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April
1, 2008 |
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Intergovernmental
Services Weekly Legislative Update Week
of Monday, March 31, 2008. Transportation 2007
Transportation Policy Conference Committee
Report The
same House and Senate Transportation Policy Conference Committee that was
appointed last year amended and passed last year’s 2007 transportation
policy bill HF 1351/SF 1971 out of conference
committee on Friday, March 28, 2008, on a unanimous voice vote. The
conferees were: Senator Steve
Murphy
Representative Frank
Hornstein Senator Michael
Jungbauer
Representative Mike
Nelson Senator Rod
Skoe
Representative Shelly
Madore Senator Jim
Carlson
Representative Melissa
Hortman Senator Ann
Rest
Representative Connie
Ruth The bill was
amended, but the changes were minor and dealt with extending dates out an
additional year,
modifying dates, removing obsolete and duplicative sections and other
miscellaneous changes. Miscellaneous
changes of interest to counties include: ·
Modifying
county regional rail authority transit funding limits, to change language
already enacted. ·
Adding an
exception for commitments made as part of an application for federal funds
and making other technical changes. ·
Modifying the
rail transit feasibility study on the I-394 corridor to be
discretionary. ·
Adding a
repeal of a prohibition of light rail transit facility construction until
construction is started on the Central Corridor. An additional
amendment was added stating, it is the intent of the legislature to study,
during the 2010 legislative session, the effects of the section in this
chapter that increase allowable size, weight, or load limits on state or
local roads or bridges, and to modify statutes as necessary to achieve the
goals of promoting mobility while protecting the infrastructure.
Sen. Murphy stated that the transportation committees would not entertain
any proposals dealing with weight limit issues during the 2009 legislative
session. The
provisions in the rest of the bill from last session include:
·
Allowing
political subdivisions to enter properties for purposes of performing
geotechnical investigations. ·
Requiring
acquiring authorities to cooperate to the fullest extent possible with
federal departments and agencies during the acquisition
process. ·
Requiring
acquiring authorities to pay a maximum relocation benefit of $50,000 for
non-residential moves. ·
Allowing MNDOT
to advertise for bids on the Internet and removes the requirement that
they must publish bids in the newspaper or other
periodicals. ·
Allowing MNDOT
to enter into privatization contracts for trunk highway maintenance after
assessing cost effectiveness. ·
Allowing
bridge inspections not to exceed two years for bridges and four years for
culverts. ·
Repealing an
outdated statute that limited weight on nine ton roads to 73,280 lbs and
allows the current federal weight of 80,000 lbs. on nine ton paved
routes. ·
Expanding the
definition of unfinished forest products related to gross weight
limitations and allows up to 99,000 lbs during the time seasonal increase
are authorized. ·
Removing
weight restrictions for tow trucks when towing a damaged vehicle during an
emergency. ·
Authorizing
road authorities to issue annual permits ($300.00) for six axle vehicles
hauling agricultural products up to a gross weight of 90,000 lbs or 99,000
lbs during the time when seasonal increases are
authorized. ·
Authorizing
road authorities to issue annual permits ($500.00) for seven axle vehicles
hauling agricultural products up to a gross weight of 97,000 lbs and
99,000 during the time when seasonal increases are
authorized. ·
Repealing the
sunset date applied to milk haulers for hauling milk from the point of
production to the point of first processing. ·
Requiring
MNDOT to develop, conduct and administer highway construction
training. ·
Requiring
MNDOT to sanction each contractor who does not meet the established
project disadvantaged business enterprise goal and report to the House and
Senate Transportation Committees by February 1st of each
odd-numbered year. ·
Requiring
MNDOT to perform life-cycle cost analysis on each project in the
reconditioning, resurfacing and road repair funding categories beginning
in August of 2011 and report annual to chairs of the House and Senate
Transportation committees and ranking minority
members. ·
Requiring
MNDOT to submit an annual major projects report. ·
Prohibiting a
county regional rail authority from contributing more than ten percent of
the capital costs on a transit project. ·
Prohibiting a
county regional rail authority from contributing any funds to pay for the
operating and maintenance costs on a transit
project. ·
Requiring the
Metropolitan Council to carry out a performance evaluation of the
metropolitan area’s transportation system as a whole and update the
evaluation every two years. ·
Allowing the
use of the design-build method for the project development and
construction of light rail transit. ·
Requiring the
Department of Public Safety to submit a proposal on establishing a system
that would allow credit card and debit card payments for vehicle
registration taxes, motor vehicle certificates of title, motor vehicle
sales taxes, driver’s licenses, and MN ID cards. ·
Requiring
MNDOT to conduct a study on the speed limit on local
roads. ·
Requiring
MNDOT and the Metropolitan council to conduct a study on transportation
services for persons with disabilities. Other
transportation-related bills that made progress this week
include: Modifications
to design-build requests for proposals HF 3301 proposes to modify
provisions relating to design-build requests for proposals, scoring,
project awards, and protests and requires disclosure of reasons for change
in stipulated fees was heard in the House Transportation Finance committee
and re-referred to Finance. Increased fees
for driver and vehicle services in the Department of Public
Safety H. F. 4100 proposes to increase
vehicle registration renewals by $1.75 that would be used to upgrade
technology for the Driver and Vehicle Services Division of the Department
of Public Safety. The bill was amended and re-referred to House
Finance.
Report
required on impacts to small business HF 4055 would require MNDOT to
report on mitigating effects of transportation construction projects on
small businesses. The bill was amended and re-referred to
Finance. Implements of
Husbandry bill becomes House Supplemental Bill HF 3805 that was Rep Morrow’s
implements of husbandry bill was subject to a delete everything amendment
and has become the House Transportation Supplemental Bill. Of
interest to transportation advocates is that the bill basically restores
the cuts to Greater Minnesota and Metropolitan transit that was proposed
by the governor. For
more information, contact:
Carol Lovro, AMC Policy Analyst
Public
Safety This
past week both the House and Senate released their budget plans. As
you may recall, Gov. Pawlenty proposed cuts of $2.5 million for Short Term
Offender (STO) reimbursement and $600,000 for Sentence to Service (STS)
grants. The
House budget plan is slightly better for counties. The House
committee cut $1.5 million for STO and the same $600,000 for STS.
They also take $344,000 from the Department of Corrections (DOC)
operations support budget; this is not part of the governor’s
recommendations. In other areas of the public safety bill, the House
proposes similar cuts to DPS as the governor, though they have slightly
different priorities. They also cut the budget for the courts, but
much less dramatically than the governor. In sum, the bill includes
$5.45 million less in cuts than the governor’s
proposal. The
Senate leadership’s budget targets require that the Public Safety
Committee make much more dramatic cuts. In addition to cutting $1.25
million for STO’s and $600,000 for STS, the committee proposed a cut of
$1.568 million to the DOC Community Services budget. This area of
the budget includes the CCA subsidy, CPO reimbursement and other grant and
pass-through funds to counties. DOC was given discretion in the
Senate proposal as to where the cuts will come from in that area, making
it hard to say exactly what the impact to counties will be, but it is safe
to say it will be in the neighborhood of the $3.1 million in cuts the
governor proposes. In other areas of the Senate plan, the courts
receive a larger cut than the House proposal, but several million less
than the governor, and DPS receives a slightly larger cut than the
proposed by the House or the governor. There was discussion in the
Senate Finance Committee Friday afternoon about the possibility of
improving the overall target for Public Safety to assist
counties. For
more information contact: Ryan Erdmann, AMC Policy
Analyst Health
and Human Services Health care
reform SF 3099 (Berglin), the Senate
health reform bill, passed the Senate floor Thursday after three hours of
debate and amendments. The governor had indicated earlier in the week that
he would likely veto this bill, as it lacked Republican legislative
support. However, a provision related to the Health Insurance
Exchange was removed to gain the support of the Republican legislators and
the governor. Elements related to health care home and expanding
MinnesotaCare, while still controversial, remain in the bill. Also
still included is the funding for the statewide health improvement plan,
which would fund county, multicounty, and city public health departments
for health promotion activities to reduce obesity and other health risk
factors. Supplemental
budget bill The
Senate also heard the Senate supplemental HHS budget bill (no bill number
as it will be rolled into a larger omnibus bill). This bill reduces
General Fund spending by $200 million in FY08-09 by: ·
Delaying cost
of living increases (COLAs) for nursing homes; ·
Delaying
rebasing of inpatient hospital payments; ·
Delaying
payments to counties by one month ($7.7 million); ·
Cutting all
DHS and MDH grants by 1.7% (for savings of about $6
million); ·
Refinancing
some TANF dollars to general fund; ·
Reducing
community provider rates by 3%; ·
Capturing
reserves from health plans above a certain level (this includes
county-based purchasing); ·
Capping health
plan administrative expenses at 8% (this includes county-based
purchasing); ·
Withholding
federal payments to counties for state operated services if over 90 days
past due; Unlike
the governor’s budget, the bill does not use the Health Care Access Fund
to balance the budget (see update above). It also retains some increases
in MinnesotaCare and MFIP passed last session, which the governor had
proposed eliminating. Child
protection HF 3615 (Loeffler), which would
have provided funding for child protection, was heard in HHS Finance and
amended to remove the funding language and require a study by DHS in
consultation with counties. This bill had sought one-time funding to
replace federal targeted case management dollars reduced as part of the
2006 deficit reduction act. County-based
purchasing HF 3380 (Liebling) passed House
HHS Finance with significant amendments. Language that would have allowed
county-based purchasing as a single plan in Olmsted, Fillmore, Houston,
Winona, and Mower (Stedfast Health Plan) was removed. Language
allowing Stedfast to be selected as the “default plan” was adopted.
The bill now goes to the full Finance committee. The bill has
not yet been heard in Senate Finance. Language requiring
county-based purchasing to meet similar reserve requirements as health
plans and to spend revenues after expenses on health, public health, and
prevention, is moving forward in the supplemental budget
bill. Upcoming
events: The
House health reform bill HF 3391 (Huntley) will be heard
in full Finance committee Monday and is expected to reach the floor later
this week. The supplemental budget bill, now in a large omnibus bill
which includes all divisions, will
also likely be heard on the floor this week. On
April 1, The HHS Finance Committee will hear SF 3181, the Stedfast
(southeastern Minnesota) county-based purchasing bill. The committee will
also hear SF 3322, which implements
recommendations of the legislative auditor’s report on health care
administration related to county-based purchasing and health
plans. For
more information contact: Patricia Coldwell, AMC Policy
Analyst General
Government and Taxes House and
Senate Budget bills take shape The
House and Senate have both wrapped all supplemental budget bills into one
package and have begun moving them through the committee process.
The House tax committee will take up HF 1812 Monday, March
31 and will then send the bill on to Ways and Means, the bill’s
last stop before reaching the floor. On the senate side, Finance
compiled the bill March 28 and it is expected that the senate bill will
find its way to the floor in the near future. Speculation continues
as to whether the omnibus budget bill will be joined with the tax bill
before both are sent to the governor’s desk. Traditionally the two
bills move separately, however, both are dependent on one another to
maintain a balanced budget so it is possible they could be moved as one
piece of legislation. The House tax bill has not yet been crafted
and likely will be unveiled in the coming weeks. Upcoming
events: March
31– House Taxes will hear the omnibus budget bill HF 1812 and receive testimony on
legislation that would repeal all corporate subsidies in exchange for a
reduction on the corporate tax rate. For
more information contact:
Joe Mathews, AMC Policy
Analyst *ADMINISTRATORS
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