Legislative wrap-up

This legislature went into a one-day special session on Monday to balance the state's budget and has gone home. With elections looming, no one wanted to come back in a few weeks to iron things out, so a compromise was hammered out at the last (or in this case, just after the last) minute. The session was pretty quiet for us compared to some years in the past. Still, we saw several successes. A bonding bill was passed (though significantly reduced in size by the governor), our indemnification initiative received a boost by coming to agreement with the Department of Administration on contract language that will clear the way for our efforts in the next session, and we were able to kill an expansion of the Taxpayers Accountability Act from beyond the borders of Mn/DOT to all state agencies.

Thanks to all the members who helped make this a successful session for us. Numerous members sent grassroots letters on the profession's behalf, many of you met with legislators and a few of you testified at hearings. Our lobbyist kept us well informed of the goings on at the capitol and we were well prepared to address issues as they came up.

There will be many new faces at the legislature next year. All house and senate seats as well as a governor's office are up for election. It will be a very different landscape and our goal now is to start preparing for the next session and strategize on how to increase our effectiveness in the coming years.

Here is a rundown on what transpired this session:

Bonding

Fairly early in the session a nearly $1 billion Bonding Bill (SF2360, HF2700) was passed by the legislature. The governor made $320 million in line item vetoes to bring it down to $680 million. There was a late effort to get a supplemental bonding bill passed, but the legislature ran out of time and it did not pass.

Jobs

An Omnibus Jobs Bill (HF2695) passed in mid session. It allows for tax credits for historic structures rehabilitation, repealed restrictions on development of the Mall of America site, establishes voluntary energy improvement financing programs for local governments, transportation infrastructure loans, qualified green building and sustainable design projects and tax increment financing districts.

Indemnification

We have come to agreement with the Department of Administration (DOA) to proposed changes in indemnification language in state contracts. The new language limits liability to only negligence-based actions and is a big move forward from the current language. We hope to see the new language in state contracts soon. Since DOA was the main opposition to our indemnification legislation (SF56, HF578) we should have a much better chance of passing it next session.

Small Wastewater Systems

We were able to quickly kill a piece of legislation (HF3433, SF3072) that came out in mid-March that would have modified requirements for the design of subsurface sewage treatment systems (SSTS) with flows less than 10,000 gallons per day. A grassroots letter writing effort by our members and members of MSPE was effective enough to get the bill pulled before it even reached a hearing. This is proof that a strong grassroots effort can affect a legislative outcome. Thanks to all the members who contacted their legislators in this effort.

Competition between State Employees and Private Sector

This final piece of legislation was introduced late and lingered until the next to the last day of the session. The "Taxpayers Accountability Act" (SF2874), required a comparison between the costs of private services (which includes consulting engineers) and state employees for contracts over $100,000. If the private service were more costly than the state employees, the state must use the state employees for the service. The legislation also required that no state employees may loose their jobs because of the contract. The legislation was similar to the Taxpayers Transportation Accountability Act that passed last year but would have affected state agencies other than Mn/DOT. Senate Majority Leader Pogemiller was behind the legislation and was pushing it on behalf of the state employee unions. The legislation was ultimately attached to the Senate Omnibus Government Finance Bill. We came close to defeating it's inclusion on the bill, but lost on a 34 to 30 vote. It then went to conference committee on the next to last day of the session were it was finally defeated. On the Senate floor vote and in the conference committee, several legislators that had been contacted by ACEC/MN members through our grassroots efforts, spoke in support of our position (even quoting word for word our alerts). In the end, it was enough to finally defeat the legislation in the conference committee. This is a great example of how effective we can be when we become actively involved in the process.

Transportation

Two policy bills passed this year. One was the 2009 bill (SF1060) and the other was this year's bill (SF2540). Notable provisions of SF2540 include: "Complete Streets" requirements; stipends for short-listed proposers even if the proposal comes in above the maximum price, but is responsive in all other aspects; a requirement that Mn/DOT convene regular meetings with DBE's to evaluate the program and recommend changes; and Mn/DOT is authorized to apply for and use alternative financing available through federal programs for a single pilot project.