Volume 5, Issue 14 April 12, 2019
Celebrating Women’s History Month
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A weekly message from your Senator
Dear Constituents and Friends,
There are officially only six weeks left of the 2019 Legislative Session. This week marked the third committee deadline before the legislature goes on a week-long break. Committees were working overtime to mark up lengthy omnibus bills to get them ready to send to the floor by adding and deleting language through amendments. Both Transportation and HHS met this week to go through their omnibus bills.
We voted on 5 bills on the floor, all of which passed. Notably, the Senate voted to pass SF 75, which increases penalties for those who cause accidents as a result of being on their phone. The legislation increases the mandatory fine for a first offense from $50 to $150, from $275 to $300 for the second offense, and from $275 to $500 for a third or subsequent offense if the three offenses are within ten years of each other. It also provides that a third or subsequent offense within ten years would require a court appearance resulting in a 30-day driver’s license suspension. A driver would be eligible to apply for a limited license under court-imposed conditions.
The high-profile bipartisan bill, SF 91, became law before the legislative break — the hands-free cellphone bill to prohibit drivers from talking on their cell phone while driving with the exception of any hands-free mode. The bill is in response to strong evidence that cell phone use while driving can be distracting and cause accidents. The conference committee report was voted on the floor this week, and it will officially become law on August 1, 2019.
The legislation to combat the opioid epidemic is currently still in negotiations in the conference committee and will continue after the break. The legislation raises annual registration fees on pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesale distributors to raise $20 million each year to fund treatment and prevention programs, amounting to just a sliver of the skyrocketing profits made by manufacturers of opiates each year.
Please continue contacting me with your questions and concerns over the break. Our schedules are getting busier, but I still have time to meet with you, so feel free to stop by!
Sincerely,
Melisa
Transportation Omnibus Proposal
Governor Walz proposed a comprehensive transportation funding package in his budget recommendations to ensure Minnesota has the resources to maintain the state’s infrastructure, expand capacity, and improve safety.
The need for additional transportation resources is clear. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently graded Minnesota’s roads a D+, bridges a C, and transit a C-. Over 50% of the state’s roads are older than 50 years old, and it is estimated that state highways and bridges alone face a $6 billion funding gap over the next ten years. But even if the legislature fails to raise additional taxes, it doesn’t mean Minnesotans aren’t already paying for the lack of investment. The average Minnesotan spends over $1,000 per year on additional gasoline, lost time, and car repairs due to congestion and poor road conditions. In Minnesota, 90% of road miles are owned and operated by towns, cities, and counties, which must be funded through local property taxes if the state doesn’t help offset these costs.
Governor Walz has recommended increases to the gas tax, tab fees, the motor vehicle sales tax, and metro-area sales taxes to raise $1.3 billion in revenue for the next biennium and $2.2 billion in the biennium after for transportation needs. A 20-cent gas tax increase would be phased in over two years and would be offset by an increase to the Working Family Tax Credit for 342,000 low- and mid-income Minnesotans. The gas tax is 100% constitutionally dedicated to fund state highways, county roads, city streets, and local bridges.
Tab fees would be increased by .25% and the base fee by $35, while the motor vehicle sales tax would increase to the current sales tax level of 6.875% from 6.5%. The governor recommends authorization for metro area counties to increase sales taxes by one-eighth of a cent to support regional bus service and transit through the Met Council. His proposal also authorizes $2 billion in trunk highway bonds over the next eight years to improve transportation infrastructure. These investments would go a long way toward building a world-class transportation system in Minnesota as over one million more people are estimated to be in the state by 2050. (SF 1093)
Taxes Committee Mid-Session Update
No tax-related bills have passed out of the Tax Committee yet, with the exception of the sports betting bill that is awaiting a hearing in State Government Policy and Finance Committee. The omnibus tax bill has not yet been released. The committee briefly heard Gov. Walz’s tax budget proposal on Wednesday, Apr. 10, 2019, allowing time only for an explanation and no public testimony. The House released its tax bill on Apr. 8, 2019; the bill passed out of committee on Apr. 10, 2019 after a day of public testimony.
There is wide consensus that this session should include some targeted tax relief, particularly for low- and middle-income Minnesotans who did not benefit from federal tax changes in 2017.
HHS Omnibus Bill
The HHS budget is made up of two separate bills sharing one target. At this time, the committee chairs have been unclear about whether the bills will stay separate or come together as one piece of legislation. The Senate HHS budget includes several proposals that received bipartisan support in committee, such as funding to continue tobacco cessation services when ClearWay MN dissolves, grants for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, reducing barriers for people in recovery to help others with substance abuse disorder, and grants that help people with disabilities to access adaptive fitness programs.
The budget proposal does make needed investments in disability programs. This includes eliminating the spenddown for individuals with income over the limit to qualify for medical assistance, increasing rates for PCA services for people with complex medical needs, increasing rates for providers under the Disability Waiver Rate System (DWRS), and eliminating Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) parental fees for children accessing medical assistance who would otherwise not qualify.
I proposed an amendment which would provide for insurance coverage of healthcare related to lymphedema, swelling caused by a block in the lymphatic system most commonly caused by lymph node removal or damage due to cancer treatment. The language is identical to the bill I presented earlier in the session, SF 2723.
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