GMNP Update - March 28, 2025
|
Dear GMNP Members,
The legislature continues to work on hashing out a biennial budget, with Committees rushing toward a combined first and second deadline on Friday, April 4th. This means that bills will need to have been heard in both the relevant House and Senate committees in order to be included in omnibus bills, which are in turn due Friday, April 11th. The legislature is on a short break for Eid until Monday, March 31, and regular committee hearings will resume on Tuesday. Expect next week to be a busy one, with potential extended hearings to get bills heard by the deadline.
The Senate DFL also released budget targets today, which provide direction to committee chairs on the funding they can plan to spend or will need to cut as they assemble omnibus bills. Expect the House to release their own budget targets soon.
At this time, the "Say Yes to Housing" package of housing bills has been referred to the House and Senate State and Local Government Committees. The bills were not scheduled to be heard this week because chairs were not certain whether the bills would receive support from committee members. It’s likely that the bills will be heard next week or will be included in the housing omnibus bills when they are released. We will continue to track and monitor those bills. If you need a refresher, you can read more about the bills here, and it’s a great time to share any concerns you might have about the proposals with your lawmakers.
If you have questions or want to discuss anything further, I encourage you to reach out at darielle@gmnp.org or (651) 295-1908.
Sincerely,
Darielle Dannen
Executive Director, Greater MN Partnership
|
Are there others from your organization that should receive updates from the GMNP? Invite them to subscribe to our mailing list at gmnp.org/subscribe.
|
SIGNIFICANT HAPPENINGS THIS WEEK
|
Monday, March 24
- House Fraud and Agency Oversight Committee heard the Governor's anti-fraud proposal, with presentations from Minnesota Management and Budget; Department of Public Safety; Department of Human Services; Minnesota IT Services; Department of Administration; Department of Education; and Department of Children, Youth and Families. The Committee expressed skepticism of the Governor's proposal.
|
Tuesday, March 25
- House Capital Investment Committee: Commissioner Ho provided a brief update about the agency's distribution of Housing Infrastructure Bond dollars (HIB). The Committee also heard a number of housing bills, which were all laid over:
- HF1141 (Howard) Issuance of housing infrastructure bonds authorized, and money appropriated.
- HF1709 (Frederick) Greater Minnesota Housing Infrastructure program funding provided, bonds issued, and money appropriated. Chad Adams, Executive Director of the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership and GMNP member, testified in support of the bill, sharing why these dollars are an important component towards closing housing affordability gaps. Chad Bouley, Executive Director of Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity also testified in support of the bill and shared information about the housing that could be developed if these resources were available.
- HF1340 (Lee, F.) Use of housing infrastructure bonds allowed on adaptive reuse to develop supportive housing and permanent housing for households at or below 50 percent of the area median income.
- HF2693 (Agbaje) - Locally controlled housing fund established, allowable uses of housing infrastructure bonds modified, report required, bonds issued, and money appropriated.
- House Children & Families Committee: Heard a number of bills, including
-
HF1915 (West) Child care centers required to use video security cameras to monitor infants and toddlers, and money appropriated. A number of testifiers spoke in support of the bill, all who had children who were abused in a child care setting. There was general cautious support for the bills. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee.
|
Wednesday, March 26
- House Workforce Development, Labor and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee: Heard the Governor’s budget recommendations for DEED, HF2440. The bill included an author’s amendment to reflect the Governor’s supplemental budget recommendations, which included reductions in key programs. As part of his testimony, Commissioner Varilek highlighted the budget reductions the Governor recommended. A number of testifiers expressed concerns about the budget cuts. As the Commissioner shared, the administration is advocating for cuts of $14.532 million in FY26-27 and $17.330 million in FY28-29 in the general fund. Members shared concerns around spending cuts without details on agency staffing cuts. Further discussion by members was previewed as members make hard decisions to create a budget.
|
Thursday, March 27
- House Workforce Development, Labor and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee: heard H.F. 1965 (Johnson, W) – Small business assistance partnerships program appropriation. The bill had a number of testifiers who shared support for the work this bill supports. The bill was laid over.
|
- House Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Committee
- Presentation on child care and workforce in Minnesota
- HF2582 (Lee, K) Child care improvement grants funding provided – note that this bill will be amended to increase funding for the DEED Child Care Economic Development grant program.
|
- House Housing & Homelessness Committee
- HF1143 (Howard) Greater Minnesota housing infrastructure program funding provided, and money appropriated. (Bill will be used as a backup vehicle, testimony will not be taken.)
- HF1548 (Kozlowski) Housing and redevelopment authorities authorized to establish local housing trust funds.
- HF2740 (Howard) Report on the affordable housing industry required, maximum compliance period for certain low-income tax credit commitment requirements set, commissioner of Minnesota Housing Finance Agency required to identify avenues for potential regulatory relief to affordable housing providers, and money appropriated.
- Senate Jobs and Economic Development Committee
- Paid Family and Medical Leave Update with Evan Rowe, Deputy Commissioner and Greg Norfleet, Director of Paid Leave at DEED
|
- H.F. 1141 (Howard)/S.F. 203 (Port), HIB bonds authorized for $400M. Heard in Senate Housing, laid over.
- H.F. 334 (Johnson)/S.F. 584 (Jasinski), BDPI bill $20M from GO bonds. Heard in Senate Capital Investment, laid over.
- H.F. 948 (Davids)/S.F. 7 (Rest), Adjustments to TIF for redevelopment districts. Heard in Senate Taxes and laid over. Not scheduled for a hearing in the House.
- H.F. 1143 (Howard)/S.F. 906 (Port), Greater MN Housing Infrastructure Program $5M FY26. Heard in Senate Housing, laid over.
- H.F. 112 (Coulter), Modifying prevailing wage requirements to include TIF under Chapter 469. Not scheduled for hearings.
- S.F. 470 (West)/S.F.1049 (Maye Quade), Funding provision for early learning scholarships. Heard in Senate HHS and laid over.
- H.F. 1965 (Johnson)/S.F. 1521 (Pha), Small Business Assistance Partnerships funding $6.245.
- H.F.2462 (Norris)/S.F. 1512 (Putnam), $20M for Workforce Housing Development program. Hearing 2/20 in Senate Housing, laid over.
- H.F. 2440 (Pinto)/S.F. 1832 (Champion), DEED Governor's budget/policy proposals
- H.F. 1336 (Lee), SA.F. 1897 (Kupek), Child care improvement grants FY26-27 $5M
- H.F.1342 (Zeleznikar)/S.F. 1629 (Hauschild), Exempting unrelated individual providing child care to two families from licensure
- H.F. 1383 (Kottyza-Witthuhn)/S.F. 2759 (Hauschild), Great Start affordability scholarships
- H.F. 1424 (Hanson, J.)/S.F. 1784 (Maye Quade), Agency children and families bill for DCYF
- H.F. 1499 (Coulter)/S.F. 1232 (Wiklund), Modifying the modernization of family child care regulations
- H.F. 1424 (Hanson, J.)/S.F. 1784 (Maye Quade), Agency children and families bill for DCYF
- H.F. 1552 (Skraba)/S.F. 843 (Hauschild), Modifying the matching requirements for the broadband lower population density grant program
- H.F. 1563 (Nadeau), Allowing a subtraction for employer-provided dependent care assistance, creates a tax credit for employer-provided child care
- H.F. 1384 (Kotyza-Witthuhn)/S.F. 1852 (Hauschild), Establishes dependent flexible spending accounts. Heard in House Children & Families, referred to taxes.
- H.F. 655 (Zeleznikar)/S.F.1642 (Hauschild), Family child care provider allowed to exclude up to two of the caregiver's own children for capacity purposes
- H.F. 656 (Zeleznikar)/S.F. 1641 (Hauschild), Variances to licensed capacity
- H.F. 628 (Torkelson)/S.F. 1657 (Dahms), Licensing standards modification for child care staff qualifications, staff ratios and group sizes
- H.F. 1709 (Frederick), $4M in GO bonds for GM Housing Infrastructure grants
- H.F. 1067 (Dotseth)/S.F. 1906 (Nelson), State Housing Tax Credit Changes so the program works with the workforce housing program
- H.F. 2148 (Agabaje)/S.F. 1913 (Boldon), Creates a Locally Controlled Housing Fund, funding level undetermined
- H.F. 633 (Nadeau)/S.F. 339 (Weber), Licensed in-home providers market value exclusion established. Heard in Children and Families, sent to Taxes and laid over.
- H.F. 1896 (Moller)/S.F. 1315 (Marty), Relating to child care licensing, modifying requirements for correction orders
- H.F. 1915 (West)/S.F. 2723 (Kreun), Requiring child care centers to use video security cameras to monitor infants and toddlers, $150K/year for grants.
- H.F. 1916 (West)/S.F. 2722 (Kreun), Requires video monitoring and specifies inspections for recipients of the CCAP program, requires the development of electronic recordkeeping system and provides $3.778M in FY26, $1.15M in FY27 and base for inspections. Sent to Judiciary.
- H.F. 1918 (Hanson)/S.F. 2778 (Kupec), DCYF Governor's budget and policy bill. Heard in Senate HHS and laid over.
- H.F. 1987 (Igo)/S.F. 2231 (Port), Establishing the Minnesota Starter Home Act. Preempts parking requirements, requires administrative approval process. Sent to State and Local Gov.
- H.F. 2140 (Kraft)/S.F. 2231 (Boldon), Requiring the creation of mixed-use housing zones. Requires four-plexes Sent to State and Local Gov
- H.F. 2018 (Kozlowski)/S.F. 2286 (Clark), Mixed use development housing bill, preempts parking requirements, limits most city restrictions to Building Code, sets building requirements. Sent to State and Local Gov
- H.F. 2013 (Nash)/S.F. 2836 (Rasmusson), Prohibition on Aesthetic mandates and minimum square footage
Click here to search for bills, see a complete list of bill introductions, and view bill summaries.
|
KEY DATES/COMMITTEE DEADLINES
|
-
Eid Break - March 29 – March 31 with Committee activities resuming on April 1, 2025.
-
Easter/Passover break – April 11 at 12pm – April 21 at 12pm
Committee Deadlines:
- 1st and 2nd Deadline - April 4, 2025 at 5pm
- 3rd Deadline - April 11, 2025 at 12pm
|
If you have questions or want to discuss anything further, please feel free to reach out at darielle@gmnp.org or (651) 295-1908.
|
The Greater Minnesota Partnership advocates for public policies and investments that stimulate prosperity throughout Greater Minnesota.
|
Copyright © 2025 Flaherty & Hood, P.A., All rights reserved.
Visit us online at gmnp.org
Our mailing address is:
Greater Minnesota Partnership
525 Park St., Suite 470
St. Paul, MN 55103
Contact: info@gmnp.org or 651-259-1908
|
|
