Ewald at the Capitol

Shifting School Calendars?

A year of the pandemic has created colossal shifts in how school districts deliver public education and many lessons have been learned. Although it has been rocky, school districts now realize that distance learning has helped some students excel and has provided more opportunities to offer expanded programming for students.

In January, the Senate Education Finance and Policy Committee heard from superintendents and school board members from different areas of the state about the need for flexibility in designing learning models based on what they learned through the pandemic. This resulted in the introduction of SF1441 (Chamberlain) which proposes to provide school districts more flexibility in designing learning models to meet all learners and additional flexibility in determining the school calendar. SF1441 was heard this week in the Senate Education Finance and Policy Committee. No action was taken—but provisions of the bill could advance as the committee moves forward with their education funding package later in session.

Telehealth Bill Advances

Hearings took place in both the House and the Senate on legislation to extend the change allowed by the governor’s emergency orders to allow greater use of electronic visits with health care providers. During testimony, witnesses talked about the impact of the pandemic on patients and the need to continue access and availability for people in greater Minnesota, and for those with transportation and other issues. Witnesses stated that the pandemic has increased the use of telehealth for a variety of practitioners and patients. It has been particularly helpful in the mental health field. The House held the bill over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill later this session. The Senate continues to move the bill on its own. Regardless of which path the bill takes, it is likely to see final passage before the end of the session.

House Proposed Tax Subtraction

On Tuesday (March 9), the House Taxes Committee held a hearing on a bill that would temporarily provide a tax subtraction for individuals who received supplemental unemployment insurance benefits from the federal government, effective for tax years 2020 and 2021.

Under current state law, unemployment benefits are considered taxable income. If passed, HF1658 (Stephenson) would provide an exception for those benefits received. HF1658 was laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill later this session, but committee chair Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth) stated that House leadership has been receptive to the idea of passing something sooner on both unemployment benefits and PPP loans. The Minnesota Department of Revenue estimates that the proposed changes would reduce General Fund revenues by $237.9 million in fiscal year 2022, but would have no fiscal impact in ensuing years.

Session's First Deadline

The first legislative committee deadline is midnight on Friday, March 12. Policy bills must have cleared at least one committee, or their chances of passage are greatly reduced. Bills that do not make this deadline could resurface as amendments to bigger bills or be part of final negotiations but are technically considered “dead.” Thinning the number of bills in play is a method the legislature uses to narrow its focus to passing a budget and finishing its work in May.

Dates to Remember

Key dates for the 2021 Legislative Session are:

March 12: First deadline. This is the deadline by which committees must act favorably on bills in the body where the bill originated.
March 19: Second deadline. This is the deadline by which committees in the opposite body must act favorably on bills or companions of bills.
March 26–April 5: Legislative Easter/Passover break.
April 9: Third deadline. This is the deadline by which committees must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.
May 17: End of regular session.