May 8, 2015 

Brought to you by:




Week 18 | Omnibus Bills
Conference Committees Discuss Issues Of Importance To Retailers

Numerous conference committees relevant to retail interests met this week to hash out the differences between House and Senate omnibus bill proposals.

Conference committees working this week of strong interest to retailers include Tax, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Jobs. The issues these committees are working on contain language regarding vendor collection allowance, transportation funding, pharmacy-technician ratio modifications and preemption of local minimum wage mandates.
 
Most conference committees are waiting on new budget target agreements to be released by Speaker Kurt Daudt and Majority Leader Tom Bakk. This agreement helps drive toward compromise on language and spending. It is expected that the new budget targets will be established next week.

 Pharmacy
Pharmacy Technician Ratio Increase and Immunization Expansion Bill Passes Senate Floor
 
Earlier this week SF 1765 passed off the Senate floor on a 64-0 vote and without any amendments. Chief author of the bill, Senator Julie Rosen, sits on the Health and Human Services (HHS) omnibus conference committee where the House companion to this legislation is included for negotiation.  

 

MnRA and its partners have been working to help clear a path forward for Senator Rosen to successfully negotiate for the inclusion of this language in the final HHS omnibus bill.

 

Changes to Minnesota's pharmacy technician ratio and immunizations is a priority issues for MnRA. 

Taxes
Tax Omnibus Conference Committee Meets; Vendor Collection Allowance In The Mix

  

Earlier this week members of the Tax conference committee met to discuss the same and similar provisions included in the House and Senate versions of the omnibus bills.  

 

MnRA and our partners have expressed to House Tax Chair Greg Davids the importance of a vendor collection allowance (providing a small rreimbursement related to the costs associated with collecting and remitting state sales tax). The vendor collection allowance language is located in the House version of the Tax omnibus bill and will be negotiated when the new budget targets are released.

 

Passage of a vendor collection allowance is a top priority for MnRA this session. 

Product Regulations
Flame-Retardant Chemicals Phase-Out Bill Passes Senate Floor 

 

Last week a bill to ban flame-retardant chemicals from products including mattresses, furniture, and children's products passed the Senate floor on a 59-2 vote. The legislation has been stalled in the House after it failed to meet committee deadlines, however it has been announced that the House Commerce Committee will reconvene early next week to hold a hearing on the legislation. 


Session Update

House Speaker Daudt Meets With Gov. Dayton, Bakk About Budget

From the Star Tribune, Patrick Condon, May 7, 2015

 

"Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt had breakfast Thursday with Gov. Mark Dayton, and dinner the night before with Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, but the GOP leader reported afterward that a state budget deal to close the legislative session is not yet imminent.

 

"At this point we're still quite a ways away, but optimistic that we'll get to a final number and get the session closed out on time," Daudt, R-Crown, said after dining with Dayton at the governor's residence in St. Paul. He and Bakk reported initial agreement, or something close to it, on some smaller categories of state spending, including funds for agricultural and environmental programs.

 

It's that time of year, when the leading legislators, the governor and their top aides disappear behind closed doors to hash out final tax and spending levels for a two-year state budget. The session ends on May 18 at midnight, and the pace of meetings among Daudt, Bakk, Dayton and others has started to accelerate."

 

Read full article here. 

Lottery 

Minnesota Senate Votes To Kill Online Lottery Games

From the Pioneer Press, Brian Bask, May 7, 2015

 

"The Minnesota Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to warn the state lottery that its days of selling instant-win tickets on the Internet, at gas pumps and through ATMs are likely numbered.

 

The Senate's 56-8 vote would end the virtual games the lottery launched last year without explicit legislative approval, which prompted cries of executive-branch overreach and expressions of concern that state-sponsored gambling was becoming too convenient.

 

"I hope the lottery has learned a lesson from this because this is an expansion of gambling that should not have happened," said Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights.

 

It's a message lawmakers first delivered a year ago, only to be trumped by Gov. Mark Dayton with a veto that came too late to override.

 

In vetoing last year's bill, Dayton said the lottery was acting within the bounds of the 1988 constitutional amendment that established it and was taking proper steps to modernize and stay viable."

 

Read full article here. 

Week 16
Bill Introductions

 

Below is a digest of bills introduced this week that may have impacts specific to retailers and consumers.

 

House of Representatives

 

No bills of relevance introduced in the House this week.


 

Senate 

 
No bills of relevance introduced in the Senate this week.
Bar code
Minnesota Retailers Associaiton
400 Robert Street North, suite 1540
St. Paul, MN 55101
Tel. (651) 227-6631 - mnretail.org - [email protected]