Good morning. Higher education conferees met privately throughout the day and night yesterday, but didn’t hold a public conference committee as originally intended. The conference committee is scheduled to tentatively meet at 10:30 today or at the call of the chair. As a reminder, conferees are working with a $166 million target in new funding for all of higher education.
Legislative leaders have reached a deal (click here) on the overall numbers; however, Governor Mark Dayton has said he’ll veto the E-12 education bill if the Legislature doesn’t include more spending to fund his top priority – half day preschool. Legislative leaders agreed on a $400 million target in new funding for E-12 education, but the governor said he wants the Legislature to spend an additional $150 million. Overall, the budget agreement spends $41.5 billion over the 2016-2017 biennium.
Conference committees will meet throughout the weekend to wrap up their bills and get them to the floor for a vote. We will continue to keep you posted throughout the weekend with any higher education activity.
Today at the Capitol
9:00 a.m. or at the call of the chair
Conference Committee on H.F. 844: Omnibus education bill
Room: 112 Capitol
Chairs: Sen. Charles W. Wiger and Rep. Jenifer Loon
CONFEREES: SENATE: Wiger; Dahle; Johnson; Pratt; Stumpf – HOUSE: Loon; Kresha; Peterson; Erickson; Dettmer
Agenda: H.F. 844-Wiger: Omnibus pre-kindergarten through grade 12 education appropriations bill.
10:30 a.m. or at the call of the chair
Conference Committee on S.F. 5: Omnibus higher education bill
Room: 500N State Office Building
Chairs: Sen. Terri E. Bonoff and Rep. Bud Nornes
CONFEREES: SENATE: Bonoff; Miller; Dziedzic; Eken; Clausen – HOUSE: Nornes; Pelowski Jr.; Gruenhagen; O’Neill; Christensen
Agenda: S.F. 5-Bonoff: Omnibus higher education bill
11:00 a.m.
House floor session
CALENDAR FOR THE DAY:
SF1694 (Green) Religious objections to autopsies authorization.
HF748 (Albright) Disaster relief; spending authorized to acquire and better public land and buildings and other improvements of a capital nature, and money appropriated.
SF698 (Torkelson) Environment and natural resources trust fund appropriation modified, and Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources provisions modified.
SF1215 (Howe) Flame-retardant chemical use in products prohibited.
12:00 p.m.
Senate in Session
At the call of the chair
House Ways and Means
Room: TBA
Chair: Rep. Jim Knoblach
Agenda: SF1398 (O’Driscoll) Retirement; various provisions modified relating to actuarial assumptions, postretirement adjustment triggers, contribution stabilizers, police and firefighter retirement, Minnesota State Retirement System, Teachers Retirement Association, and Public Employees Retirement Association.
SF1398 the first unofficial engrossment – the omnibus pension bill – will be heard pending referral to the committee
At the call of the chair (not before 12:00 p.m.)
Conference Committee on H.F. 848: Omnibus tax bill
Room: 15 Capitol
Chairs: Sen. Rod Skoe and Rep. Greg Davids
CONFEREES: SENATE: Skoe; Gazelka; Dziedzic; Koenen; Rest – HOUSE: Davids; Lenczewski; Drazkowski; Barrett; Swedzinski
Agenda: H.F. 848-Skoe: Omnibus tax bill.
3:00 p.m. or at the call of the chair
Conference Committee on H.F. 846: Omnibus agriculture, environment and natural resources bill
Room: Basement hearing room, state office building
Chairs: Sen. David J. Tomassoni and Rep. Denny McNamara
CONFEREES: SENATE: Tomassoni; Weber; Hoffman; Marty; Sparks – HOUSE: McNamara; Hamilton; Fabian; Hackbarth; Dill
Agenda: H.F. 846-Tomassoni: Omnibus agriculture, environment and natural resources appropriations.
Thank you.
Melissa Fahning
Director of Legislative Communications
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
651-201-1757 (work) 612-483-3741 (cell)
melissa.fahning@so.mnscu.edu
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