HF 3781

1st Engrossment - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to state government; requiring the Legislative Coordinating Commission
to oversee legislative training forums; establishing a schedule for consideration
of legislation; specifying conference committee procedures and limits on
contents of conference committee reports; appropriating money for expenses of a
governor-elect; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapters
3; 4.

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

Section 1.

new text begin [3.051] LEGISLATIVE TRAINING FORUMS.
new text end

new text begin (a) The Legislative Coordinating Commission shall oversee two legislative training
forums each year. The commission shall:
new text end

new text begin (1) create an annual gathering of legislators to be held within the first two weeks of
January each year, and one other legislative training forum each February;
new text end

new text begin (2) select speakers, including nonpartisan legislative or executive staff, who
will provide an oversight of the issues affecting Minnesota, including demographic,
environmental, sociological, and economic perspectives on Minnesota, background on
key policy issues the legislature is expected to address that year, and training to improve
legislative skills in running effective meetings and other issues;
new text end

new text begin (3) invite current executive branch officials in order to provide opportunities for
legislators and invited executive branch officials to interact and work to form cooperative
solutions to Minnesota issues, problems, and challenges.
new text end

new text begin (b) The joint rules of the house of representatives and senate must prohibit any
official gathering of legislators that might conflict with the legislative forums provided
for in this section.
new text end

new text begin (c) The Legislative Coordinating Commission may select a partner or partners from
Minnesota's institutions of higher education and nonprofit communities, and if such a
choice is made, must give all interested institutions an opportunity to submit a proposal to
run the training, schedule activities, and create meeting agendas. The commission may
accept donations from foundations, corporations, and individuals to defray costs of the
forums, and shall publish those donations on the legislature's Web site. No registered
lobbyist or principal shall contribute for this purpose. Donations received are appropriated
to the Legislative Coordinating Commission for purposes of this section.
new text end

Sec. 2.

new text begin [3.052] SCHEDULE FOR CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATION.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Agency bills. new text end

new text begin An executive department or agency intending to urge
the legislature to adopt a bill shall deliver the bill to the revisor of statutes by November 1
before the regular session at which adoption will be urged. This deadline does not apply:
(1) to bills necessary to implement the governor's budget proposals; (2) to other bills that
are initiatives of the governor, as opposed to administrative initiatives of a department or
agency; or (3) as otherwise provided in section 3C.035.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Resolution for structure of budget bills. new text end

new text begin By January 15 of each
odd-numbered year, the legislature must adopt a concurrent resolution designating the
major budget bills to be considered that legislative session, and allocating all state
programs and budget accounts for consideration in one of the major budget bills.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Deadline resolution. new text end

new text begin By January 31 of each odd-numbered year, the
legislature must adopt a concurrent resolution establishing deadlines for committee
consideration of policy and budget bills.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin State of the State. new text end

new text begin The governor is encouraged to submit a State of the
State address in January of each odd-numbered year and within the first ten days after the
start of the legislative session in an even-numbered year. Before or during this address, the
governor is encouraged to announce major legislative policy initiatives that the governor
intends to promote that year.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Executive submission of budget bills. new text end

new text begin The governor must submit bills
necessary to implement the governor's operating budget to the legislature within ten
days after the date specified in section 16A.11 for the governor to submit the detailed
operating budget to the legislature. The bills must be provided to the speaker of the house
of representatives and the majority leader of the senate in a manner ready for formal
introduction and final consideration.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 6. new text end

new text begin Price of government resolution. new text end

new text begin By March 15 of each odd-numbered
year, the legislature must adopt the price of government resolution required by section
16A.102, subdivision 2.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 7. new text end

new text begin Individual budget resolutions. new text end

new text begin By April 1 of each odd-numbered year,
the house of representatives and the senate must each adopt a budget resolution that
applies to that house. Each house's resolution must establish overall expenditure targets
for the upcoming biennium, and separate expenditure targets for each major budget bill
designated in the concurrent resolution adopted under subdivision 2.
new text end

Sec. 3.

new text begin [3.053] BILL CONSIDERATION TIME FRAME.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Body not to act on day bill received. new text end

new text begin A bill or a conference
committee report may not be considered for final passage during the same legislative day
on which it was reported to the body, except by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the
members of the body receiving the bill or report. On the final legislative day before a
constitutionally required adjournment, this requirement may be waived by the affirmative
vote of 40 members of the senate for senate consideration or the affirmative vote of 80
members of the house of representatives for house consideration. If this requirement is
waived, the body must not act on final passage before a minimum of one hour has passed
from the time the bill or committee report is available for review by members.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Amendments. new text end

new text begin Amending substantially equivalent provisions from a
noncomplying bill or conference committee report onto a complying bill for the purpose
of evading the requirements of subdivision 1 is also a violation of subdivision 1.
new text end

Sec. 4.

new text begin [3.054] CONFERENCE COMMITTEE; OBJECTION PROCEDURE.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Applicability. new text end

new text begin The rules of each house and the joint rules of the
legislature must conform to the provisions of this section.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Conference committees; content. new text end

new text begin A conference committee report must
not contain significant changes to current policies or statutes if those changes have not
been contained substantially in a bill or resolution that has been passed by one of the two
bodies. Any member may object to a conference committee report on these grounds, and if
such an objection is received and sustained by a majority of the members of one house, the
conference committee report must be referred to a joint meeting of the Rules Committees
of both houses for review. This joint committee must meet within three calendar days of
receiving such a referral, and shall either:
new text end

new text begin (1) determine that one body has passed a substantially similar policy in bill or
resolution form, and therefore refer the conference committee report back to the floor of
both bodies with a statement to that effect, including in the statement the time, date, and
details of the passage; or
new text end

new text begin (2) shall report the conference committee report back to the floors with a notation
that the policy in question has not been passed in a substantially similar form by either
body, and therefore shall make a recommendation that the report be rejected.
new text end

Sec. 5.

new text begin [3.0541] CONFERENCE COMMITTEE; SUBJECT MATTER.
new text end

new text begin (a) A conference committee report on a bill containing one or more items of
appropriation may contain only subject matter contained in the house or senate versions
of the bill for which the conference committee was appointed. If a compromise
proposal emerges in conference committee that would change a policy or program or its
administration in a manner substantially and in a major way different from that proposed
in either the house or senate bill, the conference committee must delay final action for
at least 12 hours and then allow for input from persons impacted by the change before
the final vote.
new text end

new text begin (b) The legislature must adopt joint rules to implement and enforce this section.
Remedies provided by these joint rules are exclusive. No court or administrative agency
has jurisdiction to enforce an alleged violation of this section, to invalidate any provision
of law because of a violation of this section, or to otherwise interpret this section.
new text end

Sec. 6.

new text begin [3.0542] APPOINTMENT OF GROUPS DURING SPECIAL SESSION.
new text end

new text begin During special sessions, all formally established legislative groups, working groups,
conference committees, task forces, or other formally established subgroups of legislative
members recommended by legislative leadership to resolve the issues for which the
special session was called must be formally appointed by a majority vote of each house,
and must serve for a period of time specified when appointed, after which they must either
disband or make a joint recommendation to each house. The rules of each house and the
joint rules of the legislature must be amended to reflect these requirements.
new text end

Sec. 7.

new text begin [4.51] EXPENSES OF GOVERNOR-ELECT.
new text end

new text begin This section applies after a state general election in which a person who is not the
current governor is elected to take office as the next governor. There is appropriated from
the general fund to the commissioner of administration an amount equal to ... percent
of the amount appropriated for operation of the Office of the Governor and Lieutenant
Governor for the current fiscal year. The commissioner of administration must make this
amount available to the governor-elect to immediately hire staff and provide other support
to the governor-elect before he or she takes office. The commissioner must provide office
space for the governor-elect and for any employees the governor-elect hires with funds
appropriated in this section.
new text end