Appellate practice isn’t a solitary pursuit, it’s a team sport. This is just one key learning from attorney Kyle R. Kroll after working alongside his mentor and colleague Thomas H. Boyd. In his recent Hennepin Lawyer article, Kyle shares three keys to a successful partnership with inside counsel on appeals. The common thread among all three tips? Take a team approach. Read the article.
There are just over two weeks left in the 2022 Minnesota legislative session. The state constitution requires that the legislature adjourn on May 23. The Governor has said he will not call a special session if the legislature doesn’t finish its work.
This week the House and Senate continued to pass omnibus supplemental budget bills (the big bills). Aside from a couple notable exceptions (see below), the major bills have passed each body and conferees have been appointed. Many of the conference committees will hold their first meetings on Monday, generally beginning with a walk-through of the various provisions in each bill. With the initial passage of all of the omnibus bills, the House and Senate are both poised to start taking up smaller policy bills (the little bills). Though many provisions have been put into omnibus bills, each body does have dozens of bills ready for floor action.
Though the House of Representatives passed its tax bill (H.F. 3669, Marquart) this week, the Senate has yet to release the second part of their tax bill. Additionally, neither body has yet to release its capital investment recommendations.
Senator Michelle Benson, the only woman candidate for governor from a major party this year, announced last Friday that she was ending her campaign. She has since announced that she will not be a candidate for Lieutenant Governor either. The Republicans will endorse a candidate at their state convention, held May 13-15 in Rochester.
Abortion is back in the news this week with the bombshell leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Because Minnesota has its own court ruling, Doe v. Gomez (1995), that guarantees a right to abortion in the state constitution, overturning Roe would have little impact here, aside from perhaps seeing an increase in the number of abortions sought by people from neighboring states.
Yesterday, legislative leaders announced they had a deal on the replenishment of the unemployment insurance trust fund and frontline worker bonus pay. The deal was approved by a conference committee late Thursday night, and is expected to be passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives on Friday. Governor Tim Walz is expected to sign the bill shortly after receiving it.
More than $2.3 billion of federal funds, along with more than $405 million in state funds, will be used to repay the federal unemployment insurance trust fund loans and replenish the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund. The use of these funds will allow businesses to avoid an increase in their assessments related to unemployment insurance. Businesses will be expected to pay their previously assessed bills due April 30, but will receive a credit or refund in the future.
Fifteen frontline worker employment sectors are identified in the bill as being eligible for bonus payments. In addition to being in one of the identified sectors, workers must meet other eligibility requirements, including an income cap. Workers will have to apply to receive a bonus, and the amount that they receive will depend on how many workers apply. The Legislature allocated $500 million for bonuses, with an anticipated payout of approximately $750 per worker. The eligible sectors are: long-term care and home care; health care; emergency responders; public health, social service, and regulatory service; courts and corrections; child care; schools; food service; retail; temporary shelters and hotels; building services; public transit; ground and air transportation services; manufacturing; and vocational rehabilitation.
This week a bill was introduced that would allow voters to decide if Minnesota’s part-time legislature should be a full-time operation. The bill’s authors said that they had no expectation of any action on the bill yet this year, but wanted to begin a discussion on the issue.
The House and Senate have each passed most of their respective omnibus bills at this point. Next week will see passage of the remainder of the finance bills and the beginning of conference committees. The tax and bonding bills will be a double caboose for the end of session.
Jessica Timmington Lindstrom will be giving a presentation at the Normandale Center for Healing and Wholeness on June 11, 2022. This class will cover a legal and financial topics such as: powers of attorney, health care directives, wills, social security and other benefit planning, medical assistance elderly waiver, and more.
An experienced elder law attorney, Jessica specializes in elder law including long-term care planning, estate planning, trust and estate administration, and guardianship and conservatorship work. Time is allocated for questions and discussion.
Following its traditional ten-day break, the Legislature is back to complete the final leg of the 2022 session. Both the House and Senate resumed both floor sessions and committee action on Tuesday. As expected, activity was primarily focused on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, as they continued to pass omnibus budget bills on to the floor. The Senate Finance committee has largely finished its work, though the House Ways and Means committee will still be hearing several omnibus bills next week.
On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means committee adopted a budget resolution, specifying how much spending is allowed within each budget jurisdiction. A spreadsheet was created that provides an easy-to read-document, broken down by budget area, and at times, specific bills. Under the House plan, the total budget would spend more than $7.36 billion of the projected surplus.
The Legislature must adjourn no later than Monday, May 23. That means the Legislature only has four weeks left to finish its business. Expect both the House and Senate to be meeting in floor session every day next week, as they pass omnibus bills. Once a bill has passed both bodies, a conference committee will be set up to work out differences between the bills.
After years of multiple special sessions, Governor Tim Walz said this week that he will not call the legislature back for a special session this year if they fail to reach agreement on issues. It has become commonplace for the Legislature to agree to deals in the waning days of the session and need a little “overtime” to finish its work. Gov. Walz says that won’t happen this year. He also chastised the Legislature for failing to find agreement on issues thus far, notably the replenishment of the unemployment trust fund.
Governor Tim Walz will address a joint meeting of the House and Senate, and the state as a whole, on Sunday evening when he gives his annual State of the State address. The speech is scheduled to take place at 6:00 p.m. Information on previous State of the State addresses, including links to videos, are available through the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.
While much was happening at the Capitol this week, many legislators and lobbyists alike had one foot out the door in anticipation of the annual Easter/Passover break. This year’s break extends from Saturday, April 9 through Monday, April 18. The legislature will resume work on Tuesday, April 19. At that point, there will be approximately five weeks of session left.
Nearly every committee hearing this week focused on omnibus bills as each made its way through the legislative process. At this point, most omnibus bills have been passed out of the committee of jurisdiction, and many have also been heard in the Senate Finance committee. It is expected that in further meetings of the Senate Finance committee and the House Ways and Means committee, various bills will be combined.
Neither the bonding bill (capital investment) nor tax bill has to abide by committee deadlines. The House has released a tax bill, but it hasn’t made its way to the floor yet. Meanwhile, the Senate passed a tax bill off the floor on Thursday, but was transparent about a second tax bill that would be presented and pass after the legislative break. It may be May before significant movement on bonding proposals occurs.
Omnibus bills provide a vehicle for a few odd provisions. The House State Government Finance omnibus bill includes a provision to retire Minnesota’s existing state seal and state flag, and establishes a commission to develop, design and recommend new designs. Not to be outdone, the Senate State Government Finance omnibus bill would make the giant beaver Minnesota’s official state fossil.
Throughout the legislative session, numerous hearings have been held on a proposal to create a Department of Behavioral Health, in order to put more emphasis on substance use disorder and mental health. Perhaps in response, Governor Tim Walz signed an Executive Order on Thursday to help address the massive addiction and opioid crisis. According to a press release put out by his office, new actions will include appointing “a new Addiction and Recovery Director to lead addiction and recovery work as well as direct [a new] subcabinet and advisory council.”
Note: With the Legislature on Easter/Passover break, there will be no Top 5 next week. We’ll see you back here on Friday, April 22!
We are two months into session, with merely seven weeks remaining (including a week-long break). After next week, the Legislature will go on break until April 19. When they return, nearly all committee work will be done, and action will shift to the floor as both the House and Senate pass various omnibus policy and finance bills, along with some stand-alone issues.
Thursday saw the first significant deal-making of the 2022 Legislative session with an agreement on S.F. 3472, commonly known as reinsurance. Reinsurance, officially called the Minnesota Premium Security Plan, stabilizes the individual health insurance market through a state subsidy, resulting in a rate decrease for individuals of approximately 20 percent. The program was reauthorized and funded for an additional three years.
For years, Minnesota DFL lawmakers have advocated for, and advanced, legislation to require most businesses to provide paid family leave to employees. This has been met with resistance by most Republicans. After years of saying “no” to a paid family leave mandate, this year Republicans are advancing an alternative proposal that allows for insurers to offer a paid family leave insurance benefit in the state, along with tax incentives for employers who offer such insurance. Senator Julia Coleman is offering the proposals, S.F. 3885 and S.F. 4394.
A date has been set for Governor Tim Walz to present a State of the State address to a joint session of the Minnesota House and Senate. His fourth State of the State address will take place at 6:00 p.m., on Sunday, April 24.
While it may not be a record to be proud of, members of the Minnesota Legislature have now introduced more bills this biennium than any previous biennium. As of the end of March 31, members of the House of Representatives introduced 4,737 bills, while members of the Senate introduced 4,413 bills. Combined, a total of 9,150 bills have been introduced—and we still have seven weeks to go! Also note, this does not include any bills from special session.
Finance committees in both the House and Senate have been provided budget targets for their respective omnibus finance bills. Unlike most years, these targets have not been released to the public. During biennial budget years (which occur in odd-numbered years), budget targets are required to be public, but this is a non-budget year and both the House and Senate are taking advantage of not being required to release the information.
This week, the Senate made clear its plan to pass all omnibus bills out of finance committees of jurisdiction by next Friday, April 1. This is a week earlier than the previously announced committee deadline. Moving the deadline up a week allows the Senate Finance committee to then consider and pass each omnibus bill to the floor prior to the legislative break, which begins on April 9.
More than a month ago, Minnesota Capitol insiders welcomed the news that the State Office Building, which houses the offices for members of the House of Representatives, would be opening to the public for the first time in more than two years on March 21. Those same individuals groaned when they arrived at the building this week to find locked doors and signs announcing that any member of the public must have an appointment and be escorted into the office areas.
Earlier this week the state announced its lowest unemployment rate since 1999, coming in at just 2.7% in January. There were an additional 5,200 jobs added and the labor force participation rate increased to 67.9%. Ongoing wage increases and inflation are likely to continue.
Republican insiders have been gathering in small—and sometimes not-so-small—groups across the state to select delegates to the state party convention. The stakes are high, as the delegates will decide who is endorsed for statewide offices, most notably, Governor. The gubernatorial candidates have been racing around the state to reach as many conventions, and thus potential delegates, as possible. Republicans have not conducted a formal straw poll since precinct caucus night in February, nor have they been keeping track of candidate preferences among the elected delegates, so it remains unclear who is leading the delegate count among Republican candidates for Governor. The Republican state convention will take place May 13-14 in Rochester.
Senate Finance Chair Julie Rosen announced in committee this week that the Senate will not be having budget targets. Typically budget targets are formally adopted, and then all legislation with a fiscal impact that is passed must balance within the overall target. The lack of a budget target does not prohibit passage of any spending bills, but does indicate that the Senate does not intend to pass broad budget bills, in spite of a more than $9 billion budget surplus.
In our very first Top Five of 2022, we highlighted two issues that had already risen to the top of nearly everyone’s list of priorities—replenishment of the unemployment trust fund and frontline worker pay. Those issues remain priorities, but the first gridlock of the session relates to whether or not they should be tied together or be passed on their own. The Senate has passed a bill to fully repay the trust fund, while via a letter sent on Thursday, House Speaker Melissa Hortman is insisting that the frontline worker pay issue be resolved prior to addressing the unemployment insurance issue.
On Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would provide $20 million for ALS research, and another $5 million for caregiver support programs. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. David Tomassoni, is struggling with ALS, and the Senate also used the bill’s passage as an opportunity to praise their colleague. The bill now awaits action in the House Higher Education committee.
With the filing window closing next week, candidates for Congressional District 1 are coming into sharper focus following the death of Congressman Jim Hagedorn. While more than a dozen candidates have submitted their names to run so far, a few stand out. Former member of the Minnesota House Brad Finstad was among the first big names to announce, and has since released the names of prominent Republican backers. Current member of the Minnesota House Jeremy Munson is likely Finstad’s greatest competitor for the Republican nomination. Congressman Hagedorn’s widow, Jennifer Carnahan, has long been rumored to be running, but has yet to officially file for office. On the DFL side, Jeff Ettinger, formerly CEO of Hormel Foods Corp., may be the candidate to watch.
In the background of the legislative session, the 2022 race for Governor has continued at a fast clip. While there are no indications that Governor Tim Walz will have a significant challenge within his party, the many Republican candidates have continued travelling the state for conventions, forums and meetings with delegates. In most recent news, former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk was announced as Scott Jensen’s running mate.
The biggest political news of the week came on Monday with the release of the February budget forecast. Any budget changes the Legislature makes must be based on this forecast. Due to its significance, this week’s Top Five is fully dedicated to the updated forecast and brought to you by former Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) Commissioner, and now Winthrop’s own, Tom Hanson.
The November 2021 forecast predicted a general fund surplus of $7.746 billion for the current biennium. Citing stronger revenue growth and lower spending estimates, the February forecast increases the surplus by $1.507 billion. The total FY 2022-2023 biennium surplus is now projected to be $9.253 billion.
According to the February forecast, the U.S. economy continues to recover from the recession that was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the unemployment rate has fallen to near pre-pandemic levels. Economic growth is expected to continue while home values, financial asset values, and corporate profits continue to rise. Nevertheless, the February forecast does strike a note of caution by citing concern over inflation, supply chain disruptions, labor force participation, geopolitical conflict (the Russian invasion of Ukraine), and the path of the pandemic.
Total general fund revenues for the current biennium are now expected to be $57.289 billion, an increase of $1.252 billion over the November 2021 forecast.
Expenditures in the current biennium are now expected to be $51.729 billion, a reduction of $270 million. The decrease is primarily driven by changes in E-12 education and health and human services spending.
In the next biennium, the February forecast predicts that, based on current law, revenues will exceed spending by $6.289 billion. This is a $729 million increase from the $5.56 billion projected in the November forecast.