6.1g ERMUSR 09-10-2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Section 1: 2019 Legislative Overview The 2019 regular session of Minnesota's State Legisla- what was called the Omnibus Prime bill, a 985-paged ture convened at noon on Tuesday,January 8, 2019.A monstrosity which at least covered all major topic areas. returning Republican-led Senate was joined by a newly And of course, as predicted by most, overtime (a special elected DFL-led House, making Minnesota the only state session)was needed to get the bare minimum done. in the country with a divided state Legislature. Both were joined by a newly elected Governor, Tim Walz. The 2019 regular session, and the special session, ended with mixed results for MMUA. What follows is an over- In the Senate, Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa)was easily view of issues related to municipal utilities that were re-elected as Majority Leader after the Republicans discussed, including summaries of relevant bills passed held on to their one seat(34-33) majority when Jeff by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor. Howe (R-Rockville)won the special-election to fill the For each new law, the final regular or special session seat vacated by Michelle Fischbach(who had stepped Chapter number is listed, along with the underlying down after the 2018 session to assume the duties of House and Senate bill numbers, and the chief author in Lieutenant-Governor) as constitutionally required when each body. Unless otherwise indicated, finance bills are former Lieutenant-Governor Tina Smith stepped down effective July 1 of each year and policy bills are effective to assume the U.S. Senate seat vacated when Al Frank- August 1 of the same year. en resigned. The Republican majority later grew to two seats(35-32)when Rep.Jason Rarick(R-Pine City)was Regular session bills introduced during this first year elected to fill a seat vacated by Democrat Tony Lourie, of a legislative biennium that are not signed into law, who was appointed by Governor Walz to be the Human vetoed, or defeated by a committee vote remain alive Services Commissioner.Jeremy Miller(R-Winona)was for the next year's regular session. Some such bills from elected Senate President which led to a restructuring the 2019 regular session will be discussed later in this of committees when he resigned his chairmanship to summary. Special session bills are only valid during the assume the presidency. Senator Tom Bakk(D-Cook) duration of that particular special session.Additional was re-elected Senate Minority Leader. special sessions could be called by the Governor before the start of the next regular session, set to begin at noon In the House, Melissa Hortman(D-Brooklyn Park)was on Tuesday, Feb.11, 2020. If called, each special session rewarded for having led Democrats back to the major- will have its own set of bill introductions and chapters ity(75-59) after four years, by being elected the third sent to the Governor for signage into law. Such addi- woman to serve as Speaker-of-the-House. She was joined tional sessions would likely only be scheduled if a deal in leadership by Ryan Winkler (D-St. Louis Park)who is reached on the emergency access to insulin provision returned to his seat after a two-year absence while he that failed to pass during either the regular or first followed his family to Belgium after the 2016 session. special session, or if a crisis such as a natural disaster His seat had been held warm by Peggy Flanagan who requires action before next February. opted not to seek re-election and instead successfully ran as Tim Walz's Lieutenant-Governor. Former Speaker- Whether having to wait for 2020, or a special session, of-the-House Kurt Daudt(R-Crown)was elected House MMUA will continue to push for the uncompleted Minority Leader. Four members of the Republican portions of its legislative agenda, while also guarding caucus then broke off to form the New Republican Cau- against bills that could have negative effects on munic- cus. The last piece of the puzzle was filled in when Rep. ipal utilities. Suggestions for new legislative initiatives Nathan Nelson(R-Hinckley)won the special election for MMUA should explore are welcome and can be provided the House seat vacated when Jason Rarick resigned to directly to MMUA staff, through a board member or a assume his Senate seat. member of the government relations committee (a com- mittee any MMUA member may voluntarily join). Despite new leadership and members, and even a new internal caucus, the session played out very much like MMUA's success at the Capitol is made easier by mem- those of recent years.A record number of bills were bers who stay in touch with their local legislators about introduced during the regular session-2,921 House key issues facing utilities,by those who participate in files and 2,925 Senate files.An additional 17 House files the weekly Government Relations Committee phone and 14 Senate files, for a total of 31 special session bills, calls, and by those who participate in the annual legisla- were introduced.A particularly low number(65 regular tive conference, which for 2020 is tentatively scheduled session bills and 13 special session bills) made it to the for March 31—April 1 at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Governor's desk, but in one break from recent history he Paul(same location as the 2019 conference). signed them all into law.Unfortunately, the recent trend of over-sized omnibus bills was again prevalent. For ex- Links to both the regular and special session law chap- ample, the House Health and Human Services bill alone ters, and to individual bills are at www.leg.state.mn.us came in at nearly 1,400 pages, easily dwarfing the previ- And, as always,please contact the MMUA offices if you ous record size for a bill which was set just last year with have any questions. 3 233