Sen. Melisa Franzen (SD49) Update: May 14, 2021

Clip from the Floor

A weekly message from your Senator

Dear Constituents and Friends,

Yesterday, the CDC released updated mask guidance. If you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask in most settings. If you are not vaccinated, the CDC recommends that you wear a mask indoors. Later that day, Governor Walz announced the end of the statewide mask mandate. As of today, Friday, May 14, the mask mandate has been lifted for the state. 

Over two million of Minnesotans are fully vaccinated right now, including many who are the most at risk of serious illness. Millions more are well on their way to full immunity. As of now, individuals ages 12 and up can receive the vaccine. For more information on how and where to get the COVID-19 vaccine please visit VaccineConnector.mn.gov.

As we round out the final full week of the legislative session before we adjourn for sine die, it is clear that we are far from the end. Not all conference committees have been meeting. Some conference committees have not adopted the same and similar provisions because they insist on waiting until we have budget targets and with the recent guidance on how states can spend federal funds for the American Rescue Plan, we are at an impasse. Conference committees could still be meeting to adopt policy provisions, these have nothing to do with budget targets, but some committee chairs are reluctant. We should be finishing this legislative session on time, and yet we are waiting for an agreement on how to end the Governor’s emergency powers instead of focusing on passing a state budget for the next biennium. We are waiting for the majority party to show up to conference committees and complete the work we were sent to do. 

I am beyond disappointed, Minnesotans deserve an on-time budget and policy provisions that help our communities during these difficult times. We are also waiting for additional federal guidance on the State Fiscal Recovery Funds (SFRF) provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). These funds will help Minnesota recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and we will have until 2024 to use the funds. The majority party also wants to change how these federal funds will be used, without an agreement, we do not fully know how the entire budget will be funded. I will continue to keep you updated on what is going on at the Capitol until the final hours. We will be meeting throughout the weekend to continue to work on a compromise.

Sincerely,

Melisa

Senate District 49 Town Hall

Senate District 49 legislators will be hosting a Zoom Town Hall on Monday, May 24 at 7:00 PM. While the event will occur on Zoom, we will make sure it is live-streamed and posted on each legislator’s Facebook pages for those unable to join us. 

You can register for the event here: https://forms.gle/4hQ5vYk8iNaaeXQf7

Pre-submitted questions will be given priority and you will receive a link to the Zoom meeting a day before the event through the email you enter during registration. 

Senate District 49 Mask Mandates

Bloomington: as of now, Bloomington has not announced any guidance

Eden Prairie: announced there will be no city-wide mask mandate

Edina: announced there will be no city-wide mask mandate

Minnetonka: announced there will be no-city wide mask mandate 

Conference Committee Updates:

Agriculture (SF 958): 

• Met on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to adopt some agreed upon policy provisions:
  • Pesticide applicator licensing
  • Cottage food laws
• Waiting on target before starting budget work in earnest

Commerce/Energy (SF 972): 

• Met briefly on Monday to adopt some noncontroversial provisions
• No meetings for the remainder of the week.

Housing (HF 1077): 

• Met on Monday and adopted some/similar provisions
• No meetings for the rest of the week.

Jobs and Economic Development (SF 1098):

•  Met on Monday and adopted some provisions related to:
  • fire sprinklers in public high rise apartment
  • wedding barns
  • certified building officials continuing education
  • donations to State Services for the Blind.
• The conference committee did not meet for the remainder of the week. 

Judiciary (SF 970):

• Met on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday with the House, making additional offers each time the House had the gavel.
• Senate majority has yet to respond to any of the House offers.
• The Senate Chair did not meet on Wednesday, saying the Senate needed time to consider the provisions in the House offer and that he would prefer to see a global offer.
• The Senate Chair did not meet on Friday, mentioning that they are still waiting for a budget target.

State Government (HF 1952):

• On Monday, the committee unanimously adopted the same and similar language related to elections policy that was vetted by the Secretary of State, mostly derived from the OSS technical bill.
• Tuesday, the committee heard testimony on the Veterans Restorative Justice Act (VRJA) language.
• On Wednesday, the committee heard testimony from state agencies, unions, and other stakeholders on a proposal in both the senate and house language to implement a reverse auction for a pharmacy benefit manager through SEGIP. No agreement was reached.
• On Friday, the committee adopted Veterans Restorative Justice Act compromise language by a unanimous voice vote.
  • This language contains the House provisions supported by advocates.
  • It takes clarifying language from the Senate bill that is non-controversial. MDVA testified on their concerns that their new duties under the bill will require additional funding.
• Plan to meet Saturday to discuss Senate proposal to transfer historical duties from the Historical Society to SHPO.

Taxes (HF 991):

•  Met each day to discuss details of the bills. The U.S. Treasury released final guidance on how states are allowed to spend federal funds passed through the American Rescue Plan.
• On Friday MMB Commissioner Schowalter spoke more about the interim final rule on federal funds via this slide deck.
• Revenue Commissioner Doty spoke about this filing season. He said the DOR will be putting out guidance by Monday telling taxpayers to file their returns with the expectation they may need to file an amended return once the legislature passes a bill.
• Meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday (Senate gavel) to receive full accounting of all federal dollars received since last year.

Transportation (HF 1684):

• Met on Monday to adopt various non-controversial House and Senate only provisions that had all been previously agreed upon.
• On Friday the committee heared a MnDOT presentation on project selection, trunk highway spending, and contracting issues.

Environment Legacy (HF 1709):

• Has not met since May 5.

Health and Human Services (HF 2128):

•  Met each day to discuss the differences between both bills.
• Same and similar policy language has slowly been adopted over the week. 
• Changes to office of medical cannabis to allow raw cannabis, HCMC direct payment arrangement, removing interest charging for child support judgement.
• Conferees passed the committee report on a unanimous vote. All items included were agreed upon by House and Senate, no appropriations are carried in this report.

Environment (SF 959): 

• Met several times, though the Senate conferees left early on during the meetings when the House held the gavel – if they attended at all.
• Clean Cars rulemaking continues to be a sticking point, and the Senate refuses to negotiate anything with a fiscal impact, including pieces that do not impact general fund spending.
• The House has now made four offers
• The Senate has made two – both of which were entirely contingent upon the House accepting the Senate’s position on Clean Cars.

E-12 Education (HF1065):

• Met each day but made very little progress.
• Non-exclusionary discipline procedures remain a sticking point, with the Senate Republicans refusing to accept the K-3 non-dismissal requirement.
• The House presenting their offer on Friday.
  • Sen. Chamberlain refused the offer and to even discuss most of it.
  • He said that the House hadn’t responded to the Senate offer of 5/13/21 and “expanded” that offer dramatically.
  • He then said that he did not plan to meet on Saturday.

Higher Education (SF975): 

• Met only twice this week; adopted a $6,500 cap for the child care grants.
• Discussion on Thursday about federal COVID-19 funding and guidance for institutional use. 

Edina COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic

On Friday I visited the vaccination clinic at South View Middle School in Edina. I am thankful for everyone that has been helping Minnesotans get vaccinated.

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Visitor at the Capitol!

On Wednesday, my son Philip came to the office with me. I showed him around the Capitol and he watched the floor session. Here’s a comparison of my time with Philip on Wednesday at the Capitol compared to in 2016 at the Capitol.