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Legislative Agenda for 2017
Legislative Policy Summit September 15
Mark your calendars now for the Minnesota Retailers Association's annual Legislative Policy Summit to be held at the MnRA offices in St. Paul on Tuesday, September 15, 2015, 2:00 - 4:00 pm. This is your opportunity to help MnRA shape policy positions as we head into the 2016 legislative session.
No cost to attend.
Note: This is a members-only event. Please register if you intend to attend in person or join the meeting via conference call. Call-in instructions will be e-mailed out one week prior to the event.
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Local Update
Minnesota Supreme Court Blocks $15 Minimum Wage & Police Insurance
From the Star Tribune, Erin Golden and Eric Roper, August 31, 2016
"Minneapolis voters will not weigh in this November on whether the city should raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour, following a ruling issued Wednesday by the state's highest court.
In a unanimous order released a day after it heard the case, the Minnesota Supreme Court sided with the city of Minneapolis, which had argued that a proposal to raise the wage was not a proper subject for an amendment to the city's charter. The court also ruled in the city's favor on a separate charter amendment case, in which a police-accountability group sought to let voters decide whether to require police officers to carry professional liability insurance.
The ruling is a blow to advocates for both issues who didn't feel like they were being heard by the City Council and instead wanted to take their case to voters. The high court's decision means advocates for these issues are now forced to resume negotiations with council members and the mayor.
"This is about people's lives in a city with the worst racial disparities in the country," said Mike Griffin, field director of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, a lead group pushing the $15 wage. "If we can't raise wages through a charter amendment, we'll raise them through an ordinance."
The court has not yet issued its full opinions on the two cases, opting to release shorter orders reversing a lower-court decision in the minimum-wage case and upholding an earlier ruling in the insurance matter. The justices were up against a tight timeline; with the deadline to print absentee ballots approaching, Hennepin County elections officials had said they needed a decision by the end of the week."
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Jobs
Enbridge Energy Shelves Plans For Sandpiper Crude Oil Pipeline
From the Pioneer Press, September 1, 2016
"Enbridge Energy said Thursday it has dropped its proposal to build the Sandpiper crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.
Enbridge attorneys notified the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission that the company won't pursue the regulatory approvals needed for the $2.6 billion Sandpiper, which would have carried North Dakota light crude across Minnesota to Enbridge's terminal in Superior, Wis. They cited market conditions and other factors.
Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge said back in February that it expected to push the startup date for Sandpiper back until 2019 because of the need for an environmental review. Then last month Enbridge said it was investing in a different pipeline that would transport North Dakota crude south to Texas, and that it would re-evaluate Sandpiper once that deal was done.
Enbridge Energy Partners President Mark Maki told reporters that "unprecedented regulatory delays had plagued the project."
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Sales Tax Fairness
Key House Republican To Unveil Sales Tax Plan For Purchases Across State Lines
From the Wall Street Journal, Richard Rubin, August 24, 2016
"A top House Republican will release a new proposal in coming days that attempts to resolve the long-running dispute among retailers, state governments and online retailers over how to tax purchases made across state lines.
The discussion draft from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.) would introduce a new legal framework for cross-border sales, largely replacing the current system that relies on whether a seller has a physical presence in a state.
Instead, sales would be taxed according to the tax base of the retailer and a single tax rate chosen by the consumer's state, a Judiciary Committee aide said.
So, for example, an Ohio company shipping a pair of pants to Maryland would use Ohio's rules for taxing clothing and Maryland's tax rate.
Currently, that seller only collects taxes on the sale if it has a presence in Maryland."
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Sales Tax Fairness
Retailers Welcome Release of Goodlatte Online Sales Tax Bill
From the National Retail Federation, August 25, 2016
"The National Retail Federation today welcomed the release of draft online sales tax legislation by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., saying action is needed to break Congress' years-long deadlock on the issue.
"We hope this move will bring the attention needed to get Congress to move forward in treating purchases made online the same as those made in local stores when it comes to sales tax collection," NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French said. "With online shopping increasing every day, it's time for Congress to act. The price advantage held by online sellers when they don't have to collect sales tax has resulted in the shuttering of bricks-and-mortar retail stores in almost every community across the nation over the last few years. That cannot be allowed to continue."
"We look forward to working constructively with Chairman Goodlatte and Congress to ensure legislation is passed to achieve the level playing field for sales tax collection that is so desperately needed," French said. "Retailers should be allowed to compete based on how well they serve their customers, not according to tax policy determined by an out-of-date, quarter-century-old court decision."
Goodlatte today released a draft version of the Online Sales Tax Simplification Act of 2016, which would allow states that take certain steps to require online sellers to collect sales tax.
Various forms of online sales tax legislation have been introduced in Congress over the past 15 years but none have won passage. Under a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, online sellers can only be required to collect sales tax in states where they have a physical presence such as their headquarters, stores, offices or warehouses. The court held that sales tax laws are too complicated for a seller in one state to know how much tax to collect from a buyer in another state. But NRF and other opponents say modern computer software makes that argument obsolete. And Justice Anthony Kennedy said last year that the court made a mistake."
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Minnesota Retailers Associaiton
400 Robert Street North, suite 1540
St. Paul, MN 55101
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