Hi All! In what might have been the most anti-climatic end to a legislative session, the Minnesota Legislature adjourned yesterday afternoon without completing their work on a budget for the next biennium. However, the Governor and Legislative Leaders worked over the weekend and announced that they reached an agreement on budget targets this morning. This agreement will allow the thirteen conference committees, which will be reconstituted as working groups, to hammer out the details of the budget before Governor Walz calls them into Special Session on or around June 14 when he renews his emergency powers.

While the agreement on budget targets will keep the process moving, there is still no agreement on the hundreds of unresolved policy provisions including police reform measures, the Governor’s emergency powers, and the House paid family and medical leave proposal. At least initially, it will be up to the conference committees/working groups find compromise. The Legislative Leaders have set May 28th as the date by which working groups must complete their work on spending and June 4 as the deadline for policy provisions.

The one policy area in which the Governor and Legislative Leaders reached an accord was on taxes and this is good news for MIIAB members who received PPP loans. After months of urging House DFL members for full conformity with federal tax forgiveness, the House finally relented and agreed to state tax forgiveness for PPP loans as well as unemployment benefits. The details of how the tax forgiveness will be implemented, given that yesterday was the deadline to file taxes, still need to be worked out. 

Also still in play is the DOC’s cybersecurity bill (NAIC Insurance Data Security Model). The bill remains a top priority for the DOC, but there are differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill that have yet to be resolved. Several of the differences being discussed would impact MIIAB members. While our small agency (25 or fewer employees) exemption from the bill’s onerous data security plan and investigation requirements is in both bills, the House bill gives agencies that grow beyond 25 employees only 6 months to fully comply with the bill’s requirements. The second provision in the House bill was added by the trial lawyers and is an attempt to access confidential documents submitted by agencies or insurers to the Commissioner in the case of a breach. I am working closely with the House and Senate Commerce Chairs, and partnering with our insurance company friends on these and other provisions. Because the bill is such a significant priority for the DOC, it will still likely pass. The question is what will be included in the final bill.