HF 1025

as introduced - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 02/11/2019 02:18pm

A bill for an act
relating to education finance; requiring that certain forecasted positive general
fund balances be allocated to restore the special education aid payment percentage;
amending Minnesota Statutes 2018, sections 16A.152, subdivisions 1b, 2; 127A.45,
subdivision 13.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 16A.152, subdivision 1b, is amended to read:

Subd. 1b.

Budget reserve level.

(a) The commissioner of management and budget shall
calculate the budget reserve level by multiplying the current biennium's general fund
nondedicated revenues and the most recent budget reserve percentage under subdivision 8.

(b) If, on the basis of a November forecast of general fund revenues and expenditures,
the commissioner of management and budget determines that there will be a positive
unrestricted general fund balance at the close of the biennium and that the provisions of
subdivision 2, paragraph (a), clauses (1), (2), (3), and (4), are satisfied, the commissioner
shall transfer to the budget reserve account in the general fund the amount necessary to
increase the budget reserve to the budget reserve level determined under paragraph (a). The
amount of the transfer authorized in this paragraph shall not exceed 33 percent of the positive
unrestricted general fund balance determined in the forecast.

EFFECTIVE DATE.

This section is effective July 1, 2019.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 16A.152, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Additional revenues; priority.

(a) If on the basis of a forecast of general fund
revenues and expenditures, the commissioner of management and budget determines that
there will be a positive unrestricted budgetary general fund balance at the close of the
biennium, the commissioner of management and budget must allocate money to the following
accounts and purposes in priority order:

(1) the cash flow account established in subdivision 1 until that account reaches
$350,000,000;

(2) the budget reserve account established in subdivision 1a until that account reaches
$1,596,522,000;

(3) the amount necessary to increase the aid payment schedule for school district aids
and credits payments in section 127A.45 to not more than 90 percent rounded to the nearest
tenth of a percent without exceeding the amount available and with any remaining funds
deposited in the budget reserve;

(4) the amount necessary to restore all or a portion of the net aid reductions under section
127A.441 and to reduce the property tax revenue recognition shift under section 123B.75,
subdivision 5, by the same amount; and

(5) the clean water fund established in section 114D.50 until $22,000,000 has been
transferred into the fund. the amount necessary to increase the special education aid payment
percentage under section 127A.45, subdivision 13, paragraph (b), to not more than 100
percent.

(b) The amounts necessary to meet the requirements of this section are appropriated
from the general fund within two weeks after the forecast is released or, in the case of
transfers under paragraph (a), clauses (3) and, (4), and (5), as necessary to meet the
appropriations schedules otherwise established in statute.

(c) The commissioner of management and budget shall certify the total dollar amount
of the reductions under paragraph (a), clauses (3) and, (4), and (5), to the commissioner of
education. The commissioner of education shall increase the aid payment percentage and,
reduce the property tax shift percentage, and increase the special education aid payment
percentage by these amounts and apply those reductions to the current fiscal year and
thereafter.

(d) Paragraph (a), clause (5), expires after the entire amount of the transfer has been
made.

EFFECTIVE DATE.

This section is effective July 1, 2019.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 127A.45, subdivision 13, is amended to read:

Subd. 13.

Aid payment percentage.

(a) Except as provided in subdivisions 11, 12, 12a,
and 14, each fiscal year, all education aids and credits in this chapter and chapters 120A,
120B, 121A, 122A, 123A, 123B, 124D, 124E, 125A, 125B, 126C, 134, and section 273.1392,
shall be paid at the current year aid payment percentage of the estimated entitlement during
the fiscal year of the entitlement.

(b) For the purposes of this subdivision, a district's estimated entitlement for special
education aid under section 125A.76 for fiscal year 2014 and later equals 97.4 percent of
the district's entitlement for the current fiscal year.

(c) The final adjustment payment, according to subdivision 9, must be the amount of
the actual entitlement, after adjustment for actual data, minus the payments made during
the fiscal year of the entitlement.

EFFECTIVE DATE.

This section is effective July 1, 2019.