Welcome to the chamber blog!

Bonding, also known as Capital Investment, is the way the state pays for specific big, long-term projects. 

A bond is a loan. With a loan like a mortgage, the collateral is your house. With Bonds, the collateral is the full faith, credit and taxing authority of the State.  Since the state is the one that issues the bonds – instead of borrowing from a bank, it borrows from whoever is willing to buy the bonds -- it’s kind of like a GoFundMe (if a GoFundMe that you have to pay back existed.) The state promises to pay the money back within a specified time and at a specific interest rate. 

There are a few kinds of bonds that the state can use. General Obligation bonds are the ones that the “bonding bill” uses. Our constitution lists the purposes the state can spend G.O. bond proceeds on – most commonly, to “acquire and better” public land and buildings, and make other public capital improvements. If the expenditure doesn’t fall within a category specified in the constitution, you can’t spend bonding proceeds on it. 

The state can’t use bonding for everything. They must be for a public purpose, specified in law, authorized in the constitution, and mature in not more than 20 years. 

Capital project. A capital project, in general, is to acquire or improve fixed assets, such as land or buildings. The fixed asset must be long-lived; bond counsel has suggested that the useful life be at least ten years. The improvements must be substantial, extend the useful life or substantially increase the value of the fixed asset, and not be predictable or recurring (as repairs would be). For example, a study or planning is not capital in nature, but design work for a site-specific capital project is. 

Publicly owned. Bonds issued under the capital improvements provision may only be for publicly owned projects, whether state or local. “Publicly owned” includes projects of the Minnesota Historical Society, but not projects owned by public radio, public TV, Indian tribes, the federal government, or private sewage systems even if they will serve the public. Three-fifths vote. A law to authorize the issuance of state G.O. bonds for capital improvements must be enacted with at least a three-fifths vote of the House and the Senate. 

Post by Shannon Watson, SPACC Director of Public Affairs

The Minnesota legislature has a few dates that guide its work. The most important is the constitutionally-mandated adjournment date – no later than the Monday after the third Saturday in May. This year, that date is May 21st.  

As of this writing, there have been 3,816 bills introduced in the House of Representatives, and 3,377 bills introduced in the Senate*. Bills can, and are, introduced anytime during the session – often all the way up until the final day. Many bills don’t even receive a hearing, but to become enacted into law, bills need** to move through the committee process. Occasionally you’ll hear about bills meeting or missing “first deadline” or “second deadline” or “third deadline” – those are the dates that the legislature uses to narrow down their scope of work for the year. Of course, like most rules, these have exceptions. Deadlines don’t apply to bills that have to go through Capital Investment, Ways and Means/Finance, Taxes, or Rules. 

"The first deadline is for committees to act favorably on bills in the house of origin." 
This means the bill needs to get a committee hearing (House bills in House Committees and Senate bills in Senate committees) and pass through the committee, or be “laid over for possible inclusion” which is when a bunch of little bills are bundled together in one big omnibus bill. If it passes or is laid over, the bill has met the first hurdle and can continue. This year, first deadline is March 22.

"The second deadline is for committees to act favorably on bills, or companions of bills, that met the first deadline in the other house." 
Once a bill passes its own committee, it needs to pass the other body’s committee that deals with the same subject. The House and Senate both have committees that deal with all of the same subjects, although it’s not a perfectly mirrored system. Some committees have different names and some have slightly different jurisdictions. If a House bill meets first deadline and then gets a favorable hearing in a Senate committee (or vice versa), it has met the second deadline and can continue. This year, second deadline is March 29. 

"The third deadline is for committees to act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills." 
This is the deadline specific to bills that deal with money. This year, third deadline is April 20. 

If a bill doesn’t meet its deadline but gets a favorable hearing in committee, the Rules committee can override the other deadlines and let it proceed. 

*Since the Minnesota legislature works on a biennial – 2 year – system, bills are in play for the duration of the two years. A bill that is introduced on day 1 year 1 doesn’t have to start the process over on year 2. Conference Committees (which are made up of members from the House and Senate who work out differences between their versions of the same bill) also still meet. At the end of the two year session (when they adjourn “sine die”) is when everything stops, and bill numbers start back up after the election at House File 1, House File 2, etc.

**Bills are never really dead until “sine die”, and can bypass the committee process by becoming an amendment on to another bill, which is called a “vehicle”. This often happens late in session when legislators are moving things quickly in the last few days.

Have a question about the legislature? Let Shannon know and maybe you’ll see it answered here!

The State of Minnesota’s Restroom Access Act, MN Stat. 325E.60, requires that businesses allow customers with certain medical conditions to use their restroom. These medical conditions include Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediate access to a restroom facility. If your establishment has an employee-only restroom and does not have a public restroom, you must allow a customer access to that bathroom, as an accommodation based on their disability.
 
A business is allowed to refuse this request if there are less than three employees working at the time of the request or providing restroom access will create an obvious security risk to the establishment.
 
Violations of the Restroom Access Act will result first in a warning letter. Second violations are a petty misdemeanor and fines may be applied. The Restroom Access Act is only one page long, and is included in full below – take a read for more information.  Refusing to provide a reasonable accommodation to a customer with a disability may also result in a violation of Chapter 183 of the Saint Paul Human Rights Ordinance.
 
Thanks to the City of Saint Paul’s Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO) for helping to formulate this summary.

2017 Minnesota Statutes
325E.60 RESTROOM ACCESS
Subdivision 1. Short title.
 
This section may be cited as the Restroom Access Act.

Subd. 2. Definitions.
 
For purposes of this section:
(a) "Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the premises of a retail establishment.
(b) "Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediate access to a restroom facility.
(c) "Retail establishment" means a place of business open to the general public for the sale of goods or services. Retail establishment does not include a filling station or service station with a structure of 800 square feet or less that has an employee restroom facility located within that structure.

Subd. 3. Retail establishment; customer access to restroom facilities.
 
A retail establishment that has a restroom facility for its employees shall allow a customer to use that facility during normal business hours if the restroom facility is reasonably safe and all of the following conditions are met:
(1) the customer requesting the use of the employee restroom facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or uses an ostomy device, provided that the existence of the condition or device is documented in writing by the customer's physician or a nonprofit organization whose purpose includes serving individuals who suffer from the condition;
(2) three or more employees of the retail establishment are working at the time the customer requests use of the employee restroom facility;
(3) the retail establishment does not normally make a restroom available to the public;
(4) the employee restroom facility is not located in an area where providing access would create an obvious health or safety risk to the customer or an obvious security risk to the establishment; and
(5) a public restroom is not immediately accessible to the customer.

Subd. 4. Liability.
 
(a) A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment is not civilly liable for an act or omission in allowing a customer who claims to have an eligible medical condition to use an employee restroom facility that is not a public restroom if the act or omission:
(1) is not negligent;
(2) occurs in an area of the retail establishment that is not accessible to the public; and
(3) results in an injury to or death of the customer or an individual other than an employee accompanying the customer.
(b) This section does not require a retail establishment to make any physical changes to an employee restroom facility.

Subd. 5. Violation.
 
For a first violation of this section, the city or county attorney shall issue a warning letter to the retail establishment or employee informing the establishment or employee of the requirements of this section. A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment that violates this section after receiving a warning letter is guilty of a petty misdemeanor. The fine for a first offense must not exceed $50.

​History:
2007 c 135 art 2 s 31