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Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN Library Legislative Update

**This legislative update was written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA)  and MEMO/ITEM**

Some rights reserved by Aine D
Some rights reserved by Aine D

Received: Sun 3/16/2014  at 6:04PM

The already very hectic pace at the Capitol will accelerate this week.  Friday, March 21, is the first committee deadline.  By the end of this week, most bills will be dead for the legislative session.  In order to remain alive, a bill must have been passed by all of the policy committees it needs to go to and either be referred to a finance committee or awaiting floor action.  As a practical matter this means there will be long committee hearing agendas filled with bills racing against the Friday deadline, and hearings will last well into the evening.

House Budget Targets:  House leaders released their budget targets on Friday, and the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to adopt them on Monday.  The targets call for $550 million in tax cuts, $488 million in new spending and leaving $195 million on the bottom line.  Of the $488 million in new spending, $17 million will go to to higher education and $75 million will go to E-12 education, where the priorities are listed as funding for teacher evaluations, expanded access to high quality early learning opportunities and making reduced-price lunches free.  The targets also include debt service for a bonding bill of $850 million plus another $125 million in cash for capital projects, bringing the total for capital investment to $975 million.

Omnibus Policy and Budget Bills:  Committees will begin rolling out their omnibus bills and taking action on them this week, which is well ahead of the usual schedule.  Both the House Education Policy Committee and its counterpart, the Senate Education Committee, plan to unveil their omnibus education policy bills, mark them up and pass them out of committee this week.  The House Tax Committee will unveil its omnibus tax bill on Thursday. Senator Rod Skoe, chair of the Senate Tax Committee, told MPR that this week he plans to unveil the omnibus tax bill, pass it out of committee and pass it on the Senate floor on Friday.  The other omnibus budget bills, including the Senate E-12 Education Budget bill and the House Education Finance bill, are expected to be unveiled and passed out of committee the following week.

Telecommunications Equity Aid (HF 2696 / SF 2167):  Last Tuesday our bill was heard in the House Education Finance Committee.  Mary Mehsikomer and Marc Johnson did a great job of testifying.  The Senate companion will be heard in the Senate E-12 Education Budget Division this Thursday, March 20 at 8:30am.

Data Privacy:  Last week I reported that HF 2138, Rep. Mary Liz Holberg’s bill requiring government databases to be able to track the identities of users accessing confidential data and the date, time and purpose for which the access occurred, was scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, March 12.  I spoke with Rep. Holberg about the library communities’ concerns and followed up with a more detailed e-mail.  The night before the hearing she sent me a message that she was going to pull the bill from the agenda.  A big thanks to Mark Ranum, who was prepared to testify on the bill and who also provided the information that went into my detailed message to Rep. Holberg.  Rep. Holberg is retiring from the Legislature this year, so I am hopeful we will not need to confront this particular bill in the future.

The other data privacy bill is one that we support, and it is making excellent progress.  I am referring to HF 2167 / SF 1770, the bill requiring vendors handling confidential data to abide by the data practices act as if it were a government entity, regardless of whether the contract includes notice of this requirement.  SF 1770 passed the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday afternoon and was sent to the floor.  Its House companion is already on the House floor.

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

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN Library Legislative Update

**This legislative update was written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA)  and MEMO**

MNStateCapitolReceived: Sun 3/9/2014 6:22 PM

A big thank you to everyone who attended Library Legislative Day last Wednesday.  We had a terrific turnout.  Some of the information I shared in my briefings on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning is repeated below for the benefit of those who could not attend.  However, there are some new developments and they are listed first.

Telecommunications Equity Aid (HF 2696/SF 2167):  Our bill will be heard in the House Education Finance Committee this Tuesday, March 11 at 8:15am in Room 10 SOB.  Chief author Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL – Mankato) will present the bill.  Mary Mehsikomer and Marc Johnson will testify.  Our Senate author, Senator Tom Saxhaug (DFL – Grand Rapids) has requested a hearing.

Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants (HF 1501/ SF 1473):  The House Capital Investment Committee will hear an overview presentation on Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants from MDE and also a presentation on the Perham Library on Tuesday, March 11 at 8:15am in Room 200 SOB.

Governor’s Budget:  Governor Dayton released his budget on Thursday.  He is proposing $616 million in tax cuts, adding $455 million to the budget reserve, and $162 million in “essential expenditures.”  The only item in the K-12 budget is $3.5 million for school lunches.  The only higher education items are general operating increases of $17 million for MnSCU and $5 million for the University of Minnesota.

Here is a link to the budget press release, which includes a link to the budget documents:  http://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/pressreleasedetail.jsp?id=102-117142

Data Privacy:  We are following two bills of interest.

HF 2138, introduced by Rep. Mary Liz 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. This is problematic for library patron records systems. The bill is scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday, March 12 in the House Civil Law Committee at 8:15am in Room 200 SOB. Please let me know if you are interested in testifying.

HF 2167 / SF 1770 is the bill that requires vendors handling confidential data to abide by the data practices act as if it were a government entity, regardless of whether the contract includes notice of this requirement. We support this bill.  It was heard last Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  It passed and was re-referred to the State and Local Government Committee.  The House companion was heard on Wednesday in the House Civil Law Committee.  It passed and was sent to the floor.

Pay Equity (HF 2373 / SF 1806):  MLA is a longtime member of the Pay Equity Coalition.  This year the Coalition is backing a bill requiring employers that hold state contracts to comply with pay equity. This is similar to the requirement that they have an affirmative action plan. The bill passed the House Government Operations Committee last Wednesday evening and was re-referred to the House Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee, where it is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, March 12 at 8:15am in the Basement Hearing Room of the SOB.

State Economic Forecast:  The forecast was released on Friday, February 28. The state has a projected surplus of $1.23 billion.  The Governor and the House have said that tax cuts are their highest priority.  Not coincidentally, they are both up for re-election this fall.  The Senate majority, which is not up for re-election until 2016, has said their top priority is building up the state’s budget reserve.  The surplus is large enough that they should be able to do some of each.

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

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN Library Legislative Update

Capitol**This legislative update was  written by Elaine Keefe, lobbyist for MLA/MEMO. Slight clarifications/modifications made by Patricia Post** (Received on 02/26/14 at 6:45 pm)

The 2014 legislative session began on 02/25/14.  As is typical in a short session year, things got off to a fast start.

Library Task Force:  The MDE policy bill includes a provision establishing the Minnesota’s Libraries and Service Delivery Task Force.  It is charged with making recommendations to “increase service collaboration between library systems that ensures both equitable and cost-effective access to library services throughout Minnesota.  Recommendations shall not be limited to physical services and should include recommendations to increase access to emerging electronic services.”  I asked Kevin McHenry, assistant commissioner at MDE, about the department’s goals for the task force.  He said that MDE has gotten good results with task forces on other topics and thought this would be a good way to highlight the good work that libraries are doing and to look at emerging issues like digital literacy and e-books.  I brought up the e-book pricing issue that is on our platform and asked if it could be addressed by the task force.  Kevin was enthusiastic about the idea, as was state librarian Jennifer Nelson in an earlier conversation.

The bill received an informational hearing yesterday in the Senate Education Committee.  Senator Patricia Torres Ray, chair of the committee, asked MDE to develop some more specific language defining the charge of the task force. After the hearing I told Daron Korte, government relations director for MDE, that we would like input into the additional language and he said they definitely wanted to work with the library community.

Maintenance of Effort:  Today a new version of the MDE policy bill was posted.

It still includes the task force language referenced above, but it also includes some new provisions, including one that repeals most of the MOE language in Statute 134.34 and replaces it with a cross reference to the language in the 2011 tax bill that reduced all MOE requirements to 90% of the 2011 amount and froze it into perpetuity.  I have e-mailed Daron and Kevin to explain that while they may see this as clearing out obsolete language, we had hoped that eventually we could undo the freeze and return to the previous law.  That will be more difficult to accomplish if the language is repealed.

Exception to the 20 Hour Minimum :  The new version of the MDE policy bill includes a provision authorizing MDE to grant a public library an exception to the requirement that it be open at least 20 hours per week to receive Regional Library Telecommunication Aid if requested by the regional library system for one of the following reasons:

1) short term closing for emergency maintenance and repairs following a natural disaster

2) in response to exceptional economic circumstances

3) building repair or maintenance that requires public areas to be closed

4) to adjust public service hours to respond to documented seasonal use patterns

Data Privacy (SF 1770 / HF 2167):  Senator Kari Dziedzic and Rep. John Lesch have introduced a bill clarifying that all data created, collected, received, stored, used, maintained, or disseminated by any party in performing a contract entered into with a government entity must comply with the data practices act as if it were a government entity.  Contracts entered into by a government entity are still required to include a notice making it clear that the vendor must comply with the data practices act.  However, if the notice is not included the vendor is still obligated to comply with the data practices act.  This seems to be a much better approach than the bill that was pre-filed in January by Rep. Peggy Scott that made any contract that failed to include the notice unenforceable.

Library Accessiblity and Improvement Grants:  HF 1501, our bill introduced by Rep. Mary Murphy to provide $3 million in the bonding bill for libraries, will be heard next Tuesday, March 4 at 8:15am.  This is a joint hearing of the House Capital Investment Committee and the House Education Finance Committee.  Pat Conley and I will testify.

Telecommunications Equity Aid:  The bill is drafted and Sen. Tom Saxhaug and Rep. Kathy Brynaert will serve as our chief authors.  I am in the process of securing co-authors and hope to get the bill introduced on Monday.

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

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN Library Legislative Update: State Economic Forecast $1 Billion Surplus

**This legislative update was originally  written by Elaine Keefe, lobbyist for MLA/MEMO** (Received on December 5, 2013 at 4:07:49 PM )

On Thursday the state economic forecast was released and it contains good news!

The state has a projected surplus of almost $1.1 billion. After the school property tax recognition shift is repaid, along with a loan from the state airport fund, $825 million remains on the bottom line. You can read the forecast documents on the Minnesota Management and Budget website: http://www.mmb.state.mn.us/nov-2013-forecast. I attended a series of news conferences held today by MMB officials, Governor Dayton, and DFL and Republican legislative leaders. All of them cautioned that things could change between now and the next forecast in late February. Here is a summary of their comments: MMB officials pointed out that the money is not yet in the bank, and that we are only 5 months into the current state fiscal year. They also noted that one way to avoid the need for future education funding shifts would be to build a bigger state budget reserve. Governor Dayton said that if the February forecast shows a similar surplus, he will propose a series of tax cuts. He wants to repeal the business sales taxes that were passed last session (on warehouses, equipment repair and telecommunications equipment). The projected cost of repealing those taxes in the current biennium is $315 million. He also wants to cuts taxes for the middle class by conforming with federal law to eliminate the marriage penalty and expand the working family credit. House DFL leaders seemed supportive of Governor Dayton’s tax cut proposals. Senate DFL leaders said that their top priority was to build up a larger state budget reserve. They were non-committal about tax cuts. House and Senate Republican leaders said the large surplus proved that the tax increases passed last session were unnecessary. They support repealing all of them.

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