Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope you and yours are safe and well during this time. It was a busy week and there have been changes as we move for safety and our economy.
Chief among them is that the Governor has extended his stay at home order an additional two weeks. However, he has also opened up roughly 100,000 jobs to be operated safely. At this moment 80% of businesses are considered necessary and we are all working to get the other businesses up and operating where we can, where the science says it is safe as policies are developed.
We are in this for the long haul but we make progress, in both safety and economically. While we continue working on this, let me know what you think is most important as we continue these discussions and act together for Minnesota’s safety on all fronts.
From my family to yours,
John
Emergency housing assistance and eviction protection
A bill heard in the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Housing Finance Committee this week would appropriate $30 million to prevent homelessness. Senate and House DFLers support advocates push to secure $100 million for the program based on the vast need across the state. The Senate Republican author has indicated the Legislature could revisit this issue depending on the length of the pandemic. The House does have $100 million for the program in its proposal, and we will continue to advocate for an agreement above $30 million included in the Senate proposal through the negotiation process.
Qualified individuals for assistance would need to see an income reduction of 15% or more and have a current gross income under 300% of the federal poverty guidelines. The bill also institutes a 60-day eviction moratorium beginning on March 24. The governor may extend the moratorium for up to 30 days. The proposal also provides a 60-day moratorium on foreclosures during the COVID-19 public health emergency. (SF 4495)
Farm Advocate funding advances
A bill appropriating $300,000 in FY 2021 from the general fund for farm advocate services had its first hearing in the Senate. Farm Advocates help farmers who are challenged by natural disaster or financial problems. Minnesota Department of Agriculture has sponsored the program since 1984.
Agriculture has been impacted substantially by the pandemic; the pork industry has been hit particularly hard and has had major distribution problems. Roughly 40% of the pork packaging capacity is offline nationally because of the pandemic as entire processing plants have been forced to shut down due to virus outbreaks. This is creating a significant backlog in the market, which is requiring farmers to make difficult decisions. The Farm Advocates program can help these farmers navigate these challenges, and the money appropriated in this bill is the first step to ensuring their long-term sustainability. (SF 4177)
Senate Bonding Committee holds first hearing
The Senate Capital Investment Committee held its first hearing this week via teleconferencing. The committee was focused on transportation in the bonding bill. Testifiers representing labor and business groups shared their perspectives on the importance of a bonding bill for transportation, jobs, and economic development.
A robust bonding bill creates good-paying trade jobs throughout the state, which boost both the local and state economies. Although bonding for transportation is important, there are many needs across the state that would benefit from bonding funds. With regionally significant state assets throughout Minnesota, investing in our aging and diverse infrastructure is critical and beneficial to every corner of the state.
Higher education institutions across the state have serious needs, and without significant investments, barriers to learning and educational excellence will be created. Additionally, many communities across Minnesota face expensive and necessary upgrades to keep drinking water clean and safe; significant state investment is needed in our water treatment systems.
The hearing sets the stage for the release of the Senate Republican bonding bill in the coming weeks. As proposals are discussed, we all need to continue to be strong advocates for Minnesotans and our communities.
Legislation establishes telemedicine and broadband aid for distance learning
A bill was heard in the Senate this week to establish two new grant programs: one to fund the purchase of telemedicine equipment to deal with COVID-19, and one to fund the purchase of distance learning equipment for students without broadband access. Both come at a time when the way we practice medicine and teach our children are rapidly changing in the face of a pandemic. This funding will help ease the transition into these new forms of medicine and education.
The telemedicine grant program will reimburse health care providers that purchase and install equipment in order to provide COVID-19-related health care services. The total amount appropriated to the grant program is $2,000,000 in fiscal year 2020.
The broadband access grant program will reimburse school districts and charter schools for costs incurred to provide wireless or wire-line broadband access to students without proper access for distance learning. Examples of equipment used to provide this access include data cards, USB modems, or other mobile or temporary broadband devices. The total amount appropriated to this program is $8,000,000 in fiscal year 2020. An additional $10,000,000 appropriated for fiscal year 2021 to continue developing broadband access in under-served areas if it’s found to be reimbursable by federal funds.
These grant programs are just one way to demonstrate the Senate’s commitment to keeping Minnesota connected by ensuring all Minnesotans have access to the broadband they need to make their lives easier as we continue to fight this pandemic. (SF 4494)
Bill would help train teachers for concurrent enrollment courses
A bill discussed by the E-12 Education Committee this week would provide funds to help Minnesota teachers met requirements to provide concurrent enrollment courses to high school students.
Concurrent enrollment courses are college courses offered at the high school, usually taught by a trained high school teacher. These are offered in partnership with a college or university. Students who successfully complete these courses generate both high school and college credit from the partnering post-secondary institution. According to committee comments, in School District 196 last year, students earned 6,000 dual enrollment credits valued at $3.1 million.
Minnesota spends $4 million annually to pay for district costs to cover the programs. The funding amount does not cover the total cost to districts.
High school teachers are trained to provide high quality educational programs to students in concurrent enrollment programs. By 2022, teachers are required by the Higher Learning Council to have a minimum of 18 graduate credits in the field related to the course they would be teaching for college credit. Three million dollars was funded in 2016 to help defray the costs of the additional training; that money has been spent, and there remains about 6,000 credits necessary for teachers to meet the HLC requirements.
An amendment discussed during the E-12 Committee this week would transfer $1 million from the $4 million annual funding for programs. Neither the bill nor the amendment passed the committee.
(SF 4257)
Distance learning continues to end of school year
Governor Walz extended the distance learning period for Minnesota children last week due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it will now last through the end of the school year.
Distance learning has been in place since the end of March. School buildings have remained open for childcare, and meals have been provided for families either to be picked up or delivered via school bus or other school vehicles.
The announcement also outlined changes to help schools until June and the start of the summer vacation period. The governor’s ’s office also included provisions in this Education Executive Order to encourage and implement outreach and plans to support families and students during this dramatic change in educational delivery.
The announcement also will help districts expand internet access and technology access through their regional libraries and the civics test required in state law has been cancelled for this year’s seniors.
Specifically, the new Executive Order:
- Requires districts/charters to post distance learning plans and must include outreach opportunities
- Requires the Minnesota Departments of Education and Health to work together to identify programs that can be done in school safely and how home visits can be safely conducted
- School buses can use flashing lights and arms for meal and instructional material drop offs
- Civics tests are cancelled this year for seniors
- Fund transfer flexibilities are in place to help ease strained school districts budgets
- Regional library telecommunications aid can be used to pay internet and technology costs otherwise not covered by law
- Accounting provisions are made for special education expenditures and meals
Legislation to help students, essential school staff is stopped in committee
Two amendments that would have brought much-needed funds to schools and students struggling to have access to technology for distance learning and another to pay essential school staff during the pandemic were scuttled in the E-12 Education Committee last week.
The Republican-led committee wasn’t willing to discuss the proposal to provide close to $36 million in direct aid to students and schools for broadband and technology access to aid in distance learning. Many families in Minnesota struggle to access adequate internet connections and technology options such as computers and tablets that are necessary during the distance learning requirements currently. The proposal would have been paid for through existing budget parameters.
The second proposal offered would have ensured that essential school staff – such as classroom aids, childcare workers, custodians, and bus drivers – would have been paid during the pandemic. The Republican Senate has refused to discuss this proposal. Minnesota has about 20,000 paraprofessional workers employed across the state.
The amendments were tabled by the committee chair; it is unclear when or if they will be brought up again for further discussion or a vote.
Energy Conservation and Optimization (ECO) Act moves to Senate floor
A bill that I am co authoring was heard in the Energy and Utilities Committee this week to consider legislation aimed at finding ways to use less energy and save Minnesotans money. The bill seeks to gain cost-effective energy savings for utilities that operate within Minnesota, including investor- or consumer-owned as well as municipal utilities and rural cooperatives. Under the bill, most utilities would be required to raise the percentages of their annual gross operating revenues that must be devoted to energy savings.
The bill also mandates a move toward “innovative clean technologies” in energy production and sets criteria for utilities’ load management and efficient switching between fuel sources. The proposal broadens the ways energy conservation programs can be used to aid low-income households and establishes an asbestos insulation removal account in the state treasury.
If enacted, this legislation would bring the largest update to Minnesota’s energy conservation program since 2007. Supporters argue:
- The current Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) limits energy efficiency programs to electric and natural gas technologies that reduce electric and natural gas consumption. The bill expands CIP opportunities by allowing load management programs that modify the timing of energy consumption, and limited fuel switching to more efficient technologies and lower carbon fuels
- The bill would help save customers energy and money while supporting local economies. The projects that would evolve from these changes are generally local jobs in electrical, heating and cooling, ventilation, and insulation installation
- Many companies that build the technology that would evolve as a result of these changes are Minnesota businesses. Job opportunities would expand statewide by adding these new technologies
The concepts for this bill have been evolving for some time and are widely supported by dozens of organizations. Most provisions were included in Governor Tim Walz’s legislative proposals announced last year. Advocates say the state’s energy conservation program puts money back in the pockets of Minnesotans, with a $4 return on every $1 invested in energy conservation, and that will only improve with the changes brought forward in this bill.
The bill passed the Energy Utilities Committee on a wide bipartisan vote and was forwarded to the Senate floor. (SF 4409)
Omnibus Environment Bill moves to Senate floor
The Senate Environment Finance Committee heard the omnibus environment bill this week and passed it to the Senate floor. The bill is largely made up of policy items that had been considered earlier in the legislative session by the Environmental Policy and Environmental Finance Committees.
While the bill includes provisions dealing with a wide variety of environmental and outdoor issues, a few issues received the most attention. These were:
- A provision that removes Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) authority to promulgate state rules for Governor Walz’s Clean Cars executive order, which directs Minnesota to adopt California’s Clean Car Standards. Those supporting the removal believe adoption of clean car standards creates hardship for Minnesota auto dealers. Opponents strongly disagree, saying this rulemaking is a badly needed tool to reduce Minnesota’s transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, save Minnesotans money, protect public health, and give Minnesotans access to more electric vehicle models.
- New statewide restrictions on wake surfing that would bar individuals from wake surfing at greater than slow-no wake speed within 200 feet of shorelines, docks and other structures, and would require wake surfing boats to be powered by a propeller located forward of the boat’s transom or swim platform, or by a jet drive. These restrictions are supported by the state’s recreational boating industry, which maintains they are adequate and enforceable. There was strong pushback by opponents, who say artificially enhanced wakes created by wake boats causes significant environmental damage to lakes and lakeshore and is a safety risk for people. Opponents call for a restriction of at least 1000 feet from the boat to shore, and a minimum water depth of 16 feet.
One item in the bill calls for the establishment of a certified salt applicator program to improve water quality by reducing the amount of salt used by those who treat driveways, sidewalks and parking lots. Under the program, the MPCA would develop a training program for salt applicators that promotes best practices and allows commercial applicators to be certified as a “water friendly applicator” if they successfully complete the program and pass and pass an exam.
Another initiative calls for the establishment of a new Minnesota River Basin water quality and storage program that would allow for financial assistance to local units of government in the basin for projects that control water volume and rates, but it does not include appropriation of funds.
Following discussion and testimony, the bill was approved by the Environment and Natural Resources Finance committee on a 10-2 roll call vote and forwarded to the Senate floor. (SF 4499)
Long-fought TCE ban passes Senate
After more than a year’s effort involving numerous stakeholders and bill drafts, the Senate passed a bill to ban trichloroethylene (TCE), a volatile organic compound that is a known carcinogen and is associated with several other detrimental health effects.
The issue came to light after the discovery in 2019 that the company Water Gremlin had been using TCE to manufacture lead battery terminals and lead fishing sinkers but was violating its MPCA air emissions permit at levels high enough to threaten human health up to 1.5 miles around its facility in White Bear Lake Township. The violation had been occurring since at least 2009, and long-term health implications to the community are yet unknown.
In response, legislators in the affected area and others worked extensively with a group of concerned citizens, the “Neighborhood Concerned Citizens Group (NCCG),” in addressing local issues that arose as a result of the Water Gremlin violation. Ultimately, the NCCG became a leading voice in negotiations to find a legislative TCE ban that all parties could support.
The compromise agreement that passed this week on the Senate floor includes:
- A ban on TCE use beginning June 1, 2022 but gives small businesses more time to assess replacement chemicals or modifications to their operations. TCE use would end in Minnesota by June 1, 2023
- A requirement that businesses replace TCE with a chemical demonstrated to be less toxic to human health and approved by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Exceptions are granted for specified uses where compliance with health-based values and risk limits for TCE is demonstrated
- $250,000 in interest-free loans to small businesses under MPCA’s Small Business Assistance Program for help in reducing TCE use.
The bill passed this week with near-unanimous approval on a vote of 61-1, and similar action is expected in the House of Representatives in the coming days. Prior to the bill’s passage, an amendment was approved to name the legislation the “White Bear Area Neighborhood Concerned Citizens Group Ban TCE Act,” in recognition of the group’s leading role in bringing parties toward a compromise that all could support.
When enacted, this legislation will become the first TCE ban in the nation. (SF 4073)
New COVID-19 website announced that will connect Minnesotans with testing resources
Governor Walz launched a new website this week that provides a user-friendly approach to helping Minnesotans find a COVID-19 testing location near them. This website, which now can connect individuals to one of the 127 clinics and health care facilities able to test for the virus, also offers an interactive screening program that helps determine if someone needs a test along with other general information. Through the website, the state will also be able to coordinate with local public health and tribal organizations to ensure their communities are being supported.
The release of this website was made in conjunction with the governor announcing an unprecedented leap forward in rapid, accessible, and widespread testing across all of Minnesota. Through a partnership with the state, the Mayo Clinic, and University of Minnesota, as many as 20,000 Minnesotans can be tested every day, symptomatic people will have access to a test, and confirmed cases will be isolated. Although gradually re-opening the state is still being approached with caution and guidance from experts, this breakthrough is very good news for the state of Minnesota.
Executive Order leaves behind Minnesota health care workers looking to help
Governor Walz issued Executive Order 20-46 last weekend, which allows nurses from other states to work at health care facilities in Minnesota in order to address the staffing shortages faced by long-term care facilities and hospitals across the state. While intended to help our struggling health care systems, the order ignores the increasing numbers of Minnesota health care professionals who have been furloughed despite their willingness to roll up their sleeves and help combat this pandemic.
Due to the pandemic, handfuls of health care facilities in the state have opted to furlough their employees in order to stay afloat. In response, the Minnesota Nurses Association – the state’s member-driven union for Minnesota nurses – has attempted to negotiate with hospitals to allow furloughed nurses to work in a different facility where they are needed while furloughed from their regular jobs. Hospitals have refused, leaving many nurses forced to choose between living without a paycheck or jeopardizing their ability to return to their job after the pandemic.
Minnesota nurses have called on the governor, legislature, and hospitals to work together on creating a statewide labor pool made up of the state’s furloughed, unemployed, and retired nurses – all of whom are highly trained workers who want to be put to work wherever they are needed.
We must work diligently to find a solution that allows us to put Minnesota health care workers back to work before allowing out-of-state workers to fill in the gaps in staffing our health care systems are currently facing. We have the workers. Let’s find them work. (Executive Order 20-46)
Legislature looks to expand insurance coverage for women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer
This week, the Senate heard a proposal that would expand Medical Assistance for Breast or Cervical Cancer (MA-BC) coverage to persons diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer by any CDC National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program in the state.
MA-BC provides insurance coverage to uninsured or under-insured Minnesotans who are in need of treatment services for breast or cervical cancer or pre-cancer of the cervix but are not otherwise eligible for MA. Under current state law, MA-BC only covers those who have been screened by the Minnesota cancer control program called SAGE. This bill will expand access to include other CDC funded programs in Minnesota, such as the American Indian Cancer Foundation’s screening program. We know that American Indian populations are less likely to be screened for cancer and more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage; this bill will reduce barriers to critical screening and treatment options for those who need it. (SF 3121)
Pension Amendment to benefit health care workers
An amendment was adopted on the Senate Floor this week to allow retired health care workers who return to help with the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to receive their full pension. If a health care worker has not been employed in public service for 30 days and is rehired by a public employer as a health care worker, the monthly amount of their retirement annuity will not be reduced.
This provision is intended to remove any disincentive for retired employees to return to work to help with the anticipated surge of patients due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision was unanimously supported in the Senate and expires on December 31 of the year the peacetime emergency concludes. (SF 2939)
Transportation Omnibus Bill passes committee
A bipartisan transportation policy omnibus bill passed the Transportation Finance Committee this week. It includes several non-controversial bills heard earlier in the session and otherwise necessary changes to statute.
Some of the policy changes include new temporary license plates, a privacy provision to prevent requiring drivers involved in a collision to share their residential address, an extension of drivers’ license expirations, and a safety provision to require school buses to use their warning lights when dropping off meals for students. The bill is anticipated to be heard in the Rules Committee this week and by the entire Senate next week. (SF 3255)
Thank you and stay safe!
It is my greatest honor to represent you the citizens of Brooklyn Park, Champlin and Coon Rapids here at our great state capitol. In addition to representing you, I absolutely enjoy it when you come visit normally. However, due to the health issues regarding the coronavirus I’d like to inform you of a few changes made at the legislature for the moment.
Currently we are not gathering in the office save for legislative work to protect Minnesota Citizens. I will update you as the situations progresses and changes, but as said above you can still reach out anytime by email and phone.
So stay safe, reach out and tell me what matters to you so I can continue working on your behalf. You can reach me by email at sen.john.hoffman@senate.mn, phone by 651-296-4154.
Sincerely,
Senator John Hoffman
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to call my office at 651-296-4154 or by e-mail at jhoffman@senate.mn