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Advocacy

Update from the Lobbyists for MN Libraries

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Special Session adjourns Sine Die

Early this morning the Minnesota Legislature adjourned their Special Session ‘Sine Die’ having passed the seven bills in the global agreement with Gov. Mark Dayton.

The bills detailed a $46 million budget including $650 million reduction in taxes, $483 million for education, $300 million for transportation and nearly $1 billion in bonding for public works. All of the bills now will go to the governor for his signature or veto.

While the governor signed the global agreement that kicked off the special session, there were few details in that original document. As a result, activists, union leaders and some high-ranking DFLers are urging him to veto all or some of the agreement.

While general expectations are that Gov. Dayton will sign or veto the bills by the middle to end of next week, he has 14 days to consider the bills passed in the special session after they’re presented to him. The legislature has three days to present the special session bills to the Governor.

Bonding Bill
The bonding bill contains $2 million for library construction and renovation grants. There are no earmarks for these funds so an open grant process will ensue at the MN Department of Education. Sam Samuel P. Walseth Capitol Hill Associates 525 Park Street, Suite 255 St. Paul, MN 55103

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Library legislative update: 6/10/16

State CapitolThe following legislative updates were written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) and Information Technology Educators of MN (ITEM). CMLE helps pay this lobbyist to serve the best interests of academic, K-12, public, and special libraries in Central MN (Latest information is at the top)

Received Friday, June 10, 2016 at 7:17 p.m.

Tax Bill Veto:  On Monday of this week, Governor Dayton pocket-vetoed the omnibus tax bill by taking no action on the bill before the 14 day deadline.  His veto was due to concerns about an error in a section of the bill relating to charitable gambling taxes that would have cost the state $101 million in lost revenue over the next three years.  The main item of interest to libraries in the tax bill is an increase in aid to cities and counties.

Special Session Outlook:  On Tuesday, Governor Dayton met with three of the four legislative caucus leaders (Senator Bakk, Speaker Daudt and Rep. Thissen; Senator Hann chose not to attend) to discuss a possible special session to pass a bonding bill, a corrected tax bill and some additional budget items that the governor would like to see enacted.  The meeting was brief and nothing was resolved.  Reportedly they plan to meet again sometime in the middle of next week.

Since then Governor Dayton has been traveling across the state to drum up public support for his priorities for a special session.  High on the governor’s list is a transportation funding package that includes transit in the metro area, which is very controversial with House Republicans.

Bonding Bill:  As I have previously reported, House and Senate negotiators agreed on a $1.1 billion bonding bill on the last day of session.  The bill passed the House, but time ran out before it could pass the Senate.  Later it was discovered that there were a number of projects that appeared on the spreadsheet, but were not actually included in the bill (this was not the case for any library projects).

Governor Dayton and legislative leaders are eager to pass a bonding bill during a special session, but reaching agreement will not be easy.  Speaker Daudt has said that the House will revert to its original position of a $600 million bonding bill (even though they never actually brought a bill of that size to the House floor), while Governor Dayton has demanded the inclusion of $183 million for projects that were left out of the bill agreed to by the conference committee.

Bonding Conference Committee Hearing:  On Tuesday, June 14 the bonding bill conference committee will meet from 1-4pmin room 10 of the State Office Building.  The purpose of the hearing is to review the conference committee agreement and take public testimony.  I expect the discussion to focus on the more controversial projects and those that were included on the spreadsheet but left out of the bill.  We will keep you posted.

Elaine Keefe

Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 255
St. Paul, MN 55103
(cell) 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

 

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/oddkzbj, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Library legislative update: 5/15/16

State CapitolThe following legislative updates were written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) and Information Technology Educators of MN (ITEM). CMLE helps pay this lobbyist to serve the best interests of academic, K-12, public, and special libraries in Central MN. (Latest information is at the top)

Received Tuesday, May 18, 2016 at 1:19 a.m.
Good news!  The House is scheduled to release its bonding bill tomorrow morning (May18), and it will include $2 million for Library Construction Grants.  This is great news, given that the total House bonding proposal is slightly under $800 million.  Thank you to all of you who contacted your representatives to ask them to include funding for Library Construction Grants in the bonding bill!

Received Sunday, May 15, 2016 at 4:19 PM

End of Session Negotiations:  The legislative session is nearing the end.  Legislators must adjourn no later than Monday, May 23.  Since they cannot pass bills on the final day, time is running short for Governor Dayton and legislative leaders to reach agreement on transportation, taxes, a supplemental budget bill and a bonding bill.  They met twice last week and so far all they have agreed upon is that they want to reach an agreement on a transportation package before working on the other three bills.  Governor Dayton plans to present a compromise proposal on Monday.

Bonding Bill:  The Senate’s bonding bill, which spent a total of $1.8 billion, failed on the Senate floor by 1 vote.  Bonding bills require a supermajority of 3/5, which means 41 votes are needed to pass the Senate.  The bill only received 40 votes.  Only 1 Republican, Senator Carla Nelson of Rochester, voted for the bill.

During the debate Republicans offered a bonding bill of their own, which spent $992 million.  It cut funding for Library Construction Grants to $1 million and eliminated funding for the new East Central Regional Library headquarters/Cambridge Library and the Bagley Public Library.  The proposal only garnered 18 votes.

House Republicans still have not brought forward a bonding bill.  They originally said they wanted to spend only $600 million, but Speaker Daudt admitted to reporters that a bill of that size will not get the 81 votes needed to pass the House.  This prompted Senate Majority Leader Bakk to observe that the Senate bill is too big to pass and the House bill is too small to pass.  If a bonding bill does pass this session, it will need to be somewhere in between.

A bill significantly smaller than the Senate bill with more emphasis on transportation projects is likely to come out of the House, and that could mean no funding for Library Construction Grants.  Now is the time for members of the House to hear from you.

PLEASE contact your representatives in the House and urge them to make sure that Library Construction Grants are included in the House bonding bill!

 Supplemental Budget (HF 2749):  A ten member conference committee is negotiating a 600 page omnibus supplemental budget bill.  The conferees met three times last week to have staff walk through a side by side comparison of the provisions in the House and Senate bills.  Another meeting is scheduled for 6pm tonight (Sunday).  Negotiations on budget items cannot get serious until Governor Dayton and legislative leaders agree on how much spending will be included in the bill.  That will depend on how much is spent on transportation, which is being negotiated in a separate conference committee.  As a reminder, the items we are following in the supplemental budget conference committee are Border to Border Broadband grants, K-12 broadband grants, total operating capital and after school funding.  See my April 29 update for details.

Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 255
St. Paul, MN 55103
(cell) 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/oddkzbj, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN Library Legislative Update

State CapitolThe following legislative updates were written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) and Information Technology Educators of MN (ITEM). CMLE helps pay  this lobbyist to serve the best interests of academic, K-12, public, and special libraries in Central MN. (Latest information is at the top)

Received Monday, May 2, 2016 at 12:25 PM

The Senate bonding bill (SF 2839) was released this morning, and it contains good news for libraries.  Here are the specifics:

Library Construction Grants:  The bill includes $2 million for the grants.  There are no earmarks, so the entire $2 million would be available for competitive grants.  $2 million was the amount included in the governor’s budget.

East Central Regional Library Headquarters and Cambridge Public Library:   The bill includes $2.414 million for a new building.  That was the amount requested by the city of Cambridge.  This must be matched with an equal amount of funding from non-state sources.

Bagley Public Library:  The bill includes $50,000 in general fund money for a grant to the city of Bagley for “improvements, furnishings and equipment for the city’s library or to reimburse the city for improvements, furnishings and equipment for the city’s library.”  The language is a little unusual because the library project was completed two years ago.  The 2014 bonding bill included $50,000 for the project, but the state later determined that this was an ineligible use of state bond funds and in 2015 the appropriation was canceled.  That is why this year’s appropriation is from the general fund.

Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Wadena Campus:  The bill includes $820,000 to relocate the current library to a new space and to convert the vacated space to a student services center.  $820,000 was the amount included in the governor’s budget.  This was the only higher education library project proposed this year.

East Side Freedom Library:  The bill includes $500,000 from the general fund to renovate the former Arlington Hills Public Library in St. Paul, which recently became the home of the East Side Freedom Library.  The library is operated by a nonprofit.  Its mission “is to inspire solidarity, advocate for justice and work toward equity for all.”

The Senate bonding bill is even larger than had been rumored, spending a total of $1.8 billion.  That is significantly larger than the $1.4 billion proposed by Governor Dayton and triple the amount that House leaders have said they want to spend. Even so, many requests were not funded at all or were funded well below the amount requested.  Senator Leroy Stumpf, chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee, said they received $5.2 billion in requests.  The bill will be heard in the Senate Finance Committee tomorrow and then will head to the Senate floor.

Received Friday, April 29, 2016 at 3:23 PM

The legislative session must end no later than 3 weeks from Monday.  Here is an update on issues of interest:

Supplemental Budget:   The House and Senate passed their omnibus supplemental budget bills this week.  The Senate has combined all of its budget bills into one omnibus supplemental budget bill (SF 2356).

The House split the budget into three smaller omnibus budget bills, as follows:

Education and Higher Education  (HF 2749)
Agriculture, Environment and Jobs (HF 3931)
HHS, Public Safety and State Government (HF 3467)

How the bills will be conferenced has not been announced, but it is widely assumed that there will be one conference committee made up of ten members.  The conferees are expected to be appointed early next week.

Broadband:  Last month Governor Dayton proposed $100 million in Border-to-Border Broadband Grants.  The Senate included $85 million in its budget bill, while the House included $15 million for FY 17 and $25 million in FY 18.  The House also included $7 million for broadband grants for schools in its education finance bill.  Those who attended Library Legislative Day heard me describe this new grant program in detail.  For those who were not there, the proposal actually would fund two separate types of grants, as follows:

Broadband Wi-Fi Hotspots:  A school district may apply for a grant to support wireless off-campus learning through a student’s use of a data card, USB modem or other mobile broadband device that enables the student to access learning materials through a mobile broadband connection.  A school district that qualifies for sparsity revenue may apply for a grant to provide Internet access on school buses.  The maximum grant is $100,000 for a school district applying by itself or $200,000 if applying with a community partner such as a public library, community education department or adult basic education program provider.

Capacity Building:  A school district that is a member of a telecommunications cluster may apply for a grant of up to $100,000 to be used in any manner and with any community partners that will allow the district to expand telecommunications access for students, teachers and community members.

Of the $7 million appropriated, $5 million is for the broadband Wi-Fi hotspot grants and $2 million is for the capacity building grants.  This is a one-time appropriation.

Total Operating Capital:  The Senate has included in its budget $10.1 million to provide a one-time increase of $10.88 per pupil in total operating capital.  There is a list of 25 permitted uses of this funding in statute.  Among the permitted uses are:

“To improve and repair school sites and buildings, and equip or reequip school buildings with permanent attached fixtures, including library media centers”

“ To purchase or lease interactive telecommunications equipment”

“To purchase or lease computers and related hardware, software, and annual licensing fees, copying machine, telecommunications equipment, and other non-instructional equipment”

“To purchase new and replacement library media resources or technology”

“To purchase or lease telecommunications equipment, computers and related equipment for integrated information management systems”

“To pay personnel costs directly associated to the acquisition, operation and maintenance of telecommunications systems, computers, related equipment, and network and applications software”

After School Grants:  The Senate has included in its budget bill $500,000 in one-time funding for grants to after school programs.  This is the program that we have worked with Ignite Afterschool to support.

Bonding:  As you may recall, Governor Dayton proposed a $1.4 billion bonding bill, which would be the largest in state history.  It includes $2 million for Library Construction Grants.  House leaders have said they will spend no more than $600 million on a bonding bill, but have not released any specifics and are not expected to do so anytime soon.  Rep. Paul Torkelson, chair of the House Capital Investment Committee, has said that the bonding bill’s fate will depend on reaching agreement on other issues such as taxes and transportation.  House leaders have characterized the bonding bill as “dessert,” which must come last.  The Senate is scheduled to release its bonding bill on Monday.  It is rumored that it will be a little larger than the governor’s proposal.

Legacy:  The House has passed its omnibus legacy funding bill, HF 3829, out of committee.  Unlike the other three funds the Outdoor Heritage Fund appropriations are made annually, and the bulk of the bill is made up of those appropriations.  However, there is one provision of interest to libraries in the bill.  It reinforces the requirement that legacy funds are to be used to supplement rather than supplant existing funding by requiring any entity requesting funding from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund to inform the Legislature “if the entity funded the same project or program after 2006 and how the previous project or program was funded.”  This is based on a recommendation from the Legislative Auditor.

Because sales tax revenue has lagged behind projections, there are deficits in three of the four legacy funds, including the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  To resolve the deficit, Minnesota Management and Budget plans to enact a shift by authorizing agencies to “allot only 97% of their FY 17 appropriations, holding back 3% of each appropriation for spending in the following fiscal year, FY 18.”

Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 255
St. Paul, MN 55103
(cell) 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/oddkzbj, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN Legislative Update

Capital SunsetThe following legislative update was written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) and Information Technology Educators of MN (ITEM). 

Received: Tue, May 26, 2015 at 3:02 PM

Additional Vetoes:  On Saturday Governor Dayton finished signing and vetoing bills passed in the regular legislative session.  In addition to the omnibus education bill, he also vetoed the omnibus jobs bill and the agriculture and environment bill.   Among the reasons the governor cited for vetoing the jobs bill was the meager level of funding for broadband grants.  As expected, the governor signed the agriculture policy bill, which includes the exemption for seed libraries from agricultural regulations.

Special Session:  This afternoon Governor Dayton is holding separate meetings with Speaker Daudt and Senate Majority Leader Bakk to begin special session negotiations.  The bills that are expected to be part of the special session are the three budget bills that were vetoed – education, jobs and agriculture/environment – plus the Legacy bill and a small bonding bill.  Governor Dayton has also mentioned the possibility of agreeing to a temporary income tax cut in exchange for more education funding.  He also wants legislators to reverse a provision that was in the omnibus state government bill allowing Greater Minnesota counties to hire private sector auditors rather than having to be audited by the State Auditor.  Given that the list of issues to be resolved has grown, many observers are skeptical that the special session can be completed in early June.  Governor Dayton has said he wants the special session wrapped up by June 15.

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

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/p4m2ool, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0