Minnesota Legislative Update

Date: April 14, 2014

Legislature Reaches Final Committee Deadline

 

Friday, March 28, was the final committee deadline for the
legislature, where all bills are supposed to have passed through all policy
committees in the House or Senate and have either reached the floor, the
Finance Committee, or the Tax Committee.  For the most part this rule is
honored, although legislators can always bring up defeated bills as amendments
on the floor.  Below is a brief update on issues NFIB is involved in.

 

Huge Tax Victory!

HF1777 Rep. Lenczewski (Bloomington)/Sen. Rod Skoe (Clearbrook)

 

As you likely heard the legislature rushed a tax bill
through that repealed our new gift tax, repealed all the new business sales
taxes, and even made some significant progress on the general estate tax
issue.  They had a provision in the bill that raised the exemption by $1
million over the next four years.  It is rare to see a major tax bill
rushed through the legislature this quickly without even a conference
committee.  Next up tax bill two?

 

Minimum Wage Remains Stalled

HF92 Rep. Ryan Winkler (Golden Valley)/SF3 Sen. Chris
Eaton (Brooklyn Center)

 

We have quite an interparty fight going on with the minimum
wage issue, which is in conference committee; it is very stalemated and appears
to be going nowhere.  NFIB is watching it closely, though, because things
can change quickly.  Hopefully majority party Senators will hang in there
and continue to oppose any type of an automatic escalator and will demand that
significant parts of their favorable bill, such as a very low small business
wage and a 48 hour overtime requirement are part of the final package. 
Unfortunately, they agreed to a three-year phase-in to $9.50 per hour recently
for employers covered by the federal law.

 

A new development occurred on Friday, March 28, when the
Senate Jobs committee passed a poorly drafted proposed constitutional amendment
that would raise the wage to $9.50 per hour, add an escalator to it and then
put it before a vote of the people as a constitutional amendment in the 2014
election.  NFIB joined with other business representatives and
representatives of unions in opposition to the measure.  The bill appears
to be a negotiating measure for the Senate leadership, but a constitutional
amendment would be a bad outcome and is guaranteed to cause a multi-million
dollar ad campaign.  The proposed constitutional amendment was sent to the
rules committee where the leadership can quickly deploy it for a floor vote if
they choose.

 

Several Bad Employment Law Bills Stalled for Now

 

Wednesday, March 26, we had a very encouraging day in the
Senate Jobs committee where committee members led by chairman Dan Sparks
(Austin) stalled or significantly revised several new bad employment law bills
that placed mandates on employers and most inappropriately creates a new right
to sue employers under the state Human Rights Act.  Below is an update on
these new negative issues for employers. 


 

Mandated Sick Leave

HF2461 Rep. John Lesch (St. Paul)/SF2105 Sen. Sandra
Pappas (St. Paul)

 

This dramatic new mandate appears to be stalled and
hopefully for the rest of the 2014 session.  At the moment, it is stalled
in both houses, and hopefully it remains in that condition.

 

Adding Familial Status/Caregiver to the Human Rights
Act

HF2300 Rep. Carly Melin (Hibbing)/SF2006 Sen. Melissa
Wiklund (Bloomington)

 

As previously mentioned this is one of the major bills that
was stalled in the Senate Jobs committee last week.  The Senate author
completely dropped her proposal and substituted language that would allow
people to use their sick leave to care for extended family members and
others.  This was a huge victory for employers, private or public, and
would have dramatically increased the number of lawsuits with the assistance of
the Human Rights Act against employers.  In these types of cases not only
can a plaintiff receive the assistance of the department in bringing their
claim against a business or a public employer, but they also get their
attorney’s fees reimbursed, which always provides an incentive for plaintiff
lawyers to take cases they otherwise might not and they also can receive double
or triple damages.

 

Unfortunately the bill is still moving in the House and NFIB
is co-leading the coalition to defeat one of the worst lawsuit-related bills
we’ve seen in a long time.

 

Protection for Employees to Provide Wage Disclosure

HF2274 Rep. Sandra Masin (Eagan)/SF1999 Sen. Barb
Goodwin (Columbia Heights)

 

We also had a significant victory on this issue when the
right to file a human rights claim, complete with attorney’s fees and potentially
additional damages was also defeated in the Senate Jobs committee.  They
passed the bill out after making some significant changes but most importantly
substitute the new right to sue with a regulatory action by the Department of
Labor and Industry against a business or other employer who violates the new
law. 

 

Nursing Mothers, Lactation Bill

HF2259 Rep. Barb Yarusso (Shoreview)/SF2000 Sen. Kathy
Sheran (Mankato)

 

A similar action occurred on this legislation when the
Senate Jobs committee deleted the new right to sue and replaced it with a
regulatory action by the Department of Labor and Industry if employers refuse
to comply.

 

Comparable Worth Required for Some State Contracts

HF2373 Rep. Rena Moran (St. Paul)/SF1806 Sen. Sandra
Pappas (St. Paul)

 

A radical measure that would have required some businesses
to completely change their compensation systems and adopt a government imposed
comparable worth system appears to be defeated for the legislative
session.  This was another measure that bit the dust during the Senate
Jobs committee hearing of last week.  Senate author Sandy Pappas (St.
Paul) placed a delete everything amendment on the bill that now requires anyone
who has an affected state contract to be scrutinized by the state for their
compliance with various equal work for equal pay laws.  The revision by
Senator Pappas was a huge defeat for the advocates of this radical measure,
which exempted all contractors of any type and the vast majority of small
businesses, those with 40 or less.  Despite those broad exemptions NFIB
still joined with others in opposition to this measure.

 

State-Sponsored Retirement Plan Defeated

HF2419 Rep. Patti Fritz (Faribault)/SF2078 Sen. Sandra
Pappas (St. Paul)

 

An inappropriate and unworkable proposal to have the state
get into the retirement business finally was defeated when the language was
substituted with a study on the issue.  The state has enough problems
managing its current pension obligations and there’s no justification for them
to jump into a very competitive business that currently offers individuals many
options and retirement plans. 

 

Rule Making Revision

HF2724 Rep. Mike Nelson (Brooklyn Park)/SF2467 Sen.
Sandra Pappas (St. Paul)

 

Legislation that attempts to streamline the administrative
rule making process and is a priority for Governor Dayton is advancing. 
NFIB is opposed to a provision that changes the number of parties that must
request a hearing from 25 to 50 on a new proposed rule in front of an
administrative law judge.  In testimony in committee we expressed a
practical concern that some business groups or professions may not be able to
find 50 people to respond quick enough to trigger the full hearing in front of
the administrative law judge where people can come in and actually testify and
share their concerns about a new proposed rule.  NFIB will continue to
push to retain the current 25 requirement.

 

Expungement Legislation

HF2576 Rep. Carly Melin (Hibbing)/SF2214 Sen. Bobby
Joe Champion (Minneapolis)

 

A bill to make it easier to expunge records for some
non-violent offenders is advancing, although an effort will likely be made to
increase the amount of time an individual would need to be law-abiding before
requesting an expungement.  NFIB will likely join with legislative allies
and push for a longer period, where a person has been completely law-abiding
before an expungement can be requested.

 

 

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