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Net Metering Reform Passes Special Session On Friday, June 12, Governor Dayton called the Legislature back to St. Paul for a Special Session to pass state agency financing bills that he had vetoed following the Regular Session. Early in the day, the jobs/energy bill passed both the House...

Tentative Agreement Reached on Special Session On Wednesday, Governor Dayton and legislative leaders announced that they had reached a “tentative” budget agreement to call a special session.  Several budget bills passed by the Legislature in the 2015 Session were vetoed by...

Governor Vetoes Energy and Environment Bills On Saturday, after a great deal of pressure from environmental advocacy groups, Governor Dayton vetoed two additional budget bills—the jobs/energy and agriculture/environment bills.  These were the two bills that contained most of the...

A Rush to the Finish The previous issue of The Capitol Letter noted that the Governor and legislative leaders were still negotiating an overall budget deal.  Those negotiations continued until last Friday night (May 15), when House Speaker Daudt and Senate Majority Leader Bakk...

Still Waiting… At the time of publishing, a global agreement on budget targets has not yet been reached between the Governor, Senate Majority Leader, and Speaker of the House.  These three leaders have been holding private negotiations at the Governor’s mansion all...

Senate Assembles and Passes New Energy Policy Omnibus On Thursday, Sen. John Marty (chair of the Environment and Energy Committee) crafted a second energy policy omnibus on the Senate floor ( SF 1735 ).  He noted that many of the provisions contained in his first policy...

Senate Tax Omnibus Includes Utility Property Tax Reform This week, the Senate Tax Committee unveiled its tax omnibus bill ( SF 826 ).  The Senate bill provides about $460 million in tax relief, mostly through reducing the state’s general tax levy (but slightly increasing the...

After Long Debate, House Job Growth and Energy Omnibus Passes House The House took up the Job Growth and Energy Affordability budget and policy omnibus bill ( HF 843 ) on Wednesday.  As detailed in previous versions of The Capitol Letter, this bill contains the budgets of many state...

Senate Environment, Economic Development, and Agriculture Budget Assembled Taking a vastly different approach than the House in both process and content, the Senate Environment, Economic Development, and Agriculture Budget Division quickly assembled its omnibus budget bill ( SF 2101 )...

House Assembles Energy Omnibus Last week, the House Job Growth and Energy Affordability (JGEA) Committee passed its omnibus finance and policy bill.  The jurisdiction of this committee is large, so in addition to energy provisions, the bill ( HF 843 ) includes policy and budget items...

CHP Bill Discussed in House Energy On Monday, the House Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee discussed HF 813 , which would add combined heat and power (CHP) and cogeneration facilities to the definition of new large energy facilities that are allowed to be constructed and not...

Senate Energy Omnibus Emerges This week, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee assembled its omnibus energy bill (SF 1431 ) onto the body of the DER policy bill.  Hearings on individual bills were held on Tuesday and Thursday, some of which were then amended onto the omnibus...

Municipal Power Agency Bill Pulled from Agenda Legislation that would subject municipal power agencies to the open meeting law (SF 978) was originally scheduled for a hearing on Friday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Thanks to lobbying efforts and MMUA members’ swift outreach,...

Senate Tax Reform Division Hears Refundable Sales Tax Bill On Tuesday, the Senate Tax Reform Division heard SF 532, the bill which would make the sales tax on construction materials for local governments refundable. The bill is authored by Division chair, Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope). Sen....

The Capitol Letter, Vol. 14, No. 4, Feb. 27, 2015 House Environment Committee Discusses MPCA Wild Rice Water Standards On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee discussed HF 1000 (Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing), related to the state’s...

The Capitol Letter Vol. 14, No. 3,  Feb. 19, 2015 House Committee Debates Coal Power Import Lawsuit On Monday, the House Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee discussed HF 639, a bill that would repeal a provision of the 2007 Next Generation Energy Act that...

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