CapWatch:
March 11, 2024

Minnesota Update

Deadlines Quickly Approaching; State of State Announced

As the policy committee deadlines draw closer, the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives continue to hold numerous committee hearings and process dozens of pieces of legislation each day. Several higher profile bills advanced last week, and the tempo will only increase as the March 22, 2024 deadline approaches.

Last week Gov. Tim Walz’s office announced that the governor will deliver the annual State of the State address to a joint session of the Minnesota Legislature on Tuesday, March 26 at 7pm.

School Resource Officer “Fix” Passes House; Awaits Senate Vote

After months of negotiations, the House passed H.F. 3489, sponsored by Rep. Cedrick Frazier, (DFL-New Hope), which seeks to clarify changes made in 2023 regarding the use of certain restraints in schools.  The version that passed the House of Representatives last week on a 124-8 vote clarifies language around the use of certain choke holds and face-down prone restraints resource officers can place on students and updates use-of-force standards for those officers. It also removes language specific to contracted security and school resource officers placing restraining holds on students. A similar bill passed the Senate today by a vote of 57-9.  There are differences between the two bills so a conference committee will be appointed, and the differences will be worked out.

Cannabis Law Modifications

Legislation was introduced last Thursday to revise some areas of the cannabis law passed during the 2023 legislative session.  Authored by Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids) and Sen. Lindsey Port (DFL-Burnsville), the proposal largely contains technical amendments and “clean up” language suggested by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).  The proposal looks to provide more options for social equity in the regulatory model, transition medical adult-use cannabis into a single supply chain starting from point of cultivation, and move the oversight and enforcement authority of the hemp derived cannabinoid industry to OCM’s purview beginning July 1, 2024, as well as other revisions.

At a briefing related to the newly introduced legislation, interim director of the Office of Cannabis Management, Charlene Briner, stated that she didn’t believe the state will meet the “goal” of full-scale retail sales in the first quarter of 2025 because of the extensive amount of time it will take to issue licenses and draft regulations.

Other Key Bills Moving Through Committee

A number of significant proposals advanced through the committee process this week, including:

S.F. 3542 (Marty)/H.F. 3529 (Reyer) would require all HMOs in Minnesota to convert to non-profit status. The bill passed the House Health Finance and Policy Committee on a voice vote and was sent to the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee.

S.F. 3787 (Pappas)/H.F. 3882 (Olson) would make several changes to the statewide sick and safe law that was passed during the 2023 session, including providing the Commissioner of Labor and Industry enforcement authority over various statutes.

S.F. 3721 (Mann)/ H.F. 3456 (Greenman) would prevent a company or partnership that provides services to a customer from restricting the customer from directly or indirectly soliciting or hiring one of its employees. The bill passed multiple committees in the House of Representatives and awaits action before the full chamber.

S.F. 4483 (Oumou-Verbeten)/H.F. 4444 (Greenman) would ensure a business does not classify, represent, treat, report, disclose, document, or enter into an agreement with an employee, or require employees to agree to be misclassified or treated as something other than an employee. The legislation passed the House Labor and Industry Finance and Policy Committee.

H.F. 3587 (Bahner)/S.F. 3725 (Mann) would require employers with more than 30 employees to disclose salary ranges, benefits, and compensation in job postings. The bill was laid over in the House Labor and Industry Finance and Policy Committee for possible inclusion in a future bill.

H.F. 3527 (Greenman)/S.F. 3994 (Champion) named the “Minnesota Voting Rights Act,” does several things to “ensure no one is denied an equal opportunity to vote,” according to Greenman. It also permits statutory cities within the state to move from at-large to ward-based elections and would require someone alleging voter suppression or dilution to first notify the political subdivision, which would then work “in good faith” to remedy a potential violation and aims to ensure no one is denied an equal opportunity to vote. It was heard and passed out of the House Elections Finance and Policy Committee last week.

Important Dates to Remember

March 22, 2024                            First and Second Deadline

March 26, 2024                            Gov Walz, State of the State

March 27, 2024 at 5pm                Easter Recess Begins

April 2, 2024 at 12pm                  Easter Recess Ends

April 9, 2024 at 5pm                    Eid Recess Begins

April 11, 2024 at 12pm                Eid Recess Ends

April 19, 2024                               Third Deadline

April 22, 2024                               Passover Recess Begins

April 24, 2024 at 12pm                Passover Recess Ends

May 20, 2024                                Deadline to Adjourn Legislative Session

Federal Update 

Biden Rolling Out Fiscal 2025 Budget Blueprint

Today, President Joe Biden releases his budget wish list, something sure to serve as a guide to his reelection platform this fall. None of the major initiatives in his fiscal 2025 budget are likely to survive election-year politics in a highly polarized, divided government. He is expected to include a “billionaire” minimum income tax, a higher corporate tax rate, affordable housing initiatives, expanded preschool access, and a higher federal minimum wage. The blueprint also risks running afoul of tight discretionary spending limits set as part of last year’s debt limit suspension law.

The initiatives would allow fiscal 2025 appropriations to rise just one percent above the topline totals agreed upon for the current fiscal year. But Biden’s fiscal roadmap will be used as campaign fodder all year, as the president tries to argue — as he did in his State of the Union address last week — that his policies are “building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down, investing in all of America.” Republicans argue that his zeal for spending has only produced soaring inflation that has hurt middle-class families, although the overall rate has dropped markedly since the peak pandemic-era supply-chain shocks.

Halfway to the Finish Line

A second six-bill fiscal 2024 appropriations package is expected to be released in the coming days, most likely on March 17. That’s ahead of the March 22 deadline for the Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Financial Services, Legislative Branch, Homeland Security, and State-Foreign Operations measures. Appropriators are negotiating the package, which is set to top $1.2 trillion in spending. After Friday’s passage in the Senate, over the weekend Biden signed the first fiscal 2024 package, a $468.7 billion spending measure that averted a partial government shutdown.

Spy Chiefs to Testify on Global Threats

Top intelligence officials go before lawmakers this week to give their annual assessment of global threats facing the nation. CIA Director William J. Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and FBI Director Christopher Wray are set to testify to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday. They will be joined by the heads of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency. The same lineup is set to testify to lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

One issue that the hearings could zero in on is TikTok. The House plans to take up a TikTok divestiture bill later this week that would force the app’s parent company to divest from TikTok in the U.S. or face a nationwide ban. National security leaders have raised concerns about the app, and President Joe Biden said Friday that he would sign the bipartisan legislation if it reaches his desk. It advanced by a vote of 50-0 in a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup last week.

The soon-to-expire section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could also pop-up Monday. The powerful surveillance authority is set to expire on April 19. Its renewal has been delayed over a disagreement about privacy protections that Congress could add to ensure digital communications of Americans aren’t swept up in surveillance of foreigners located outside the country. Funding fights could also come up after the FBI warned last week that cuts in a just-enacted fiscal 2024 spending package would hamper counterintelligence activities.

FEMA Head to Testify Ahead of Possible Summer Shortfall

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is set to testify to lawmakers ahead of an expected shortfall in the agency’s disaster relief fund. Administrator Deanne Criswell is slated to go before the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee that oversees emergencies on Tuesday. Criswell could face pushback from the panel’s chair, Rep. Scott Perry, R-PA, who has accused FEMA of prioritizing climate change “over actual disaster readiness and response.” Lawmakers are grappling with providing funding as hurricane and wildfire season approaches. The topic of natural disasters is slated to continue this week as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday both hear from witnesses on the increasing threat of wildfires.

On the Radar: Trump to Pitch Ukraine Aid Loans to Johnson

Former President Donald Trump plans to ask Speaker Mike Johnson this week to turn any upcoming funding for Ukraine into a loan that could be paid back without interest as the war-torn country recovers, Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Such an approach could prove to be more politically palatable to GOP critics. Speaker Johnson, R-LA, has expressed support for Ukraine but declared a Senate-passed $95.3 billion war funding package “dead on arrival” in the House. That’s partly because the bill would do nothing to improve security at the southern U.S. border. Some House Republicans have opposed additional Ukraine aid in general, saying they saw no evidence that more funding would lead to a victory over Russia.