Legislative Update – January 27, 2017

Minnesota State completes overview presentations to the House and Senate

This week, Minnesota State gave an overview presentation to the House and Senate Higher Ed. Committees. Both presentations featured the following speakers:

• Board Chair Michael Vekich
• Trustee Basil Ajuo
• Chancellor Steven Rosenstone
• President Merrill Irving, Hennepin Technical College
• Brad Thorpe, faculty, Hennepin Technical College
• Jordan Folstad, student in Automation Robotics program, Hennepin Technical College
• Craig Kiffmeyer, Hennepin Technical College alumnus
• Gary Lagro, Hennepin Technical College alumnus
• Myron Moser, CEO, Hartfiel Automation, and President of the HTC Foundation
• Vice Chancellor Laura King
Thank you to our presenters, and thank you to the many trustees, presidents, students, faculty, and staff who attended or listened live from campuses across the state.

Committee deadlines announced
Leaders of the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives announced three committee deadlines for action on bills for the 2017 Legislative Session:

• Friday, March 10 is the first deadline, where committees must act favorably on bills in the house of origin.
• Friday, March 17 is the second deadline in which committees must act favorably on bills, or companion bills, that have met the first deadline in the other body. Lastly,
• Friday, March 31 is the third deadline in which the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.

The legislative session has a constitutional deadline to adjourn by Monday, May 22.

The week in review
The Legislature finished a key part of its health care work Thursday. The House and Senate passed a compromise bill Thursday that will give 25 percent rebates to about 125,000 people facing big spikes in individual market health care premiums. The total cost of the bill is about $325 million. Governor Mark Dayton signed it last night.
Other key happenings in Higher Ed this week:

Governor Dayton’s budget proposal prioritizes health, education and transportation: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/sessiondaily/SDView.aspx?StoryID=12424

Testifiers speak on behalf of Minnesota State benefits:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/sessiondaily/SDView.aspx?StoryID=12431

U of M president gives overview of institution’s statewide impact: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/sessiondaily/SDView.aspx?StoryID=12423

Read more…

Questions? Contact the Government Relations Team:

Jaime Simonsen
Bernie Omann
Jim Grathwol

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