Minnesota Legislature Enters Final Week of 2024 Session
The Minnesota Legislature has exactly one week to complete its work before its constitutional deadline to adjourn for the year. With more than a dozen omnibus bills still being negotiated, significant work remains on the docket. Most notably, legislative leaders from all four caucuses continue to negotiate the parameters of an end of session “deal” whereby Republicans provide the votes needed for the biennial capital investment bill.
Sen. Mitchell Senate Ethics Committee Hearing
On May, 7, 2024, the Senate’s Ethics Subcommittee met to, amongst other things, consider the ethics complaint made against Sen. Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury) following her being arrested and charged with felony burglary last month. Sen. Mitchel appeared but did not speak during her hearing as her attorney addressed the committee on her behalf. Following a lengthy series of questions from the bipartisan panel, the Senate Ethics Subcommittee determined that it would wait for its next meeting until June 12th, after Sen. Mitchell’s next court date, though that decision was not without controversy.
Constitutional Amendment
Legislation that would place three constitutional amendments on the November ballot has passed through the committee process and is up for a vote in the House of Representatives. If passed and included on the ballot, the ballot question in H.F. 4598 would read:
“Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require an independent redistricting commission to adopt boundaries for congressional and legislative districts following a decennial census; to prohibit members of the legislature from serving as lobbyists while in office and for a period of one year after leaving office; and to amend requirements related to the timing and process for convening regular legislative sessions?”
The Senate version, S.F. 4785, passed the Senate Elections Committee in early March and is awaiting a hearing in the State and Local Government and Veterans Committee.
Firearms Bill in Senate
Last Thursday the Senate debated and passed H.F. 2609 (Berg) / S.F. 5153 (Gustafson), a bill that approves stronger penalties for gun buyers and bans binary triggers, which allow one bullet to be fired with the pull of a trigger and a second to be fired with the trigger release. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill a few weeks ago. The bill language will need to be reconciled and re-passed by both bodies before it is sent to the governor. Governor Walz has publicly stated that he will sign the bill.
Omnibus Conference Committee Reports
Several conference committees finished up their work and approved conference committee reports. All conference committee reports must be re-passed by the House of Representatives and Senate prior to heading to the governor’s desk.
Other Key Non-Omnibus Bills of Note
H.F. 1989 (Moller) / S.F. 2003 (Klein) Gov. Tim Walz signed legislation into law earlier this week that seeks to get at hidden costs and access to special event tickets. Nicknamed the “Taylor Swift” bill, the legislation seeks to strengthen consumer protections for those purchasing tickets online, ban hidden fees, encourage transparency, and protect against fraudulent ticket sales.
H.F. 4746 (Hassan) / S.F. 4780 (Fateh) Framed as a potential “compromise” on the issue of rideshare regulation, this proposal was presented by legislative leaders, Minneapolis City Council members, and rideshare drivers as a new approach to regulating that industry that, at its heart, would give the drivers a raise in pay. However, the two largest ridesharing companies, Uber and Lyft, remain opposed and have expressed concerns that the mandated pay raise would be damaging for riders and drivers and would shut the companies down throughout the state (both companies are set to cease services in Minneapolis on July 1, 2024). Uber and Lyft noted that they were not included in the negotiations. H.F. 4746 would mandate rideshare companies pay a statewide minimum wage rate of $1.27 per mile and 49 cents per minute for any transportation of a rider by a driver.
Important Date to Remember
May 20, 2024 Deadline to Adjourn Legislative Session
Senator Bob Menendez Goes on Trial in Manhattan
Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is set to stand trial in Manhattan federal court starting Monday over allegations that he accepted bribes, acted as a foreign agent and obstructed justice. The trial could affect work in the closely divided Senate since Menendez will be attending the trial in New York City. The former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vowed to defend himself since an initial indictment alleged that he and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, which included cash, gold bars and a luxury vehicle. Attorneys for Menendez have previewed in court filings the possible defenses the senator could lean on, including potentially blaming his wife, who is being tried separately.
The attorneys have outlined arguments that the senator’s storing of cash was a coping mechanism tied to trauma related to his father’s suicide and a family history of having funds confiscated by the Cuban government. In 2015, Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges in a separate case. In that case, the jury could not reach a verdict in 2017 and a judge acquitted the senator in 2018 on the most serious charges. The Justice Department later dropped the rest of the charges. His seat is up for reelection this year. Menendez has said he won’t run in the Democratic primary in June, but he left open the possibility of running as an independent in the general election. Congressman Andy Kim is the leading contender for the Democratic nomination.
FAA Authorization Expected to Clear the House
The House is expected to easily clear the bicameral Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill early this week, sending it to the president’s desk with time to spare before a Friday deadline. The measure (HR 3935) is scheduled to be considered Tuesday under suspension of the rules, an expedited procedure that requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage. The bill would reauthorize the FAA at $105 billion over five years and includes priorities aimed at overhauling aircraft certification and improving aviation safety. It would increase authorizations for FAA operations to $66.7 billion total over the term, starting at $13 billion for fiscal 2024, which ends on Sept. 30. That’s up from $11.5 billion in fiscal 2023. From there, topline authorizations reach $14 billion for operations in fiscal 2028.
The measure would boost authorizations to $4 billion a year for the Airport Improvement Program, which funds new infrastructure. It would be the first increase for a program that’s been set at $3.4 billion annually for the past 10 years. The Senate passed the bill on Thursday night by a vote of 88-4 after a fraught amendment process. The Senate also cleared a short-term extension (HR 8289) of existing authority, moving the deadline from May 10 to Friday.
Farm Bill Trots into Spotlight as FAA Bill Exits
With the FAA reauthorization bill effectively complete, lawmakers can turn toward another high-priority piece of legislation that Congress previously punted on: the farm bill. An extension of the current farm bill expires Sept. 30, and the Agriculture committees in both chambers have released summaries of their respective plans in recent weeks, but not yet bill text. Those came into closer view on May 10, when the House committee released an updated summary that reaffirmed Republicans’ desire to use already appropriated climate funds for farm conservation programs and limit the Agriculture Department’s flexibility on setting food stamp benefits.
The summary said the panel would remove what it calls “climate sideboards” in the 2022 clean energy law. The House farm bill would reallocate the funds to conservation programs. Democrats say redeploying those funds is a red line that can’t be crossed. A Senate farm bill summary released the week of April 29 proposed moving that money into the bill’s conservation title, but would only make it available for climate-smart programs. In their summary, Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee also proposed adding Puerto Rico to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The island has been ineligible for SNAP benefits since 1982, when Congress passed a 1981 budget reconciliation law that moved the territory to a food assistance block grant. The Senate’s summary proposes a transition over at least 10 years. Puerto Rico would be added to the definition of “state agency” under the program. USDA data shows that the switch would raise the cost of benefits from $2.9 billion under the block grant in fiscal 2024 to about $4.5 billion annually.
