The weather over the past two weeks has caused us to slow down and appreciate the beauty and wonder of living in Minnesota, a state with four distinct seasons which sometimes causes disruptions and challenges. The legislative session is concluding its fifth week and although there have been weather issues leading to travel disruptions and school delays or closings, the work in the Minnesota House kept on going.

We have a limited amount of time to conclude the work of the legislature so weather sometimes has to be tolerated and worked around. Many committee meetings over the past five weeks have been used to educate legislators, with some bills also making their way through the committee process. The House and Senate leadership have given us deadlines for policy and finance bills. The first deadline is March 15, the second deadline is March 29, and the third deadline happens on April 12, the last day before we leave on a Passover/Easter break. The constitutionally-required date to adjourn session this year is Monday, May 20.

I had three bill hearings this past week including HF 515, heard in the House Taxes Committee, which will help small businesses and farmers with Section 179 expensing. The bill will simply conform Minnesota tax policy with federal policy. Section 179 expensing allows taxpayers to deduct 100 percent of the cost of certain depreciable property in the year the property was placed in service, instead of taking the deduction over a period of years under the applicable federal depreciation schedule. Minnesota has not conformed to the federal section 179 expensing rules since 2005.

Another bill heard in tax committee this week was HF 335, which is a bill I carried last year and was in the 2018 omnibus tax bill (which was vetoed). It will allow the Cedar Valley Conservation Club, located just north of Austin, to be tax-exempt on the trap/skeet rounds that are thrown each year. Although this won’t be a significant cost in the overall tax bill, it is a significant benefit for our local non-profit conservation club. Besides the Cedar Valley Conservation Club, this bill would provide a sales tax exemption for any purchases made by nonprofit clubs that provide facilities and instruction for handguns or rifles.

I also was granted a hearing for HF 141 in the Government Operations committee this week. That bill changes the vote required to dispose of property from a two-thirds majority to a majority of the port authority commissioners. This is meant to clarify the statute when an economic development entity (Port Authority) votes to sell land. The next stop for this bill is in the Jobs and Economic Development Finance Division.

If you have any questions or comments on the legislative process, please reach out to me or my staff. As always, you can reach me by email at rep.jeanne.poppe@house.mn or by phone at 651-296-4193.

State Rep. Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin) is the Chair of the House Agriculture and Food Finance and Policy Division.