**This legislative update was written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) /MEMO**
Subject: Governor’s Capital Budget Recommendations, Wednesday, 01/15/14 at 1:54 pm
Today Governor Dayton released his capital budget recommendations. He did not include any funding for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants in his recommendations. While this is disappointing, it is not a complete surprise. Since the inception of the program in 1994, no governor has included funding for it in his capital budget recommendations, and yet we have consistently been able to persuade the Legislature to include funding in the final bonding bill.
Commissioner of Management and Budget Jim Schowalter noted in his transmittal letter to legislative leaders that competition for funding was fierce. While the Governor is recommending a total of $986 million in capital projects, more than $2.9 billion in requests were submitted.
The only academic library project included in the Governor’s recommendation is on the Wadena campus of Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Fergus Falls and Wadena. It states that “renovations will combine classroom and new library space on the Wadena campus.”
You can see the entire list of recommendations on the MMB website: http://www.mmb.state.mn.us/critical.html
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Subject: Pre-Filed Bills, Wed 01/15/14 at 3:45 PM
Although the Legislature doesn’t convene until February 25, members of the House were given the opportunity to pre-file bills for introduction. The list was made public last night. Here are bills of interest:
HF 1923 (Newton) Repeals all state aid to nonpublic schools, including telecommunications equity aid.
HF 1978 (Scott) Makes a contract between a government entity and a private vendor unenforceable if it fails to include in the contract a requirement that all of the data created, collected, received, stored, used, maintained or disseminated by the vendor must comply with all state data practices laws as if it were a government entity. It applies to contracts entered into on or after August 1, 2014.
HF 1997 (Gruenhagen) Repeals current exemptions from obscenity laws for public schools and postsecondary institutions. It leaves exemptions in place for public libraries, churches, museums, medical clinics, physicians, hospitals and government sponsored organizations.
HF 2120 (Holberg) Creates a Legislative Commission on Data Practices and Personal Data Privacy.
HF 2126 (Quam) Requires cities and counties to have written procedures for charging and collecting fees and to make those procedures available to the public.
HF 2138 (Holberg) Requires that by January 1, 2020, any database maintained by a government entity that contains private or confidential data must have the capacity, within each individual record, to track the identities of users who access the data, including the date and time the data were accessed and the purpose for which the access occurred.
Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 310
St. Paul, MN 55103
office 651-293-0229
cell 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com
