At the Capitol: The Legislature Begins Conference Committees as the End of Session Nears

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Matt Steele

This week, lawmakers are starting to reconcile the differences in significant budget bills passed off the House and Senate floors in conference committees. Conference committees mark one of the final steps in the budget-making process before the bills are sent to the Governor for his approval. We expect our most important issues to be debated in conference committees in the upcoming days.

Here is what you need to know as we approach the end of the legislative session:

This Week
After bills pass off the Senate and House floors, each is brought before a bi-partisan committee of Senators and Representatives to debate the differences between the two and come to a majority agreement on one version of the bill that lawmakers cannot amend again. Conference committees are organized by budget area, and the one we are most closely watching is the Health and Human Services (HHS) conference committee. To ensure your voice is amplified in this crucial step in the lawmaking process, the Long-Term Care Imperative distributed letters to the House and Senate. We recently met with legislative leaders from each chamber to discuss our priorities and continue monitoring the activity surrounding them in the HHS conference committee this week.

As part of the budget process, Senate Republicans sent a first budget offer to the House, sending a clear signal of their end-of-session priorities. Their offer includes several tax, transportation, health insurance and COVID provisions. Most notably, the Senate identified as part of the offer ways they want the American Rescue Plan funds from the federal government to be spent and included Hero Pay Bonuses for long-term care workers.

Last Week
The legislature debated the HHS omnibus bills last week. The Senate HHS budget bill includes investment in the moratorium exceptions process and has one concerning savings provision -- caps on enrollment in disability waivers. We are hopeful that this provision will be taken out in the conference committee process.

We are disappointed that the House bill does not include any of our key priorities, and in fact, calls for no new investments in long-term care services. Furthermore, the House bill has concerning language that requires applications for an assisted living license under the new licensure provisions starting Aug. 1. We will continue working with lawmakers to see that these provisions do not end up in a final version of the bill.

What’s Ahead
The HHS budget proposals will go to conference committee on Wednesday, where the House and Senate will work out the differences between the two bills. Additionally, we anticipate additional action on the nearly $2 billion in federal funding coming to Minnesota under the American Rescue Plan and are committed to seeing those funds go towards our key priorities.

What to Watch
As we near the last few weeks of the session, budget bills are nearing finalization. Here are the two we are watching most closely:

• HF 2127 (Schultz) / SF 383 (Abeler): Human services reform, finance, and policy omnibus budget bills. Both bills have been passed out of committee and are awaiting floor passage.

• HF 2128 (Liebling) / SF 2360 (Benson): Health and human services finance and policy omnibus budget bills. Both bills are in committee, awaiting final passage to the House and Senate floor.