Tag: advocacy

Minnesota Library Legislative Day is just around the corner. Library supporters are invited to converge at the Capitol for this important annual event on February 21-22.

Although Wednesday is the highlight, activities begin on Tuesday at the Rice Street Library.  After light refreshments and an informal meet-and-greet, representatives of Capitol Hill Associates, MLA’s lobbying team, will provide and update on legislative developments affecting libraries in 2017-2020.

If you are unable to attend the evening briefing, don’t worry. Capitol Hill Associates will host a repeat session the next morning at the Judicial Center (on the capitol grounds). Throughout the day you will have a chance to meet with your legislators  and voice your support for libraries and their continued funding.

Click here to learn more, and to register for this free and truly invaluable advocacy opportunity.

Just announced:  Library Legislative Day will be held Wednesday, February 22. Briefings will be offered Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.  Times and locations are still being finalized.  Mark your calendar now and plan to join library supporters at the Capitol.

Today marks the official launch of Minnesota Loves Libraries, a statewide, grassroots advocacy campaign set to run through January. We are looking for stories that exemplify service, community connections, and individual success. Have you had a positive interaction with a library staff member? Did you attend a program that taught you something? Maybe you were able to access information that helped you get a job or improve your work skills, or maybe a librarian guided you to the perfect book to share with your child at bedtime. Whatever it is, we’d like to hear about it!

Supported by CRPLSA, the campaign is launching statewide and will be administered by each library region individually. Library users are invited to stop by their local library to fill out a postcard or visit Minnesota Loves Libraries to use the online form. The purpose is to gather stories of how Minnesotans use the library and how it makes a difference in their lives.

Library supporters who attend Minnesota Library Legislative Day at the Capitol in March will hand deliver these messages from across the region. Legislators will receive comments from their constituents so that they get a glimpse of library services available in their district, and to provide an opportunity for them to respond directly.

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Sam Walseth, Capitol Hill Associates, in his role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

State Budget Forecast Released

State officials released the November budget forecast for the state of Minnesota on Friday, December 2nd. The forecast estimates that the state will close its current fiscal biennium next June 30th with $678 million left on the bottom line. That figure takes into account $334 million that will be automatically transferred to the state’s budget reserve as required by law. This action will bring the state’s budget reserve to $1.9 billion, just shy of its $2 billion statutory goal.

The forecast shows a $736 million surplus for the next fiscal biennium (FY 18-19). When added to the $678 million current fiscal year projected surplus you get the “$1.4 billion surplus” figure you’re seeing in the headlines. There are two important factors here. The first is that a significant portion of the $1.4 billion surplus figure is one-time money carried forward from the current fiscal year. The second is that there’s no inflationary assumption built into the forecast. If the state applied an estimated CPI factor into the forecast, the FY 18-19 surplus shrinks to $87 million.

The ‘tails’ forecast for FY 20-21 is also important to note. Friday’s data show a $1.5 billion surplus for the tails, but again with no inflationary factor. If an inflationary factor is assumed for the tails that surplus figure disappears and could actually look like a deficit. The bottom line is that while the headline numbers look good, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the economy moving forward. The current forecast assumes GDP growth just above 2% for the foreseeable future instead of figures north of 3% that were hoped for a year ago.

Legislative Response

The major players in St. Paul are all indicating that a special session is a definite possibility. They’re targeting December 20th as the date to come in and tackle some of the major unresolved issues from this year, including; the Tax bill, the Bonding bill and a new proposal to buy down insurance premiums for those buying health coverage through MNSure’s individual market. The Bonding bill is the most significant interest to libraries as it contains $2 million for library construction grants.

For more information on the budget forecast

Samuel P. Walseth, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Sam Walseth, Capitol Hill Associates, in his role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

House and Senate GOP leadership announced committee structures and chairs today. They worked to align the committees as closely as they could between the two bodies.

Senate GOP Chairs

This morning Senate GOP leaders announced a committee structure and chairs for the upcoming 2017-18 biennium. The newly elected Senate will serve a four year term, so this structure is likely to be in place through 2020.

The E-12 work has been divided up between a Finance and Policy committee. Sen. Carla Nelson (GOP Rochester) will chair E-12 Finance and Sen. Eric Pratt (GOP Prior Lake) will chair E-12 Policy. Merging and slitting the E-12 Finance and Policy committee work has gone back and forth under both DFL and GOP leadership in the Senate.

The Capital Investment Committee will be chaired by Sen. Dave Senjem (GOP Rochester). Senate Taxes will be chaired by Sen. Roger Chamberlain (GOP Lino Lakes).

Legacy Funding goes to Sen. Carrie Ruud (GOP Breezy Point) whose committee is titled “Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance”.

House GOP Chairs

The House committee structure remains largely the same, but due to a few retirements there is some reshuffling. Education will stay the same with Rep. Sondra Erickson (GOP Princeton) at Policy and Rep. Jennifer Loon (GOP Eden Prairie) at Finance.

The more notable House changes are with Rep. Dean Urdahl (GOP Grove City) going to Capital Investment and Rep. Paul Torkelson (GOP Hanska) going to Transportation. Tax committee stays with Rep. Greg Davids (GOP Preston) and the Property Tax committee stays with Rep. Steve Drazkowski (GOP Mazeppa).

Rep. Bob Gunther (GOP Fairmont) will chair the Legacy committee.

Link to the House Chairs

MLA/ITEM 2016 Legislative Forum – Registration Reminder & Interest Survey

Library advocates are invited to gather at the St. Cloud Public Library on Tuesday, July 12th from 9:00am – 3:00pm for the annual Library Legislative Forum. This is the work session to begin planning for the 2017 legislative session.

Reminder: Registration closes on July 5, 2016.

Elaine Keefe, MLA lobbyist, will review the 2016 Legislative Session. The majority of the day will be dedicated to group work – identifying legislative priorities for 2017, as well as ongoing opportunities, challenges, and issues for 2017 and beyond. Come be a part of this opportunity to shape the 2017 legislative agenda!

Click here to take a short survey to express your 2017 issues of concern and help form the library legislative platform

The following information was shared via email with the library community on Monday, May 23, 2016 by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

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 Representative 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 1-4 pm in 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

The following information was shared via email with the library community on Monday, May 23, 2016 by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

The 2016 legislative session has ended with very mixed results. Last night the Legislature passed the omnibus tax bill and the omnibus supplemental budget bill. However, as noted in my previous message, the Legislature failed to pass the bonding bill before the midnight deadline for passing bills.

Governor Dayton held a press conference a few minutes ago and indicated he has not yet decided whether to call a special session. He said that he and legislative leaders need time to get some rest and assess the situation.

Bonding Bill: The bonding conference committee reached agreement on a $1.135 billion bill on Sunday evening, just a few hours before the midnight deadline for passing bills. The bill included $2 million for Library Construction Grants and $820,000 for the library at the Minnesota state Career and Technical College in Wadena. It did not include funding for the new East Central Regional Library headquarters/Cambridge Library, the Bagley Library or the Eastside Freedom Library.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 91-39. It was amended in the Senate to raise the limit on how much the Metropolitan Council could contribute to a rail project (clearly aimed at the Southwest Light Rail Transit line) before passing by a vote of 53-12. Because the bill had been amended on the Senate floor, it had to go back to the House for a final vote, but before that happened the House adjourned. It was messy and chaotic and House and Senate leaders are blaming each other for the failure of the bonding bill to make it across the finish line.

Supplemental Budget Bill: The budget bill spends a total of $182 million. It includes $35 million for Border to Border Broadband Grants and $500,000 for grants of up to $50,000 to K-12 schools for broadband Wi-Fi Hotspots. It does not include an increase in total operating capital and does not provide any funding for after school programs.

Omnibus Tax Bill: The tax bill increases aid to cities by $20 million per year and increases aid to counties by $10 million per year.

Legacy Bill: The Legacy bill dealt mainly with appropriations for the Outdoor Heritage Fund, for which appropriations are made annually rather than for the biennium. However, we were keeping an eye on one piece of language designed to reinforce the idea that Legacy funds are meant to supplement, not supplant, previous funding. The original language in the House bill was rather awkward, as a couple of you pointed out to me. The final version included in the bill is much more clear. It states:

“Any state agency or organization requesting a direct appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund must inform the house of representatives and senate committees having jurisdiction over the arts and cultural heritage fund, at the time the request for funding is made, whether the request is supplanting or is a substitution for any previous funding that was not from a legacy fund and was used for the same purpose.”

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

End of Session Negotiations: There is still no agreement between legislative leaders and Governor Dayton on targets for the supplemental budget, taxes and transportation. It remains to be seen whether they will reach an agreement in time to get the bills passed before the end of the session. Session must end by midnight on Monday, but the Legislature cannot pass bills on the day of adjournment. This means that bills must be passed by midnight on Sunday night.

Bonding Bill: Today the House bonding bill failed on the House floor. A 3/5 super-majority is required to pass a bonding bill, which means 81 votes are required to pass the House. The bill only received 69 votes. All but two DFLers voted against the bill, while all but 5 Republicans voted for the bill. DFLers complained that the bill was too small and that projects in DFL districts had been passed over in favor of projects in Republican districts.

However, a conference committee has been appointed for HF 748, a bill from last year that will be used as a vehicle for a bonding bill. This is a highly unusual twist in the legislative process.

The Senate conferees are Senator LeRoy Stumpf (DFL – Plummer), Senator Katie Sieben (DFL – Cottage Grove), Senator Jeff Hayden (DFL – Minneapolis), Senator David Tomassoni (DFL – Chisholm) and Senator Carla Nelson (R – Rochester).

The House conferees are Rep. Paul Torkelson (R – Hanska), Rep. Tony Albright (R – Prior Lake), Rep. Chris Swedzinski (R – Ghent), Rep. Bob Vogel (R- Elko New Market) and Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL – St. Paul).

According to a press release issued by the Senate DFL Caucus this afternoon, the conference committee will consider portions of the House, Senate and Governor’s bonding proposals. No meetings have been scheduled for the conference committee as of this writing.

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

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 super majority 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.

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

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.

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

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

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

Governor’s Budget:  Governor Dayton released his supplemental budget proposal today.  He is proposing to spend a total of $698 million (including $117 million for tax cuts).  Of that spending, $411 million is one-time spending and $287 million is ongoing spending.  The governor proposes to leave $200 million on the bottom line to guard against a future economic downturn.  This is consistent with his statement last week in his State of the State address that his highest priority was protecting the fiscal stability of the state.  Here are items of interest in the proposed budget:

$100 million for Border to Border Broadband grants.  Earlier in the year Governor Dayton had announced that he would propose $100 million for broadband, but after the February forecast projected a smaller surplus, there was speculation that this amount might go down.  Happily, this was not the case.  This is a one-time appropriation.

$21.5 million for a one-time increase in Local Government Aid to cities.

$25 million for a one-time increase in County Program Aid.

$25 million for a pre-kindergarten program offered through public schools.  The funding would be targeted to high-poverty areas and those with a lack of three and four star Parent Aware rated child care programs.  This funding would increase to $40 million in FY 18 and $60 million in FY 19.

A detailed description of each item in Governor Dayton’s proposal can be found here.

Bills of Interest:  Since the Legislature convened one week ago, legislators have introduced 546 bills in the Senate and 747 bills in the House.  Here are some bills of interest to MLA and ITEM:

HF 2381 (Baker) Provides $35 million for border to border broadband grants.  The bill will be heard in the House Greater Minnesota Economic and Workforce Development Policy Committee this Thursday.

HF 2385 (Lesch)/ SF 2703 (Dibble)  Prohibits employers from requiring applicants or employees to divulge their username or password to any personal social media account.

HF 2386 (Lesch)/ SF 2705 (Chamberlain)  Prohibits educational institutions from requiring students or prospective students to divulge their username or password to any personal social media account.

HF 2537 (Youakim)/ SF 2510 (Kent)  Establishes the right of student journalists to determine the content of school newspapers and student-led publications, unless the content is profane, harassing or intimidating.

HF 2597 (Green)  Repeals the requirement that 47% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund must be allocated to the State Arts Board.

HF 2645 (B. Johnson)/ SF 2296 (Nienow) Provides $2,414,000 to the city of Cambridge to build a new public library and headquarters for the East Central Regional Library.

HF 2898 (Lucero)  Protecting student data privacy on 1:1 devices issued by an educational institution.

HF 2900 (Lucero)  Protecting student privacy on personal electronic devices.

HF 2939 (C. Johnson)/ SF 2560 (Sheran) Provides funding for the Travers des Sioux Library Cooperative to hire licensed school media specialists to provide services to schools that do not have licensed school media specialists.  This was initiated by a former employee of TDS, and is not supported by the TDS Board.  I do not expect this bill to advance.

HF 3069 (Peterson) / SF 2462 (Carlson)  Exempts information systems software from the requirement that schools use a competitive bidding process for purchases.

SF 2294 (Dahms) Provides $30 million in bond proceeds for border to border broadband grants.

SF 2447 (Schmit)  Provides $100 million from the general fund for border to border broadband grants.

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as the MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

Happy precinct caucus day!

The Legislative session begins one week from today.  Here are some key things to know:

State Economic Forecast:  The February forecast was released last Friday.  The projected state budget surplus is now $900 million, down from the $1.2 billion that was projected in early December.  This will make it much tougher for anyone hoping for new spending or tax cuts.

Governor’s Budget:  Governor Dayton is set to release his supplemental budget recommendations on March 15.  He has said that, given the downturn in the surplus, he is likely to propose a limited amount of one-time spending.  Previously he had said he would propose $100 million in broadband grants to underserved communities.  This is the sort of spending that could be done on a one-time basis.  The Governor’s top priority remains universal pre-school for all 4 year olds, but legislators remain skeptical, especially in the House.

Library Construction Grants:  This Thursday, March 3, the House Capital Investment Committee will hold a day-long hearing where state agencies will present their bonding requests that made it into the Governor’s Capital Budget.  MDE has been allotted a 20 minute time period from 11:40am to noon to present Library Construction Grants and a proposal for improvements to the Red Lake School.  The hearing will be in Room 200 State Office Building.

Committee Deadlines:  Deadlines this session are quite early, ensuring that the session moves at a fast pace.  Here are the dates:

First deadline:  Friday, April 1.  By this date a bill must have passed through all of the policy committees it needs to be heard in and have either been sent to a finance committee or to the floor in order to remain alive.

Second Deadline:  Friday, April 8.  By this date a bill must have met the criteria for meeting the first deadline in BOTH the House and Senate to remain alive.

Third Deadline:  Thursday, April 21.  By this date the omnibus spending bills must be passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.

Legislative Calendar:  Traditionally the Legislature takes a week-long break for Passover and Easter.  This year because of the shortness of the session and because Passover and Easter are a month apart, legislators will instead take two short breaks.  The Legislature will be on a break for Easter beginning on Friday, March 25 and returning at noon on Tuesday, March 29.  The Legislature will take Friday, April 22 off because Passover begins that day at sundown.  The legislative session must adjourn no later than Monday, May 23 at midnight.

Legislative Retirements:  Amid the growing number of legislators who have announced that they will not seek re-election this year, the most notable for the library community is Senator LeRoy Stumpf (DFL – Plummer).  Senator Stumpf has been a long-time champion for libraries and we will miss him.  For a complete list of retiring legislators, follow this link:  http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/histleg/retire

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

Governor’s Capital Budget:   Today Governor Dayton released his capital budget request for 2016.  It includes $2 million for Library Construction Grants.  It also includes one academic library project — $820,000 to relocate the library at the Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Wadena and convert the space vacated by the library into a student services center.  The governor’s proposal does not include any funding for the East Central Regional Library headquarters and public library in Cambridge.

The governor is requesting $1.4 billion for general fund supported projects and $122 million in projects supported by other funds, for a grand total of $1.522 billion.  This is a very ambitious proposal.  Legislators typically authorize $1 billion in capital projects in a biennium.  House Republicans are saying they’d prefer to spend no more than $850 million in 2016.

Committee Deadlines:  House and Senate leaders have announced committee deadlines for the 2016 legislative session, which begins on Tuesday, March 8.  They are as follows:

• First deadline – Friday April 1: Committees must act favorably on bills in the house of origin.
• Second Deadline – Friday, April 8:  Committees must act favorably on bills that met the first deadline in the other house.
• Third Deadline –  Thursday, April 21:  The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee must act favorably on major appropriations and finance bills.
• Session must adjourn no later than Monday, May 23.Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

Below is a summary of 2015 legislative action (and inaction) affecting libraries. Most of this information has appeared in previous reports.

State Budget Overview: Despite having a nearly $1.9 billion budget surplus, Governor Dayton and legislative leaders were unable to reach a comprehensive budget agreement during the regular legislative session. After the session ended on May 18, Governor Dayton vetoed three major budget bills — the E-12 Education bill, the Agriculture and Environment bill and the Jobs and Economic Development bill. Legislators ran out of time and failed to pass the Legacy bill, the bonding bill and the Revisor’s bill (a technical corrections bill). After intense negotiations conducted largely between Governor Dayton and Speaker Daudt, an agreement was reached to hold a one-day special session to pass new versions of the three budget bills that were vetoed, along with the other three major bills for which time ran out. The special session was held on June 12. A revolt among Senate DFLers who were opposed to controversial provisions in the Agriculture and Environment bill threatened to derail the special session, but in the end all six bills were passed and Governor Dayton immediately signed them into law.

Library Appropriations in the E-12 Budget: Current funding levels were maintained for Regional Library Basic System Support (RLBSS), Regional Library Telecommunications Aid (RLTA), Multi-types, the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) and Telecommunications Equity Aid (TEA). The MLA/ITEM platform called for increases in RLBSS, RLTA, Multi-type funding and TEA. We had excellent hearings on each of these requests in both the House Education Finance Committee and the Senate E-12 Budget Division, but the low targets set for education in both bodies ($157 million in the House and $365 million in the Senate) made it extremely difficult to get funding increases. The Senate E-12 education bill did include an increase in RLBSS of $1.5 million per year along with a formula change that increased the base portion and reduced the ANTC portion. The Senate bill also included an increase in funding for TEA of $1.5 million per year for the 16-17 biennium only. Neither of these increases survived the conference committee. The general education formula and early learning were the top priorities for legislators and the governor, and almost all of the new funding ultimately went to those two areas.

School Technology: The Senate E-12 education bill included a provision requiring school districts to reserve future increases in revenue from the School Endowment Fund for technology and telecommunications infrastructure, programs and training. The provision did not survive the conference committee.

After School Funding: The MLA/ITEM platform endorsed funding for high quality after school programs. The Senate E-12 education bill provided $500,000 per year for after school programs in the 16-17 biennium only, but this funding did not survive the conference committee.

General Education Formula: The final E-12 education bill increases the general education formula by 2% in each of the next two years. The formula allowance is going from $5,831 per pupil to $5,948 in FY 2016 and to $6,067 in FY 2017. Just over 2/3 of the new spending in E-12 education went to pay for this increase.

RLTA Language: The final E-12 education bill included language proposed by MDE and supported by MLA that more closely aligns RLTA with the federal e-rate program.

School Technology Plans: The final E-12 education bill repealed a requirement that school districts have a technology plan on file with MDE in order to qualify for TEA. This was proposed by MDE.

1:1 Device Guidelines: The final E-12 education bill requires MDE to research existing 1:1 device programs in Minnesota and across the country to determine best practices and to issue guidelines no later than February 15, 2016 and submit a report to the Legislature.

Data Privacy: The final E-12 education bill also includes a provision conforming Minnesota’s law governing student records to conform to recent changes in federal law. The St. Paul Public Schools initiated this bill to allow them to share student addresses with the St. Paul Public Library so that every student can be issued a public library card at school. Without this legislation the school district would only be able to share student addresses with the public library if the school district classified the addresses as public information.

Legacy Funding for Regional Public Libraries: Regional public libraries will receive $2.2 million in legacy funding in each of the next two years. This is less than the $3 million per year that was allocated for the FY 14-15 biennium. Legislators in both bodies were adamant that no one had a base budget for Legacy funds, and therefore it was not appropriate to characterize it as a cut or even to complain about receiving less than in the previous biennium. The House bill provided $1.5 million for FY 16 and $2.5 million in FY 17, while the Senate bill provided $2.95 million each year. The initial version of the bill that was presented to the public as the conference committee agreement included the House level of funding for regional public libraries. However, an amendment was made at the last minute to add $400,000 over the biennium. Thank you to all of you who contacted the conferees. I do believe you made a difference.

Legacy Funding for the Minnesota Digital Library: The Minnesota Digital Library will receive $300,000 per year, which is the same level of funding provided over the last two years. As in the past, the funding is appropriated to the Minnesota Historical Society with a directive to cooperate with Minitex and jointly share the appropriation.

Higher Education: Funding for Minitex and MnLink will remain at the current level. MnSCU received an increase of $100 million for tuition relief and the University of Minnesota received an increase of $52 million, which includes $30 million for the medical school and $22 million for tuition relief. The Minnesota Electronic Health Library was not funded.

Border to Border Broadband Grants: The final Jobs and Economic Development bill included $10, 838,000 for broadband grants. This is in contrast to the $20 million provided in the 2014 session and the $30 million proposed by Governor Dayton in his budget.

Seed Library: Inspired by the seed library at the Duluth Public Library, the final agriculture policy bill included an exemption from seed regulations for “interpersonal sharing of seed for home, educational, charitable or personal non-commercial use.”

Data Practices Training for Local Government: The League of Minnesota Cities initiated a bill to provide funding so that the Department of Administration could provide training to local government officials on complying with the Minnesota Data Practices Act. The Senate included $100,000 for this in its State Government Finance bill, but the House provided no funding. Like so many other things that were funded in the Senate but not the House, this did not survive the conference committee.

Library Construction Grants: Governor Dayton proposed an unusually large bonding bill for an odd-numbered year, and it included $2 million for Library Construction Grants. This is the first time that a governor has included funding for this program in his capital budget. In the end, the governor and legislators agreed on a far more modest bonding bill consisting mainly of urgent items. In preparation for 2016, we had a bill introduced to provide $10 million for Library Construction Grants (SF 2179/ HF 2353). Our chief authors are Senator Kent Eken (DFL – Twin Valley) and Rep. Jeff Howe (R – Cold Spring).

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

The Legislature is holding a special session today. Governor Dayton issued a proclamation at 11pm last night calling legislators into a special session beginning at 10am this morning. Governor Dayton and legislative leaders expressed hope that this would be a one-day special session.

As of this writing both the House and Senate have passed the E-12 Education bill, the Legacy bill and the Jobs and Economic Development bill, all by wide margins. All three of those bills include appropriations of interest to libraries, which I have described in previous reports.

The three bills remaining to be passed are the bonding bill, the Agriculture and Environment bill and the Revisor’s bill. The most controversial is the Agriculture and Environment bill, which is opposed by many environmentalists. Earlier this afternoon the bill failed on the Senate floor by one vote. The vote was 33 in favor and 32 opposed, but it takes 34 votes to pass a bill on the Senate floor. The most likely scenario is that one or more senators who voted no are persuaded to change their votes. If not, a second special session would be required.

When the special session is concluded and Governor Dayton has signed all of the bills, I will send out a comprehensive summary of the 2015 session.

In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact me with questions.

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

Special Session: Governor Dayton and legislative leaders have reached agreement on all of the issues to be addressed in the special session with the exception of whether a provision curtailing the authority of the State Auditor should be repealed. Governor Dayton wants the provision repealed but Speaker Daudt says the Legislature will not do that.

Letter Speaker Daudt sent to Governor Dayton today, asking to meet tomorrow to set a date for the special session.

Education Bill: I reported last week at the MLA Legislative Committee meeting that Governor Dayton and Speaker Daudt had agreed to spend $525 million over the base budget for E-12 education, with an increase of 2% per year on the general education formula. At that time, the remaining details were being negotiated. On Friday the final bill and spreadsheet were released. As expected, there were no changes to any library appropriations and no change in the library language that had been agreed upon during the regular session. Early Learning Scholarships were increased by $48 million over the biennium, School Readiness was increased by $31 million and Head Start was increased by $10 million.

Link to the Education Bill

Link to the Education Bill spreadsheet

Other Bills: The remaining bills to be taken up during the special session are the Legacy bill (the same bill that was agreed to by the conference committee), the agriculture/environment bill, a small bonding bill and the jobs and economic development bill. The jobs and economic development bill includes funding for broadband grants of $10,838,000. Although Governor Dayton had initially objected to such a small amount for broadband, he agreed to it in the end. As part of the agreement, an earmark for the city of Annandale was removed. Annandale will have to compete for a broadband grant like everyone else. Finally, the bonding bill cancels $50,000 for the renovation of the Bagley Library that was in the 2014 bonding bill. Those costs cannot be bonded for, according to Senator Stumpf, chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee.

Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates

The following information was shared via email with the library community by Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates, in her role as MLA-ITEM lobbyist.

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