An even-numbered session is traditionally considered a bonding year, and much of the focus this session was on passing a bonding bill. There was also a $329 million budget surplus for the 2018-2019 biennium, so lawmakers worked to determine how best to spend that surplus; and the federal government passed new federal tax law changes, so Minnesota needed to pass legislation to adjust its tax code to these federal changes.
With just three months for legislators to put together a bonding package, a supplemental budget bill and tax conformity bill, among others, the Legislature passed all three of these major bills in the remaining days of session, but did so without a global agreement with Governor Dayton.
The 2018 legislative session ended just before midnight Sunday, May 20 with no certainty that Dayton will sign any of the bills. While Dayton hasn’t revealed his thoughts on the bonding bill, he did say he intends to veto the supplemental budget bill and the tax bill. Governor Dayton must sign or veto the bills within 14 days after adjournment of the Legislature. If a bill is not signed in that 14-day window, it does not become law.
As the outcome of the below bills becomes known, the government relations team will provide updates.
Bonding
Legislators and Gov. Dayton’s administration traveled many miles around the state to learn more about the bonding projects, including many visits to Minnesota State campuses. In January, Gov. Dayton came out with a $1.5 billion bonding bill that included $274.5 million, $50 million more than Minnesota State’s request of $224.5 million. The House and Senate put together bonding packages totaling $825 million, but choose to fund different projects. The House included $122.8 million for Minnesota State and the Senate included $120.2 million.
After the Senate was unable to pass their bonding bill off the floor, legislators put together a larger bonding bill in the final hours of session, and passed it out of conference committee. The compromise bonding bill between the Senate and the House adds up to a nearly $1.57 billion package, including $825 million in general obligation bonding. It also includes $416.6 million in trunk highway bonding, $63 million in user financing, nearly $45.83 million in environment and natural resources trust fund appropriations and $41.25 million in general fund spending.
The bill includes
$129 million for Minnesota State, of which $45 million is for asset preservation
, or HEAPR, and the remaining $84 million is for individual capital projects on various campuses (see below).
In the final hour of session, the bill passed the House by a vote of 113-17, and the Senate passed it by a vote of 42-25. The bill is now awaiting a decision by Governor Dayton.
The individual projects funded in the bill for Minnesota State are:
- Bemidji State University: Academic Learning Center
- Rochester Community and Technical College: Memorial and Plaza Halls
- Minnesota State University, Mankato: Clinical Sciences Phase II
- Anoka-Ramsey Community College: Nursing and Business
- Century College: Applied Technology Center
- Normandale Community College: Classroom and Student Services
- Minnesota State University Moorhead: Weld Hall
- Inver Hills Community College: Technology and Business Center
- Riverland Community College: Transportation, Trade and Industrial Education Center
- Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College: Maajiigi
The bonding bill also includes the environment and natural resources trust fund projects, which includes $325,000 for St. Cloud State University to evaluate the effectiveness of best management practices in removing contaminants from storm water to safeguard aquatic habitats.
There is also language in the bonding bill that appropriates $500,000 in both fiscal year 2020 and 2021 to the commissioner of administration for a grant to any Minnesota higher education institution or municipal joint powers organization to review water quality regulations and national pollutant discharge elimination system permits.
Supplemental budget
Throughout session, the different finance committees put together individual supplemental budget bills that were rolled into one large supplemental budget bill. Each committee was provided a target for new spending to work with. The higher education target started at $5 million and ended up at $3 million in new spending for all of higher education.
Legislative leaders and Governor Dayton did not have an agreement on an overall spending bill. Gov. Dayton sent conferees
a long list of objections
he had with the spending bill in the final days of session and conferees changed or deleted many of them in an attempt at compromise. The Legislature passed the large supplemental budget bill without an agreement with the Governor. Dayton has said publicly he intends to veto the bill. Below is a summary of what’s included in the bill as it relates to higher education.
Higher Education
The higher education supplemental funding overall is $4 million (all one-time funds).
$3 million
of that is appropriated to Minnesota State for
campus support
. There is an additional $1 million of surplus funding available from the college occupational scholarship pilot program administered by the Office of Higher Education. That surplus is appropriated as follows:
- $500,000 to Minnesota State for renewal of workforce development scholarships
- $300,000 to the Office of Higher Education for the State Grant program
- $100,000 to the Office of Higher Education for the Agricultural Educators Loan Forgiveness program
- $50,000 to the Office of Higher Education for the Student Loan Debt Counseling program
- $50,000 to the Office of Higher Education for a Teacher Preparation Program Design Grant
Also included in the bill is language regarding developing a
textbook plan
. Minnesota State is required to develop a plan to increase the use of affordable textbooks and instructional materials. The plan must establish a goal for the percentage of all courses offered at state colleges and universities that will use affordable textbooks and instructional materials.
There is also language that expands the list of provisions that must be included in an institution’s sexual assault policy by adding a requirement the policy provide for notice to a sexual assault victim regarding available
legal resources.
The bill establishes a program administered by the Office of Higher Education to provide grants to qualified organizations offering
student loan debt repayment counseling
.
There is also language that allows for the Office of Higher Education to make a grant to an institution of higher education to explore, design, and plan for a
teacher preparation
program leading to licensure as a teacher of the blind or visually impaired.
K-12 Education
In the last couple weeks of the legislative session there was much discussion between Gov. Dayton and lawmakers about the Governor’s proposal to fund emergency aid for schools. The lack of school aid was the reason Dayton gave for why he vetoed the first tax bill passed by the Legislature.
Between the K-12 education articles in the supplemental budget bill and the education funding the Legislature added to the final tax bill, there would be $50 million new money available for school districts to use for any purpose and $20 million for school safety improvements.
School Safety
Safe schools revenue program is established with an $18 million appropriation based on an allocation of $18 per pupil for school districts and charter schools. In FY2020 the formula is equalized at $36 per pupil.
School boards are required to:
- Adopt a policy to establish “Threat Assessment Teams” consistent with district policies on student bullying and crisis management. The policy must include procedures for referral to community mental health centers or health care providers for evaluation and treatment.
- Establish threat assessment teams at each school. The teams are charged to establish procedures to identify students that may pose a threat of physical harm to themselves or others.
- Identify and report students who present as potential threats to the school community.
Superintendents or designees are required to:
- Immediately notify parents or guardians.
- Consider identifying services for the student and follow suicide prevention policy, making referrals for service when a student exhibits suicidal thinking.
- Expel for one year any student who presents a credible threat of gun violence and provide alternative education services to students suspended for more than five days.
- Adopt discipline policies that include non-exclusionary practices.
- Notify parents immediately upon pupil removal from a school building by peace officer and after a pupil is removed from class more than five times.
Educational Excellence
- The World’s Best Workforce definitions, performance measures, reporting requirements and annual evaluation requirements are modified.
- School districts are required to screen for dyslexia in grades K-2 for students not at grade level.
- The secondary student personal learning plan statute is amended to:
- Require that the plans help students access armed forces career options;
- require school districts to grant access to armed forces recruiters and skilled trades; representatives in the same manner as access is granted to colleges;
- encourage districts to sponsor an “Armed Forces Career Day”.
Summative School Rating System
- The current law growth model school accountability system is replaced with a summative academic rating system based on a scale from 0 to 100.
- Under the new plan, developed by the Commissioner of Education, each school and district, will be assigned an academic achievement score based on measures derived from the state’s ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) plan.
- The Commissioner of Education is directed to administer the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) as late as possible in the school year.
- College and Career MCA benchmarks are eliminated for the MCA in grades 3-8.
Teachers
- The bill codifies a “Teacher Code of Ethics” currently in rule, and prohibits discrimination on the basis of political, ideological or religious beliefs.
- The bill adopts a new policy that teachers must submit to BCA background checks every five years and charges the Public Educators Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) to require a background check on license renewals.
- The bill amends the causes for grounds for suspension and removal of a teacher.
- The bill directs the PELSB to survey teacher preparation program offerings on teaching students with dyslexia and reports its findings to the Legislature.
- The bill requires that PELSB adopt in rule language provided in the bill as temporary rules that must expire on the adoption of new rules if the board has not adopted tiered licensure rules by October 1, 2018. The temporary rules make a number of clarifying amendments to the Tiered Teacher licensing system enacted last year.
There is a provision in the K-12 supplemental budget bill that allows non-public 10
th
grade students and home school students who have a “C” GPA or better to participate in Career and Technical education
PSEO courses.
Another provision in the bill directs the Commissioners of Education and Health to establish maximum acceptable lead standards for
school drinking water
. Schools are required to shut off and remediate conditions when lead levels in school drinking water exceed the standard.
Regarding
student discipline
, the bill amends student discipline statutes to address parental notification, suspension, mental health screening, re-admission, and discipline and removal.
The bill also increases FY2018-19
special education
aid funding to match the February 2018 forecast, and establishes a legislative special education work group to review special education delivery and make recommendations to contain costs.
Agriculture
Both the Senate and the House, as well as the Governor are supportive of funding an additional counselor in the area of rural mental health. Currently there is one rural mental health counselor for the entire state of Minnesota to help farmers. This funding is provided through Minnesota State and the Farm Business Management program.
In the agriculture article of the supplemental budget bill, $217,000 additional funding was included for Minnesota State for
statewide mental health counseling
support to farm families and business operators through Minnesota State Agricultural Centers of Excellence. South Central College and Central Lakes College serve as the fiscal agents. This funding will allow for an additional rural mental health counselor to assist farmers across the state.
Jobs and Economic Development
The Jobs and Economic Growth article in the supplemental budget bill appropriates $50,000 in FY2019 from the workforce development fund for a grant to the
Cook County Higher Education Board
to provide educational programming and academic support services to remote regions in northeastern Minnesota.
State Government
There is a provision in the state government section of the bill that requires state agencies to use 3.5% of their technology budget for maintenance and enhancement of
cyber security
.
The State Government article also includes a provision that requires Minnesota Management and Budget to submit to the Legislative Coordinating Commission with the submission of a
collective bargaining agreement or compensation plan
for each agency:
- A comparison of compensation costs under the current agreement or plan to the projected biennial compensation costs under the proposed agreement
- A comparison of biennial compensation costs under the current agreement or plan to the projected compensation costs under the proposed agreement
- An identification of the amount of the additional biennial compensation costs that are attributable to salary and wages and to the cost of non-salary and non-wage benefits
- The impact of the aggregate of all agreements and plans being submitted to the commission
Contracts
Governor Dayton signed the contract ratification bill,
Chapter 102
, on March 27, 2018. This bill ratifies labor contracts and compensation plans for state employees, including AFSCME, MAPE, IFO, Administrators Plan, Middle Management Association (MMA), Commissioner’s Plan and the Managerial Plan. The contracts and plans are for the FY2018-2019 biennium and are effective retroactively to July 1, 2017.
The remaining contracts needing to be ratified by the full Legislature, MSCF and MSUAASF, were added to a bill
(SF 3062)
that passed the Senate and House in the remaining days of session and has been sent to Governor Dayton for signature.
Pension
The pension bill is a result of years’ worth of work and takes steps to address the state’s unfunded pension liability. The bill spends $27 million this year, and includes a postponement and reduction in cost of living adjustment increases, a reduction in actuarial assumptions from 8% and 8.5% to 7.5%, increases in employer and employee contributions, and direct state aid funding, all of which would result in Minnesota’s public plans being 85-95% funded by the end of the amortization period in 30 years.
The Senate unanimously passed the bill off the floor by a vote of 66-0 back in March. The House unanimously passed the bill in the last few minutes of session and sent it back to the Senate for passage, who also passed it off the floor unanimously. The bill has been sent to Governor Dayton, who said earlier that he supports the bill.
Tax Bill
The passage of the federal tax bill created an urgent need for conformity at the state level. Failure to pass a bill would result in a tax increase for many Minnesotans, something legislators and Governor Dayton all agreed they wanted to avoid. The House and Senate came to agreement on a tax bill with just a little over a week remaining in the legislative session. The proposal maintained a cut in both the state’s lowest income tax rate and second income tax tier. Over the course of the next two years, the rates for the state’s lowest income earners would fall from 5.35% to 5.25% and for the second tier, from 7.05% to 6.85%. Governor Dayton vetoed the bill with four days remaining in the session. He asked the Legislature to fund emergency aid to schools in lieu of some of the tax provisions in the bill.
The Legislature passed a second tax bill that included funding for schools and sent it to Governor Dayton on the last day of session. However, Dayton was not part of the agreement with the Legislature on the bill and has said he plans to veto it.
Education related provisions in the final tax bill include language that allows school boards, by board resolution, to waive the statutory mandate to set aside two percent of general education resources for staff development. This would free up potentially $120 million statewide for “emergency” school spending.
In FY2019, $50 million is appropriated from the state budget reserve and allocated to school districts on a $57.73 per pupil basis, and also in FY2019 school districts may make a one-time transfer of community service funds reserves to school district general funds. Statewide, in FY2019 there is $50 million in community service fund reserves.
Veterans
In 2017, the uses of the GI Bill program were expanded to include other educational or professional benefits to further aid veterans and military members seeking apprenticeships and on-the-job training. The bill unanimously passed both the House and Senate, and Governor Dayton signed
Chapter 156
into law on May 19, 2018.
Trustee Confirmation
The Senate Higher Education Finance and Policy committee confirmed seven Board of Trustee members in committee April 19, 2018. During the last weekend of the legislative session, the seven confirmations were passed by the full Senate on the floor. The confirmed trustees are:
- Basil Ajuo
- Amanda Fredlund
- Jerry Janezich
- Roger Moe
- Rudy Rodriguez
- Cheryl Tefer
- Michael Vekich
2018 Election
All 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives will be on the ballot in the November 6, 2018 election. The following members of the House have announced they are not seeking re-election or are currently seeking higher office.
Retiring from the House:
- Rep. Susan Allen, DFL-Minneapolis
- Rep. Jon Applebaum, DFL-Minnetonka
- Rep. David Bly, DFL-Northfield
- Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis
- Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood
- Rep. Clark Johnson, DFL-North Mankato
- Rep. Sheldon Johnson, DFL-St. Paul
- Rep. Linda Slocum, DFL-Richfield
- Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Rep. Mark Uglem, R-Champlin
- Rep. JoAnn Ward, DFL-Woodbury
- Rep. Abigail Whelan, R-Anoka
House members running for higher office:
- Rep. Jeff Backer, R-Browns Valley, running for Lt. Governor
- Rep. Peggy Flanagan, DFL-St. Louis Park, running for Lt. Governor
- Rep. Jason Metsa, DFL-Virginia, running for U.S. House
- Rep. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, running for Governor
- Rep. Jim Newberger, R-Becker, running for U.S. Senate
The filing deadline for state office closes on Tuesday, June 5. In the past, some legislators have waited until the last day of the filing period to make a decision about whether or not they will seek re-election to their current seat.
The 2019 Legislative Session is scheduled to convene on Tuesday, January 8, 2019.
A copy of the summary can be found
HERE
