July 10, 2017


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Retailers golfed in MnRA's Annual Legislative Wrap Up Golf Tournament in late June at Legends Golf Course in Prior Lake. 
2017 Legislative Session  
MnRA Releases 2017 Legislative Recap For Retailers    

Late last month the Minnesota Retailers Association released its annual legislative recap report digesting policies considered, passed and vetoed during the 2017 session.

In addition to a letter a from Board Chair Ruthena Fink (Grand Jete) and MnRA Government Relations Director & Legal Counsel Brian Carr, the report contains: 
  • a quick glance summary of retail issues;
  • a digest of bills impacting retailers;
  • and new this year a select issues voting record.

Members are being e-mailed this report directly this evening. 

Non-members, partners, and media can request a copy of the recap or summary by e-mailing bruce@mnretail.org.

 
Session Recap  
2017 Legislative Session Productive For Minnesota's Retailers And Consumers
 
From MnRA's Board Chair Ruthena Fink (Grand Jete) and Government Relations Director & Legal Counsel Brian Carr 

With State Capitol construction wrapped up, legislators fresh from the election of 2016 including a newly elected Republican majority in the Minnesota Senate, walked in to this year's session with a $1.6 billion state budget surplus and no shortage of ideas as to how to approach the surplus.

The Governor along with House and Senate Democrats favored increased investment in several state programs including early childhood education while Republicans saw the surplus as an opportunity to provide tax relief to Minnesotans.

In the end, the State ended up with both strategic investments in state programs like transportation along with tax relief targeted at students, farmers and business owners. The path to passing budget bills necessary to keep state government funded after July 1 was arguably bumpy, and included a mutli-day special session to wrap up several key bills.

At the time of publication of this report, the Governor had signed almost all of the bills sent to him with the exception of the line item veto of legislative funding and the full veto of Minnesota Retailer Association (MnRA)-supported state labor law uniformity/preemption. The line item legislative funding veto has generated a lawsuit challenging the Governor's legal authority to defund the Legislature.

We are pleased to report that MnRA was able to engage in impactful, member-supported dialogue with legislators surrounding the 788,000 jobs that rely on the success of retailers and the 1 in 5 Minnesotans touched by our industry. Those meaningful conversations resulted in many positive results for retailers and consumers.

Retail highlights of the 2017 session include:
  • Passage of 10-day notification of proposed changes to ordinances at the local level of government.
  • Competitive property tax changes for retailers and other businesses.
  • Enactment of sales tax fairness relating to online marketplace transactions and tobacco excise taxes.
  • Preemption of local plastic bag bans.
  • Strengthening of protections against frivolous ADA lawsuits.
  • The opening of liquor sales on Sundays.
  • Compliance with federal REAL ID standards.
  • Removal of outdated generic medicine pass-through language impacting retail pharmacies.
MnRA is pleased to present this recap of the 2017 legislative session, which includes a quick summary of issues (page 3) and a new legislator vote report on select issues (pages 8-13).

We hope you find this recap useful, and we look forward to working with members in 2018 to ensure that Minnesota is a competitive place for retailers to do business.
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Minnesota Retailers Associaiton
400 Robert Street North, suite 1540
St. Paul, MN 55101
Tel. (651) 227-6631 - mnretail.org - mnra@mnretail.org