Metro Cities News 04/16/21

Apr

In This Issue:

Metro Cities Annual Meeting and Board Member Elections

Metro Cities hosted a virtual Annual Meeting Thursday, attended by 85+ city officials from throughout the metropolitan area, to conduct Board officer and member elections. The meeting began with guest speaker Rick King, Chairman of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, who discussed the airport’s history, effects of the pandemic on the airport, and future plans. President Myron Bailey presided as Chair.

Member city officials elected Melanie Mesko Lee, City Manager, City of Burnsville, as President, and Matt Stemwedel, City Manager, City of Coon Rapids, as Vice-President. Clint Hooppaw, Mayor of the City of Apple Valley, and Laurie Hokkanen, City Administrator for the City of Chanhassen were elected to the Board. In addition, Daniel Buchholtz-City Administrator, Spring Lake Park, Mitra Jalali, Councilmember, St. Paul, Jason Gadd-Mayor, Hopkins, Jan Jenson, Councilmember, St. Anthony Village and Jay Stroebel-City Manager, Brooklyn Park, were re-elected to second terms. Terms for new Board officers and members take effect July 1. Congratulations to all new Board officers, re-elected and new members!

Legislative Omnibus Bills Advance

Last week Metro Cities provided information on omnibus budget and tax bills advancing in the Legislature and details on provisions of interest to Metro Cities. This week, bills continued to advance through in the House and Senate. Below are updates on bills as well as summaries and spreadsheets. Please also refer to the April 9th newsletter for details on the contents of bills that are of interest to Metro Cities.

Transportation
HF 1684 – Hornstein passed the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday and is expected to be considered on the House Floor Friday. Click HERE for the budget spreadsheet, and HERE for a summary. SF 1159 – Newman passed the Senate Tax and Finance Committees Thursday and was sent to the Senate floor. Click HERE for the budget spreadsheet and HERE for a summary.

State Government and Elections
HF 1952 – Nelson is expected to be considered on the House floor Friday. The spreadsheet can be found here and the summary can be found here. The bill includes appropriations to numerous agencies and includes elections provisions and the establishment of a race equity impact assessment group.

The bill provides an optional process for automatic voter registrations available to eligible persons applying for a new or renewed driver's license, instruction permit, or identification card. The bill would prohibit voter intimidation, interference, and deceptive practices and would provide enforcement recommendations. The bill establishes a Racial Equity Impact Assessment Working Group to develop recommendations for a racial equity impact note for future legislation and provides for representation.

Finally, Section 23 of Article 6 in HF 1952 repeals the compensation limit for city employees.

SF 1831 – Kiffmeyer passed the Senate Finance Committee Thursday and was sent to the Senate floor. Two amendments were added. The first, SF 485 – Lang, is the omnibus veterans and military affairs bill and the second is a version of SF 836 – Bakk that deals with the Stadium Reserve Fund. Click HERE for the spreadsheet and HERE for a summary of the bill.

Environment
HF 1076 – Hansen passed the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday and was sent to the floor. Click HERE for the budget spreadsheet, and HERE for a summary.
Click HERE for FY 2021 Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund spreadsheet, and HERE for the FY 2022 Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund spreadsheet. In the Senate SF 959 – Ingebrigtsen passed the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and was sent to the floor. Click HERE for the budget spreadsheet, and HERE for a summary.

Public Safety and Judiciary
In the House, Public Safety (HF 1078 – Mariani) and Judiciary (HF 1030 – Becker-Finn) bills were combined, and HF 38 – Pelowski, which deals with the disaster assistance contingency account was amended into the bill. HF 1078 – Mariani, as amended passed Ways and Means 16-9 and was sent to the floor. Use these links for the Public Safety and Judiciary budget spreadsheets. Use these links for the Public Safety and Judiciary summaries. SF 970 – Limmer passed the Senate this week on a vote of 44-23. Click HERE for the budget spreadsheet, and HERE for a summary.

Housing
HF 1077 – Hausman passed the House on Thursday evening. It includes a $30 million increase in state funding for important housing programs supported by Metro Cities, including the Challenge Program, a state match for local housing funds, and NOAH preservation. Click here for the spreadsheet. SF 969 – Draheim has received a second reading on the Senate floor and awaits debate and action. There is no increased overall spending in the bill, which also includes preemption language cities oppose. Click here for a spreadsheet.

Capital Investment
HF337 - Lee passed in the House Capital Investment Committee Friday morning. The spreadsheet can be found here and the summary can be found here. The adopted DE amendment can be found here. The bill contains several provisions supported by Metro Cities, including $5 million for inflow-infiltration mitigation assistance to metropolitan cities. Further, the bill includes $300 million for affordable housing with $100 million in GO bonds for public housing rehabilitation and preservation and $150 million in housing infrastructure bonds for new construction and rehabilitation of multifamily and single-family homes. $50 million is for shelter funding.

The bill appropriates $77.5 million to MnDOT for a number of programs with potential benefit to cities, including $10 million for local road improvement grants for roads that have statewide or regional significance. There is $30 million for local bridges. $8 million is appropriated for the Safe Routes to School program and $25.5 million for passenger rail that can be used for grants to cities to help cover a number of costs. Finally, the bill appropriates $40 million to the Metropolitan Council for the environmental review, right-of-way acquisition, and construction of the E line BRT, which will run from Minneapolis to the Southdale Transit Center.

The bill includes $300 million in redevelopment appropriation bonds for redeveloping the areas in Minneapolis and St. Paul damaged in May and June of 2020, by civil unrest. $200 million is for Minneapolis and $100 million is for the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority. The funds are for jobs, preserving the tax base and preventing displacement of small businesses owned by people of color and indigenous people. HF337 passed and was re-referred to the Ways and Means Committee.

The Senate has not released an omnibus capital investment bill.

Workforce and Business Development
The House Ways and Means Committee passed its Workforce and Business Development omnibus bill, and the bill was sent to the floor. The spreadsheet can be found here and the summary can be found here. The bill would include the same $10 million cut to the Minnesota Investment Fund as the Governor's recommendation but does not include cuts or increases to the Job Creation Fund. It does not include funds for the Redevelopment Grant Program. HF1342 - Noor would appropriate $50 million in FY21 for small business grants and would split funds between greater Minnesota and the metropolitan area to aid businesses most impacted by COVID-19. HF1342 was merged with the Labor and Industry omnibus HF1670 - Ecklund, as amended. HF1670 spreadsheet can be found here. HF1342 was moved to the General Register where it is scheduled for debate next week. In the Senate, SF 1098 – Pratt passed the Senate on Thursday. It includes a $2 million cut to MIF, holds funding for the Job Creation Fund and does not include redevelopment grant funding. The spreadsheet can be found here.

Legacy Finance
HF 1079 – Lille passed the House Thursday evening. The bill appropriates money from the outdoor heritage fund, clean water fund, parks and trails fund, and the arts and cultural heritage fund. The bill includes funding for the Metropolitan Council to implement projects that address emerging threats to drinking water and includes funding for the metropolitan regional parks system. Click HERE for the House Legacy budget spreadsheet, and HERE for a summary. The Senate companion bill, SF 971 – Ruud, passed out of the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday and awaits floor action. Click HERE for the Senate Legacy budget spreadsheet.

Police Reform Bills

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee heard three police accountability bills. A bill, co-authored by Frazier & Moller, would limit the authority for peace officers to stop and detain drivers for certain motor vehicle violations. An officer may stop a vehicle if there is reasonable suspicion of a crime or offense. This bill was heard on an informational basis and no official action was taken.

HF 640 – Gomez, would allow cities to establish citizen oversight councils. Members adopted the DE1 amendment, which would make oversight councils optional and would grant councils the authority to investigate complaints against officers with the potential for disciplinary action. The bill passed and was moved to the General Register.

Also on the agenda was HF 1104 – Thompson, that would prohibit civil and criminal immunity for peace officers. A peace officer would not be immune to criminal liability in such instances as failing to intervene, or depriving another person of any rights, privileges, or immunities granted under the Constitution. The bill would also permit the court to award attorney fees and costs to the person bringing the suit if the person prevails and would permit the court to award attorney fees and costs to the defendant if the court deemed the suit frivolous. The bill sets a limitation of 2 years to bring these claims forward.

HF 1103 – Thompson, concerns recordings from body-worn cameras of officers. A technical amendment was adopted which restates that recordings may only be redacted to the extent required by the law. In situations where deadly force was applied, the bill would prohibit law enforcement agencies from withholding body camera footage and would require the law enforcement agency to acquire footage the same day. The bill would require unedited recordings from a body camera to be released to a victim’s family within 48 hours of the incident. HF 1103 and HF 1104 passed and were sent to the House floor.

Senate Property Tax Division Releases Division Omnibus Bill

The Senate Property Tax Division released its division report this week. It includes several items of interest to Metro Cities. A summary of the bill can be found HERE.

The bill reduces the 4d rental tax classification to 0.25% and eliminates the first tier (0.75% up to $174,000 in 2021). Buildings with 4d units must post notice that units are enrolled and must include rent and income restrictions. Any newly enrolled property must receive city approval via resolution. The bill does not include an analysis supported by Metro Cities that would study local property tax shifts expected to result from an expansion of the classification, nor does it require property tax savings as a result of the expansion to be directed to rent or property reinvestments.

The bill provides for a one-time local government aid (LGA) adjustment as a ‘hold harmless’ provision for cities anticipated to see reductions in their local government aid in 2022. Metro Cities supports this provision.

The bill provides for a study of impacts from the use of increment for local housing trust funds. Metro Cities supports additional flexibility in TIF laws that allows for increment to be used for local housing trust funds. The bill includes specific TIF law exceptions for the metropolitan cities of Bloomington, Burnsville, Ramsey and Wayzata.

The bill allows two or more political subdivisions to establish special taxing districts for the purposes of providing fire protection and emergency services.

The Senate tax bill is expected to be released and considered early next week. Questions? Contact Patricia Nauman at 651-215-4002 or [email protected]

Cannabis Legalization Bill

HF600 - Winkler that would legalize recreational cannabis, had two committee stops this week. On Monday, the bill was heard and passed in House Environment and on Wednesday, was heard and passed in the House Judiciary Committee.

For legislators in both committees, a big concern was enforcement of rules and regulations. The bill would include high environmental standards, such as water, waste, and energy and the bill would create a Cannabis Management Board to work with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and local jurisdiction to enforce these policies. Members were concerned that this type of control held by the Cannabis Management Board would exceed the control of the Courts. Even though the Cannabis Management Board would not have criminal jurisdiction, they would have the ability to give civil penalties to individuals. The bill passed and was re-referred to the State Government Finance Committee.

Senate Passes Eviction Moratorium Phaseout

The Senate passed a bill that creates a phaseout of the state’s current eviction moratorium, SF 1470 – Draheim, and the language is also included in the Senate’s omnibus housing finance and policy bill.
The bill would limit a governor from prohibiting or delaying eviction proceedings under chapter 504B for longer than 30 days. A governor would be unable to extend the order beyond 30 days unless the extension is approved by both the House and Senate. Executive Order 20-79, the order under which the current moratorium exists, is null and void under the bill.

The phaseout is staged. It allows a landlord to terminate or not renew a residential lease if requested by the tenant, if the tenant endangers others or the property, for material lease violations other than nonpayment of rent, and 30 days after enactment for tenants with outstanding rent who are ineligible for rental assistance through the COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program.

For evictions under M.S. sections 504B.285 (retaliation defense) or 504B.291 (nonpayment), a landlord is permitted to terminate or not renew a residential lease if the tenant endangers others or the property. Upon 60 days after becoming law, the legislation provides that eviction actions are permitted for those with outstanding rent, but who are ineligible for rental assistance through the COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program.

A landlord may file an eviction action against a tenant who is eligible for assistance through the COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program and refuses to apply for assistance through the program, refuses to provide information needed by the landlord to apply for assistance on the tenant's behalf, or refuses to provide the landlord with proof that the tenant applied for assistance through the program.

Within 15 days of the date of the bill becoming law, a landlord is encouraged to share the following with all tenants in arrears over 30 days: the total amount due; the availability of any financial assistance programs for which the tenant may be eligible; and information about documents required by the city, county, state, or other entity to receive financial assistance.

Finally, the filing of an eviction action based on nonpayment of rent against a tenant with a pending application for assistance through the COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program is prohibited.

Contact Charlie Vander Aarde at 651-215-4001 or [email protected] with any questions.

COVID-19 Resources Page

Last year, Metro Cities created a COVID-19 page on the association’s website with information on statewide emergency orders, federal and state agency guidance and information, federal and state funding and resources, media articles and other information. The page has recently been updated and refreshed and will include information and updates on new federal funding through the American Rescue Plan. You can find the page on our website at www.metrocitiesmn.org under Policies and Resources.

Metropolitan Council Internal Work Groups

The Metropolitan Council this week announced the extension of two internal work groups to provide additional review of several Council priority areas. It also established a new Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) work group. All groups are authorized to work through 2022.

The Metropolitan Council is extending its Housing Work Group. Future work may include exploring a first-time home-buyer program and housing choice indicator tool; housing opportunities for people with disabilities; using Council-owned land to support affordable housing development; and employer-provided housing benefits. The Metropolitan Council also established a new BIPOC work group to work on a number of issues including hiring and promoting BIPOC employees, contracts with BIPOC vendors, research to address racial disparities, and embedding racial equity work throughout the Council. Finally, the Council will also continue an internal Transit Policy Work Group through 2022. The group has discussed a service allocation study, bus rapid transit, transit funding, and shared mobility strategies.

2021 Metro Cities Policy Committees

Metro Cities is preparing for its 2021 policy committees and your participation is encouraged! Meetings will be conducted remotely and will be held in July, August, and September. Four committees - Transportation and General Government, Municipal Revenues, Metropolitan Agencies, Housing and Economic Development. Committees – will recommend legislative policies for 2022. Policy committees are open for participation by member city elected officials and staff. Committee dates and sign-up forms are on the Policy Committees page of Metro Cities’ website. We welcome your participation!

Committees will meet either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday in the morning from 9:00-11:30 am or the afternoon from 1:00-3:30. Committees and dates are listed on our website. Additional information, including remote meeting processes and access, will be posted on these pages as it becomes available.

Please be sure to sign up for the committee(s) you wish to attend, even if you have been on the committee in the past. This will help us keep our rosters current and accurate.

We look forward to seeing you this summer!

Minnesota Housing Consolidated RFP Released

Minnesota Housing announced the state’s Consolidated RFP is now open for applications. Minnesota Housing will select a variety of project types throughout Minnesota, prioritizing projects by community need, feasibility, organizational capacity, reasonableness of deferred loan request and strategic priorities. Funding partners include the Metropolitan Council, Ramsey County and Greater Minnesota Housing Fund. MHFA plans to recommend awards in December.

This year, MHFA is encouraging proposals for a range of housing types, including:

Permanent supportive housing for homeless populations
Preservation projects (both rental and homeownership)
New construction of affordable homes for purchase
Workforce housing
Senior housing

Single Family Details
Single Family Application Submission Deadline

Thursday, July 15 by noon: Single Family Application deadline
Single Family Technical Assistance:
Contact [email protected] as you are preparing your application and you will be connected with a staff person who can help.
View the 2020 RFP recorded technical assistance and New Construction webinars (scroll down to the Impact Fund Training section). The 2021 Consolidated RFP has some changes but much of the information in the 2020 webinars is still relevant to the 2021 Consolidated RFP.

Multifamily Details
Multifamily Application and Section 811 Project-based Rental Assistance (PRA) Submission Deadlines

Thursday, May 20 by noon: Intent to Apply deadline
Thursday, May 20 by noon: Section 811 PRA pre-application due
Thursday, June 10: Applicants will be notified of Section 811 PRA program eligibility
Thursday, July 15 by noon: Multifamily application deadline including site control, qualification forms and financials
Note: the application fee is also due by this date.
Technical assistance is strongly encouraged. Please complete and submit the Technical Assistance Request Form. Systems Questions: [email protected]
View pre-recorded training tutorials (scroll down to the training tutorials section).
Section 811 PRA: please contact [email protected] for Section 811 PRA technical assistance.

More information can be found at www.mnhousing.gov

Bills of Note

HF 2522, Demuth: Bill expands the right to use deadly force during declared states of emergency.

HF 2529, Frazier: Bill limits the authority of peace officers to stop or detain drivers for motor vehicle equipment violations.

HF 2533, Long: Bill assigns prosecutorial authority for peace-officer-involved deaths to the attorney general.

SF 2403, Marty: Bill establishes an alternative public safety emergency response grant program to replace law enforcement responders when appropriate.

SF 2414, Johnson Stewart: Bill clarifies maximum cost for local bridge replacement program projects and appropriates $30 million in bond proceeds for the program.

SF 2421, Senjem: Bill authorizes public-private partnerships for certain infrastructure projects.

SF 2423, Bigham: Bill prohibits law enforcement agencies from using the number of traffic stops, citations, or enforcement activity as criteria for the evaluation of peace officers.

SF 2437, Kiffmeyer: Bill requires the termination of Northstar Commuter Rail.