplemental budget plus some tax provisions to increase state revenues and help whittle away at the $935 million deficit facing the state this year. The conference committee is expected to continue meeting this week while Legislative Leadership continues their efforts to reach a global agreement with the governor. There are now fewer than 20 legislative days remaining in the 2007-2008 legislative session and if significant progress is made in budget negotiations the legislature could complete their business well in advance of the May 19 constitutional adjournment date. The House and Senate are not too far apart on many spending areas but some provisions, such as the proposed repeal of the JOBZ program, are clearly sore spots with the governor that will have to be resolved.

For more information contact: Joe Mathews, AMC Policy Analyst

Environment & Natural Resources

Last week Senator Chaudhary’s Environment Policy bill SF 3385 received a hearing in the Senate Environment Finance Committee. Certain provisions of the bill received a lot of discussion and the bill was laid over until to allow the bill author and other senators to work out the details. The bill will be on the agenda in the Senate Environment Committee. The Finance Committee will hear it again on April 15. The issue that AMC is following closest in this bill is a provision that is particular to wildlife management areas. The bill indicates that counties containing land that is part of the Lamprey Pass WMA and Carlos Avery WMAs will not have the right to approve or disapprove the acquisition of land as other counties in the state do. AMC opposes this precedent setting provision.

This week there will be an informational hearing in Sen. Anderson’s Environment Finance Committee regarding HF 3997 (most updated language is contained in HF 1812 – the house omnibus supplemental budget bill) and SF 3703. SF 3703 has not yet received a hearing in the Senate. AMC and the Solid Waste Administrators Association currently have many concerns regarding the language regarding landfill siting contained in HF 1812. As reported in previous AMC updates, the language would create a new standard for testing for landfills which would involve tritium testing. Currently there are only 29 counties in the state that have either full or complete test information of tritium levels. The bill also indicates that any landfill accepting industrial waste sited after 2010 would need to follow a higher standard of siting and engineering standards. Counties operate a large majority of these landfills in the state and the new language raises concerns about the future costs of operation and the ability of counties to offer this service to their residents. There are fears that the language could result in a higher instance of onsite burning or illegal dumping of materials if counties are not able to offer the service. The bill also calls for a stakeholder group to discuss the issues and rule needs further. AMC and the SWAA are supportive of the stakeholder group language.

NACO Item

Please note the following reminder from NACo

Final Reminder: Comments due for revisions for Clean Water Act – April 15

Should the federal government have jurisdiction over all land use planning involving water? How can the voice of local government be strengthened while ensuring clean water? Should groundwater be federally regulated? Can federal water vs. state water be clearly defined? These are some of the questions that Waters of the U.S. (WOUS) Task Force members grappled with at its March 1 meeting and now wants NACo members’ feedback by April 15.

Some of the questions raised during the WOUS meeting were:

· What states have comprehensive water and wetland protection plans?

· Are there states that have disincentives for counties to protect water? What are these?

· What type of incentives would be needed to encourage states and localities to actively protect their water and wetland resources?

· Should benchmarks be used?

· Is there a way to clearly define what waters should be a federal responsibility vs. a state responsibility, keeping in mind that one size does not fit all counties? Should water be protected in a watershed or water area approach?

· Does the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program work, and how can it be improved?

· What proposals can be used to streamline the Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit process?

· How can the public comment process be more transparent?

· Is there a check and balances process?

· How should the term "navigable" be defined?

· Is the word necessary in the Clean Water Act?

· If navigable is not used to define federal-state jurisdiction, what other terms or definitions should be used to assert boundaries?

Comments should be sent to Julie Ufner, associate legislative director, e-mail jufner@naco.org and comments will be accepted until April 15. (Contact: Julie Ufner 202/942-4269 or jufner@naco.org)

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 this message with the word ‘REMOVE’ in the subject line.

Association of Minnesota Counties

125 Charles Avenue

Saint Paul, MN 55103-2108

Phone: 651.224.3344, Fax: 651.224.6540