In This Issue:
2024 Legislative Session Summary and Outcomes
The 2024 legislative session concluded Monday, May 20th. A massive omnibus bill made up of finance and policy bills in several budget areas as well as tax provisions, was passed by the House and Senate just before the midnight deadline Sunday for bills to pass off the floors. The final moments of the session were marked by procedural chaos as the large omnibus tax, budget and policy bill was presented and passed. The Senate adjourned sine die just after midnight Sunday, and the House adjourned sine die Monday after speeches from retiring members. No capital investment bill passed this session.
The session, which began in late February, was not a budget setting year for the Legislature. Metro Cities monitored and responded to legislation in several areas including housing, local decision-making authority, transportation, taxes, capital investment, environment, and elections, among others.
Thank you to the many city officials who testified at the Capitol, wrote letters and made calls to legislators to weigh in on bills of interest to metropolitan cities.
This newsletter is intended to provide a comprehensive summary of items of significance to metropolitan cities that passed, as well as bills of interest that were considered but did not pass. As such the newsletter is lengthier than usual. As always, staff strove to keep this update succinct, digestible, and informative.
Taxes
Chapter 127
Budget Tracking Spreadsheet
Tax related provisions were included as part of the large omnibus bill that passed Sunday evening. The tax provisions relate primarily to changes in the childcare tax credit and addressing tax-forfeited properties. The final bill does not include any provisions relating to local sales taxes, tax increment financing changes for specific cities, or construction sales tax exemptions for specific cities, all of which were considered and included in one or both omnibus tax bills.
What did NOT pass:
Local Sales Tax Changes
The House and Senate omnibus tax bills repealed the local sales tax moratorium, and language that would have allowed local governments to impose local sales taxes without legislative approval, for certain projects. The House and Senate bills differed in what constituted eligible projects that could be funded by a local tax without approval. The House bill also created an equalization aid for qualifying cities. No language related to local sales taxes was included in the final bill and did not pass.
Maintenance of Effort
A bill to require metropolitan cities receiving local affordable housing aid to maintain locally funded housing expenditures at a level not less than the average level of expenditures for the three preceding fiscal years was considered but did not pass. Language did pass that requires cities receiving this aid to supplement, not supplant, locally funded housing expenditures. See the Housing section for more information.
Tax Credit for the Conversion of Underutilized Commercial Space into Housing
A bill to create a credit and/or grant program through the Department of Employment and Economic Development for the conversion of underutilized buildings was considered but did not pass.
Payment Date Change for Local Affordable Housing Aid
Current law provides for local affordable housing aid to be paid in two installments on July 20 and December 26. A bill to change the date that local affordable housing aid is distributed to cities was heard but did not pass. The language would have required that the aid be certified by September 1 of each year and be distributed on October 1.
Housing
Chapter 127, Articles 14 and 15
Budget Tracking Spreadsheet
The bill provides capital for an additional $50 million in Housing Infrastructure Bonds. Language in the bill reduces the Housing Challenge Program funds by $7 million and reallocates these funds to a Community Stabilization program. The bill also provides a reallocation for funding within the Community Stabilization program to a subset of programs, including single-family naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH), and multi-unit rental naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH).
Changes to Local Affordable Housing Aid Requirements
The bill requires cities receiving local affordable housing aid to supplement and not supplant locally funded housing expenditures, by using funds to create new or to expand existing housing programs. To comply, a city must certify its compliance in the first year (2024) by reporting to Minnesota Housing the city’s local housing expenditures for the two prior fiscal years. Every year after, a city must report on locally funded housing expenditures for the prior fiscal year. If a city reduces one of its locally funded housing expenditures, the city must detail the expenditure, the amount of the reduction, and the reason for the reduction.
Senior LIHTC Rental Housing
Article 15, Section 50
The bill requires Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to produce a report on senior renters residing in properties financed by tax credits, also known as Section 42 properties. This report will be due to the Legislature by January 15, 2025. The report is intended to further information on cost-of-living adjustments, inflation, increases in rents, and the number of senior households living in these properties. This year, there was proposed legislation that would have changed the rental increase to match the annual Social Security inflation adjustment, in lieu of area wide median income. Instead of passing that legislation, the legislature passed language requiring a report to better understand the issue.
Exempting Comprehensive Plans from Environmental Impact Statements and MERA
Article 50, Section 51
The bill includes language that exempts comprehensive plans for cities of the first class in the metropolitan area from the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA). The language states that comprehensive plans shall not constitute conduct that causes or is likely to cause pollution, impairment, or destruction under MERA. Additionally, the bill exempts all city comprehensive plans in the metropolitan area from being subject to chapter 116D, which requires environmental impact statements.
Prevailing Wage for Multifamily LIHTC Housing Projects
Article 9, Section 1
The bill applies prevailing wage requirements to low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) allocations for multifamily housing projects consisting of more than ten units. This applies to developments selected for tax credit awards or allocations to be on or after January 1, 2025.
Tenant Protections Bill
Chapter 118
A tenant protections omnibus bill passed this year. The bill contains various provisions, including language to protect a tenant’s right to call for police or emergency assistance for mental health or health crises, protects a tenant’s right to organize, allows for a tenant to use an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) in lieu of a social security number (SSN), protects victims of domestic violence from eviction, and provides tenant remedies for new construction delays, among other provisions. The domestic violence provisions take effect 30 days after the passage of the legislation, and the remaining provisions take effect January 1, 2025.
Single Meter Service in Shared-Metered Residential Buildings
Chapter 107
The bill provides protections for tenants living in shared-metered residential buildings, including requiring utility bills provided by landlords to tenants be based on submeter readings, provides for how a utility bill will be calculated, and prohibits disconnection of utility service from a failure to pay for the service.
What did NOT pass:
Missing Middle Housing/Local Land Use Preemption
Legislation that would have pre-empted local decision-making authority over zoning and land use to create more ‘middle housing’ received hearings in the House and Senate this year. Metro Cities opposed this legislation. The bill contained several preemption provisions. It required cities to allow for increased densities on any residential lot, authorized accessory dwelling units by right, set minimum lot size requirements, prohibited cities from requiring more than one off street parking space per residential unit, created an expedited design review process, and limited local aesthetic mandates. Metro Cities expects related legislation to receive additional consideration in future sessions.
Multifamily Housing Permitted in Commercial/Industrial Districts
Legislation that would have required cities to approve or deny a building permit request within 60 days, would allow for multifamily residential developments as a permitted use in any zoning district that allows for commercial uses, would restrict height requirements for multifamily housing developments, and would allow for affordable multifamily developments to exceed one or more maximum dimensional standards imposed by city zoning controls was considered this year.
Language in the bill would have allowed for a city to establish local controls or ordinances to require that residential developments that replace commercial or industrial structures be mixed use and include at least the same square footage of commercial space as the previous structure, and undeveloped commercial spaces can similarly be required to be mixed use. However, a provision was included that exempted blighted areas from those local controls or ordinances. Metro Cities opposed this legislation, which did not pass.
People Over Parking Act
The bill, known as the “People Over Parking Act”, would pre-empt a city from setting minimum parking mandates for residential, commercial, or industrial properties within its jurisdiction. The bill would have precluded cities from specifying a minimum number of off-street parking spaces, including within a garage or other enclosed area. The bill also included language prohibiting cities from conditioning the approval of a residential building permit, subdivision development or residential planned unit development on the creation of a homeowner’s association. Metro Cities opposed this legislation. This legislation did not pass.
Prohibition of Aesthetic Mandates
As the omnibus Transportation, Housing, and Labor bill was considered on the Senate floor, an amendment was added to prohibit a city from conditioning approval of a residential building permit, subdivision development, or planned unit development on the use of specific materials for aesthetic reasons, minimum square footage or floor area rations for residential buildings, architectural design elements, garage square footage, and common space or common property necessitating a homeowner’s association. This language was subsequently removed from the bill and did not pass. Metro Cities opposed this legislation.
Prohibition of Corporate Purchasing of Single-Family Homes
Legislation that would prohibit a corporate entity from owning 10 units or more of single-family housing was heard. Corporate ownership of single-family homes has shown to be a detriment to access housing for many first-time homebuyers. There was some disagreement on how many units a corporation should be allowed to own under this bill. This legislation did not pass.
Housing Assistance Discrimination Prohibited
Legislation that would prohibit landlords from discriminating against a tenant based on their use of federal, state, or local government rental assistance, including section 8 housing vouchers was heard. This legislation did not pass.
Contact Ania McDonnell at 651-215-4001 or [email protected] with questions.
Jobs and Economic Development
Chapter 120
Budget Tracking Spreadsheet
Chapter 120 includes technical changes to the Innovative Business Development Public Infrastructure Grant program and Job Creation Fund program. The bill redirects $3 million from the Job Creation Fund to PROMISE Act Grants to businesses in the metropolitan area, excluding the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The bill also increases the amount the Commissioner of DEED can transfer between the Job Creation Fund and Minnesota Investment Fund to meet business demand, from $2 million up to $5 million in a fiscal year.
Broadband
Chapter 127
Article 13 and Article 39
Legislation passed that allows a transfer of $5 million between the border-to-border broadband program, low density population broadband program, and the broadband line extension program to meet demand. The bill includes language requiring the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to apply to the Federal State Digital Equity Capacity Grant program to support Minnesota’s Digital Opportunity Plan.
The bill provides $651,000 in the current biennium, and $1.3 million for FY2026-2027 for the Broadband Equity, Access, & Deployment Program at DEED to ensure workforce best practices for broadband installation, provide installation requirements for underground telecommunications infrastructure, and provide standards for a safety-qualitied underground telecommunications installer certification program.
What did NOT pass:
Bill Allowing Local Governments to Franchise Broadband
A bill was heard which would allow for local governments to require franchise fees from a provider furnishing broadband, and to receive compensation for the use of the public right-of-way. This legislation did not pass.
Contact Ania McDonnell at 651-215-4001 or [email protected] with questions.
Transportation
Chapter 127 (Articles 1-3)
Budget Spreadsheet
Articles 1 through 3 of Chapter 127 contain several transportation appropriations and policy provisions of note for cities.
Appropriations
Transportation funding provisions (Article 1) of note include:
- $3 million for greenhouse gas emissions analysis.
- $11.35 million for the small cities assistance account.
- $4.8 million for truck parking and safety improvements in the metropolitan area.
- $1.2 million for the Lights On grant program.
- $8.9 million for high-priority bridges.
- $15 million in Trunk Highway Bonds for state road construction.
- $15 million in Trunk Highway Bonds for the Corridors of Commerce Program.
Small Cities
$11.35 million in small cities funding will be allocated and distributed in one payment during July 2024. In 2023, the Legislature established the Transportation Advancement Account (TAA) which distributes revenue from the retail delivery fee and the auto parts sales tax to counties, cities, townships, and a food delivery support account. This change in law provided cities under 5,000, which are not eligible for Municipal State Aid, with funding for street improvement and maintenance projects. Unfortunately, the revenue sources for the Transportation Advancement Account will take time to generate sufficient funding. Language in Article 3 authorizes cities to use funds from the small cities assistance account and the larger cities assistance account for debt service.
Traffic Safety Camera Systems
Article 3 authorizes the establishment of a traffic safety camera pilot program in the cities of Minneapolis and Mendota Heights. MnDOT will also participate in the pilot program by implementing a speed safety camera system in up to four trunk highway work zones. There is a $1 million appropriation to fund the implementation of this pilot program.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Article 3 includes changes to last year’s greenhouse gas emissions impact assessment language including the move from a project-by-project assessment to a portfolio approach and the establishment of a technical group which will include local government representation. This technical advisory committee will be able to provide practical input as the greenhouse gas mitigation law continues to be implemented.
Pedestrian Malls
Article 3 authorizes cities to establish pedestrian malls within their right-of-way. Cities of the first class are now able to designate any local right-of-way as a pedestrian mall. All other cities can designate local rights-of-way as pedestrian malls so long as they are not part of a residence district. The law clarifies that any road segment turned into a pedestrian mall cannot be designated as part of the county state-aid or municipal state-aid system. If a proposed pedestrian mall intersects with another road authority’s right-of-way the city must consult with that road authority and consider any impacts on traffic flow. If a proposed pedestrian mall borders another city, approval from that bordering city is required.
Minnesota Advisory Council on Infrastructure
The contents of HF 4025, which establishes a MN Advisory Council on Infrastructure (MACI) is contained in Chapter 127. The MACI will be responsible for defining and maintaining a vision for Minnesota’s infrastructure that provides for its management, coordination, and investment. The council will include a mix of voting and nonvoting members. It will not have any regulatory powers. The council is charged with developing a plan for statewide asset management and the law requires that MACI produce an annual report to the legislature.
Transit
Several provisions in Article 3 have impacts on transit and the Metropolitan Council. The law requires MnDOT to provide staff and project assistance to the Council for future light rail construction projects. This section also limits the Council to using federal funds or direct appropriations for light rail capital construction costs. There are new reporting requirements for the Council and metropolitan area counties on their use of regional sales tax revenues and the Council is required to produce an annual report to the legislature on all of their transportation expenditures and revenues.
The law clarifies how ADA improvements and other bus rapid transit (BRT) project elements should be scoped and paid for. The law requires the Metropolitan Council to design and scope arterial BRT with sidewalk curb ramps and pedestrian signals that meet ADA standards at each intersection adjacent to a station if they are not currently ADA compliant or planned for upgrades. These costs will be split equally between the Council and the local road authority (city or county). Other project elements the Council is required to include are project designs and scopes that include pavement markings, and traffic signal priority improvements to intersections.
Article 3 requires the Metropolitan Council to establish a zero-emission bus procurement transition strategy, which must be updated at least every three years. The next report is due in February 2025. The timeline set in the requirements would mean that any bus purchased in 2035 is a zero-emission vehicle.
Finally, the Department of Transportation is required to study Metro Mobility and suggest any improvements to the Metropolitan Council’s operation, oversight, and management of the services. This evaluation is due to the legislature by February 15, 2026.
City Speed Limit Study
Chapter 104, the standalone omnibus transportation policy bill, includes a requirement for MnDOT to conduct a comprehensive study to assess speed limits in cities that have adopted their own limits on city streets. The department is directed to determine whether cities are setting the appropriate speed limits for roadways based on engineering principles, safety considerations, and traffic flow. This report is due to the legislature by March 15, 2025.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Environment and Natural Resources
Appropriations
Chapter 116, the environment and natural resources supplemental appropriations bill, contains funding for several items of note including $800,000 in additional funding for the Lawns to Legumes Program run by the Board of Water and Soil Resources. The Metropolitan Council will receive a $3.188 million general fund appropriation for community tree planting grants in the metropolitan area, and a $1.4 million appropriation from the natural resources fund for tree planting within the metropolitan regional parks.
Policy Provisions
The tree planting grant funds are to be prioritized for removing and replacing ash trees and for those projects located in certain census block groups based on their supplemental demographic index score. The Department of Natural Resources’ ReLeaf program is changed later in the law to include a reference to the supplemental demographic index score.
Article 2 in Chapter 116 includes changes to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s enforcement authority regarding state permits by increasing maximum penalty amounts for violations of environmental laws, specifying the scope of injunctive relief, and allowing the MPCA to deny extending the time for a violating party to comply with a stipulated term because of increased costs.
Article 2, Section 21 establishes a resilient community assistance program to assist local governments in their efforts to adapt to climate change and to develop community resilience to the impacts of a changing climate. Section 29 requires the MPCA and Department of Health to submit a PFAS removal report to the legislature by January 15, 2025. The report must provide recommendations for how the state might pay for the costs associated with providing safe drinking water to those with contaminated water sources. The report must also include strategies or fee mechanisms the state could use to require companies creating and using PFAS to prevent and remove PFAS from influent entering municipal wastewater facilities, and how they might pay for the cost of treating PFAS-contaminated effluent.
Article 5 contains the entirety of the Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act, which in its final form, allows cities to continue to use their current organized waste collection contractors and/or run their own collection service.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Legacy
The supplemental legacy appropriations legislation passed this session includes $3.643 million in additional funding from the Parks and Trails Fund for the metropolitan area regional parks and trails system. The bill also includes a reporting requirement for metropolitan parks implementing agencies regarding the extent to which they offer free or reduced fees for activities or rental equipment.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Public Safety
Public Safety Appropriations
Chapter 123 is the judiciary and public safety supplemental omnibus bill. Article 1, Section 4 appropriates $100,000 for grants to law enforcement agencies to acquire, train, and maintain therapy dogs for their peace officers and firefighters. $7 million is being used out of the special revenue fund for 911 emergency telecommunications services for digital geographic information system mapping of school facilities.
Public Safety Policy
The new law prohibits peace officers making traffic stops from asking vehicle operators if they can identify the reason for the stop and requires the officer to identify the reason for pulling the vehicle over. Chapter 123 also prohibits a peace officer’s ability to search a motor vehicle or those inside of a vehicle solely based on the officer’s perception of the odor of cannabis. The law also requires the Use of Force Investigations Unit within the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate any officer-involved deaths and mandates law enforcement agencies to cooperate and promptly respond to requests for information. Finally, the law bans any training for peace officers that uses the term “excited delirium.”
The law establishes a Motor Vehicle Registration Compliance Working Group to identify methods for enforcing vehicle registration that would replace the current criminal penalties for noncompliance. The League of Minnesota Cities is among those entities making appointments to this group.
Article 17, Section 24 requires that, beginning on December 1, 2024, public agencies (including cities) report cybersecurity incidents to the Department of Public Safety within 72 hours of the incident. DPS is directed to establish a cyber incident reporting system to help facilitate this reporting requirement. DPS is also required to produce an annual report for the governor and legislature describing the number of reported incidents and other information.
Copper Wire Theft
Article 4 in Chapter 121 contains policy language from the omnibus commerce bill that was amended into the omnibus cannabis bill during conference committee. Section 6 requires anyone interested in selling scrap metal copper to obtain a license from the Department of Commerce for an annual fee of $250. The law exempts individuals licensed to perform certain trades and there is a designated day twice each year where scrap metal dealers may purchase up to $25 dollars of scrap metal copper from anyone who does not have an approved license to sell. Section 5 of this article requires a scrap metal dealer to record a seller’s copper metal license, or the documentation used to support the individual’s ability to sell copper because of their occupation. Section 9 includes permissive language for the Department of Public Safety to convene a working group to discuss metal theft.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Elections
Elections Policy
The new law contains several provisions of note for cities including a requirement for cities and counties to establish temporary polling locations on or near colleges or universities if the school or student organizations requests one. There is a $200,000 appropriation for the secretary of state to reimburse cities and counties for costs associated with this provision.
Chapter 112 also requires any city administering absentee voting to use a .gov domain for their website by 2026. Finally, the law contains the Minnesota Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voter suppression and vote dilution. The MVRA language includes a presuit notice process for assertions of suppression or dilution to be sent to local governments. The language includes steps cities could be required to take to correct violations and reimbursement costs for those bringing a MVRA case to a city or county.
Elections Funding
The law moves funds from existing programs (the Voting Equipment Grant Account and local government drop box grants) to the Voting Operations, Technology, and Elections Resources (VOTER) account established in 2023. It establishes a Voting Rights Act cost sharing account for the purpose of reimbursing political subdivisions for presuit notice cost sharing expenses.
Ranked Choice Voting
HF 3276 (Frazier), a bill providing all cities the option to adopt ranked choice voting for local elections, was brought to the House floor late in the legislative session for a vote. This bill did not become law.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Adult-Use Cannabis
Chapter 121 makes several technical and substantive changes requested by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) as they continue to implement the law passed last session legalizing cannabis in Minnesota.
Changes to Licensing Process
Chapter 121 moves from a points-based system for awarding licenses to a “qualified lottery,” where applicants meeting minimum standards are randomly selected to obtain licenses. Social equity applicants will have a separate lottery ahead of the general license lottery. Qualifying social equity applicants successful in winning a license could receive their early pre-approval licenses as early as this summer. The bill makes changes to last year’s law defining who does or does not qualify as a social equity applicant. The law identifies the maximum number of licenses the OCM can issue for certain license types.
Local Control
Chapter 121 retains the local government certification where a city provides notice to the OCM that a proposed cannabis business complies with local zoning ordinances. The law does change the timing of when this local compliance certification occurs in the application and licensing process so that applicants receive a preliminary license before working with local governments to ensure compliance with local ordinances. If applicants receive local approval and complete the necessary steps with the OCM, they will then receive a fully endorsed license.
Municipal Cannabis Stores
Existing law already allows for municipal cannabis stores. Article 2, Section 65, Subd. 7 in Chapter 121 requires the OCM to issue a license to a city or county seeking to establish, own, or operate a municipal cannabis store so long as the local government meets the minimum requirements and pays the application and license fee. The law also clarifies that a municipal cannabis store cannot count toward the statewide maximum for the number of licenses, nor can it count toward a self-imposed local cap on cannabis licenses (last year’s law allows for a population-based limit on the number of businesses operating within a given city or county).
Other changes contained in Chapter 121 include moving responsibility over the state’s hemp-derived cannabinoid market from the Department of Agriculture to the OCM as well as changes to Minnesota’s medical cannabis program.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Transportation Network Companies
Article 17 in Chapter 127 deals with Transportation Network Companies and is the culmination of two years of work and negotiations between drivers and Uber/Lyft. The final agreement largely reflects the consensus recommendations from the Governor’s Committee on the Compensation, Wellbeing and Fair Treatment of TNC Drivers. Some of these items relate to pay transparency, the broad structure for minimum compensation (per-mile and per-minute), deactivation policy requirements, driver support, and insurance requirements. The specific pay structure agreed to by stakeholders, drivers, legislators, and the TNCs themselves is a rate of $1.28 per mile and $0.31 per minute. A minimum driver compensation amount of $5 is guaranteed for any ride they provide regardless of distance or time spent. The law makes the Department of Labor and Industry the responsible enforcement authority for these provisions.
The law preempts local government in areas covered in this law but retains a city’s ability to license TNCs. Local units of government can refuse or revoke licenses if a company is found to be in violation of Chapter 127 or local licensing requirements.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Emergency Medical Services
Chapter 122 establishes the Office of Emergency Medical Services to replace the existing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Regulatory Board. The new office has three divisions: Medical Services, Ambulance Services, and Emergency Medical Service Providers. The law also establishes the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council which will include two local government members. Another advisory body, The Labor and Emergency Medical Service Providers Advisory Council, will also include a medical service provider appointed by the League of Minnesota Cities.
The law directs the Board to establish and oversee an alternative emergency medical services response model pilot program in greater Minnesota. There is a $6 million appropriation from the general fund for this purpose. Chapter 122 makes changes to the required qualifications for individuals authorized to provide emergency care for an ambulance service, those staffing basic life-support (BLS) ambulance services, and those staffing advanced life (ALS) ambulances. The law incudes other education, training, and qualification provisions.
EMS Aid
Finally, Article 4 of this chapter appropriates $24 million from the general fund for a one-time emergency ambulance services aid distribution. Providers must apply for funding and the commissioner of Revenue is to use a calculation outlined in the law to distribute the funds. Service providers must spend the aid on operational and capital expenses. The emergency ambulance services aid program is designed to target rural, low-density service areas in greater Minnesota.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
School Resource Officers
Chapter 78 came in response to a 2023 law that prohibited school resource officers (SROs) from using certain holds except when necessary to prevent bodily harm or death to students being restrained in schools. The 2024 legislation defines “school resource officer” in law and specifies what an SRO’s duties include. Chapter 78 makes it clear that SROs have the authority to use reasonable force according to Minnesota Statutes, Section 609.06, which governs use of force. The law stipulates that SROs are not to be used to enforce school policies or to discipline students for violating school rules. Beginning in September of 2025 officers serving as SROs will need to complete a training course, which will be developed by the Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) in consultation with the Department of Public Safety’s School Safety Center. By the end of 2024, the POST Board is required to develop a model school resource officer policy. Law enforcement agencies with SRO programs will then be required to adopt a school resource officer policy by September 2025.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.
Residential Programs
Chapter 108, the omnibus human services policy bill, contains language that exempts group homes and assisted living facilities with licensed capacities of six or fewer individuals from local rental licensing regulations. Proponents of this law change argued that local rental licensing in these cases are duplicative of the Department of Human Services’ regulation over group homes and that cities have or will use their rental licenses to create a de facto ban on group homes within their jurisdiction. Metro Cities submitted written testimony opposing this legislation, highlighting the important role of group homes and the need for cities to ensure livability and safety standards for all residents in their communities. Cities are now no longer able to apply their local rental ordinances to community residential settings found in section 245D.02, subd. 4a or section 1445G.45 subdivision 3.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.