Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday.
Later today Gov. Tim Walz is planning to sign most of the budget bills passed by the Legislature before it ended its session on Monday night. MPR’S Dana Ferguson has a rundown of many of the major initiatives the DFL-controlled Legislature passed on health care, the environment, taxes and employment.
Farmers will get some insurance that grain sales won’t be disrupted by a problem with a grain elevator, but they may end up having to pay for the system. MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports: Minnesota’s new grain indemnity program was created with a one-time, $10 million infusion of state funds. Future funding, if needed, will come from a premium paid by farmers on grain they sell. That fee would be set by the agriculture commissioner and would not exceed 0.2 percent. That’s a one cent charge on a $5 bushel of grain. But the fee won't kick in unless the fund falls below $8 million. “And so we won't have to click on a fee at this time and hopefully never,” said Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. “As we discussed it and I went out into the countryside and talked about it with farmers, a lot of farmers told me this is cheap insurance.” Not everyone agrees.
Tucked inside a major environmental bill state lawmakers passed last week were new protections for Minnesota's groundwater, reports MPR’s Kirsti Marohn. The bill gives state regulators stronger authority, including bigger fines, to crack down on violators who pump more water than they're permitted. “We've just seen instances of non-compliance, and recognize that we didn't have the suite of tools necessary to address those,” said Katie Smith, director of ecological and water resources at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Pumping water from the ground faster than it can recharge can deplete aquifers, cause neighboring wells to run dry and ecologically damage nearby lakes, streams and wetlands. Water-use permits are required for cities, industries, farmers or anyone else who draws more than 1 million gallons a year. Permit holders are required to report their water use to the DNR.
There will be at least one constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters to decide next year. The Star Tribune reports: Lawmakers agreed to ask voters on the 2024 ballot to renew a constitutional amendment that gives 40 percent of lottery profits to the state's environmental and natural resources trust fund. They also added language that tries to prevent future lawmakers from drawing on the money for costly sewage treatment projects. The environmental and natural resources trust fund was approved by voters in 1988 and is set to expire in 2025. To date, it has provided more than $800 million to research and restoration projects. If voters approve the amendment the fund will be extended to 2050.
Another proposed amendment on equal rights will have to wait until next year. House Speaker Melissa Hortman said her DFL caucus wasn't ready to approve a bill sending the question to voters next year. She said some lawmakers had concerns about the amendment abridging the right to reproductive health care. But the amendment will be up for consideration next year, Hortman said. "It's not a casual thing to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. And I'm not interested in putting something on the ballot that we're not ready to win, and that there will be negative consequences of going out and fighting and losing,” Hortman said. “So I want to look both at the substance of the amendment in depth with the entire caucus, and make sure that we have a really good plan to go out and unite Minnesotans around a vision for the Equal Rights Amendment."
A host of sales tax extensions and boosts were approved by the Legislature, giving communities small and large money for special projects. MPR’s Catharine Richert reports lawmakers approved sales taxes for everything from a new community rec center in Dilworth to an ice rink in Fairmont. Minnesota law prevents cities from imposing a sales or income tax. That means cities and counties must go to the Legislature for permission to seek a local sales tax for a capital project. The Legislature failed to pass a tax bill last session, leaving 20 sales tax requests in limbo. Even more requests came in during this session. The money can be used for all sorts of things. For instance, in Rochester an extension of its existing sales tax will be used to pay for flood control and a new sports complex, among other things.
And in non-legislative news, MPR’s Matt Sepic reports a federal judge has upheld St. Paul’s rent control law. In an order this week, Judge Nancy Brasel rejected claims from two apartment building owners who claimed that St. Paul’s rent control ordinance, also known as rent stabilization, prevents them from adjusting prices amid changing circumstances and market conditions and substantially diminishes the value of their properties. In their lawsuit, the landlords argued that the measure deprives them of their property rights without due process and violates the Constitution’s Contracts and Takings Clauses. In her ruling, Brasel emphasized that it’s not her job to determine if rent control is sound public policy, only if it’s constitutional. Brasel said St. Paul’s ordinance does not deprive the landlords of their property rights in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause because it’s related to “legitimate and rational” government objectives of ensuring housing affordability. | 