Legislative Update: Final week of regular session
By Amanda Bilek, senior public policy director for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association
It’s the final week of the regular legislative session and, as I prepare this update, all indications are the legislature will likely be heading toward a special session to finish their work, IF the Governor and House and Senate leadership can reach an agreement on the next two-year budget and resolve many other key sticking points.
It has been said in and around the Capitol that special sessions are not all that special anymore. According to the MN House Public Information Services, if the legislature does head into special session in 2021 to finish its work, it would be the fourth straight special session and fifth out of six in budget–setting years. This does not include the monthly special sessions during 2020 when the legislature gaveled back in so Governor Walz could extend peacetime emergency powers.
So, with less than a week to go, this week’s update takes a look at the different factors and elements preventing a final deal.
Two-Year Budget
The major work of the 2021 legislative session is to approve a new two-year budget for state government. The House and Senate have each passed their omnibus finance bills covering different aspects of state government. Conference committees have been appointed and have been meeting, but cannot make much progress until the Governor and legislative leaders strike a global agreement on the budget and give each conference committee a spending target for their division of state government. Up until now, conference committees have been adopting same or similar provisions in the omnibus bills covering policy or non-fiscal items. However, resolving the more controversial elements of each bill still needs to be done, including resolving fiscal differences.
According to legislative leaders, they are talking and negotiating but no agreement had been reached at the time this blog post was published. Once agreement is reached the conference committees will still need time to finish their work, and the conference committee reports will need to be prepared and repassed by the House and Senate. There just might not be enough time to finish the work during the regular session, requiring a special session to finish business.
Federal money and emergency powers
Two other issues that are figuring prominently into end of session negotiations are how – and who – gets to allocate the nearly $2.8 billion in federal money through the American Recovery Plan for COVID related items, and how and when will Governor Walz lift the peacetime emergency powers that have been in place since last year. House and Senate Republicans have wanted emergency powers lifted for several months and, as COVID positive numbers and hospitalizations fall, their calls have a renewed sense of urgency. But figuring this out and how to approach COVID related issues currently covered under Executive Orders is a delicate balance.
Earlier this week, the federal government issued guidance and updated allocations for the state share of COVID related funding from the American Recovery Plan. Minnesota will be receiving $2.8 billion, in addition to other funds, for local units of government. At issue in the budget negotiations is where to allocate those funds and if the legislature will have a role in appropriating, or if the executive branch will make the determination as it did with the state share of the CARES funds.
Policy issues
In addition to all the fiscal questions and the Governor’s emergency powers, there are also several policy issues important to either the House DFL caucus or the Senate Republican caucus that are opposed by one another.
For example, members of the House DFL are strongly advocating for significant changes to police and criminal justice policy, which so far has not found favor with Senate Republicans. Last week, the Senate passed a voter ID bill, which the House DFL opposes and voter ID was one of the policy items included in the first end of session offer from Senate Republicans.
Finally, in the environment conference committee negotiations the issue of Clean Cars/California vehicle emission standards has emerged as a key issue. Last week, Senate Republicans offered a two-year delay in adopting final rules and have made clear until there is some acceptance of their offer to delay adoption, they are hesitant to negotiate other aspects of the bill, especially without a budget target.
The Clean Cars rulemaking has been controversial especially in rural communities. MCGA has been engaged on this issue and submitted comments throughout the rulemaking process. Last week the Administrative Law Judge issued their report finding that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency does have the jurisdiction to adopt these rules, following the required steps in the administrative procedures chapter, demonstrated the need and reasonableness for the rule and recommended the agency move towards final adoption. So unless something changes during the legislative negotiations (or potential future litigation), Minnesota is likely to adopt these rules.
Although this update covered some of the larger dynamics at play in the final legislative session negotiations, MCGA policy staff have been working hard to advocate for our policy priorities with members of the House and Senate. Once the agreements and conference committee reports are finalized, we will be sure to update you with how everything shook out for corn farmers.
Be sure to follow the MCGA blog and its social channels (Facebook, Twitter) for updates. You can also follow me on Twitter (@AjBilek).
