Capitol Letter for April 12, 2021
The Capitol Letter™ is a recurring publication that provides reports from LWV Minnesota volunteer Observer Corps and Lobby Corps members on what is happening in the current legislative session.
This issue of the Capitol Letter™ will cover the two state government policy and finance and elections omnibus bills that are currently underway at the Capitol.
House Omnibus (HF1952)
The House state government and elections omnibus bill has several good provisions that LWVMN supports.
Elections and Voting
Automatically appropriates money received from the federal government into the Help America Vote Act fund to the Secretary of State for use and redistribution to local governments in accordance with federal requirements. This ensures that the legislature does not delay the appropriation of money, as has happened recently.
Requires postsecondary institutions to assist students to provide proof of residence for voter registration.
Restores the right to vote to individuals with felony convictions who are not incarcerated and living in their community.
Establishes automatic voter registration.
Provides technical and grammatical corrections to clarify existing law.
Authorizes a school board to provide high school students credit for serving as an election judge or election judge trainee.
Prohibits intimidation, interference, and deceptive practices in the elections process, including creating a specific crime for intimidating any election official or person assisting others in the voting process, including during voter registration. Establishes criminal penalties for those actions.
Campaign Finance
Expands the definition of “expressly advocating” to include functional equivalents of express advocacy for candidates. This means that an advertisement for or against a candidate would still be considered a reportable expenditure even if the ad did not use the words “vote for” or “vote against.”
Requires a disclaimer on independent expenditures to include the top three contributors responsible for the expenditure. This ensures that individuals and organizations cannot hide their identities behind strawman organizations, funds, or committees.
The summary of the full bill from the House Research Department can be found here.
Senate Omnibus (SF1831)
The Senate state government and elections omnibus bill has several bad provisions that LWVMN opposes.
Elections and Voting
Ends existing appropriations of Help America Vote Act funds and redirects them into new appropriations not previously authorized.
Removes same day registration by implementing provision ballots, a costly process that burdens local election officials and disenfranchises eligible voters.
Makes certain private voter information public.
Removes the ability of local governments to have “pop-up” voting centers.
Requires private election judge information to be distributed to political parties, who may then republish that information publicly.
The summary of the full bill from Senate Counsel can be found here.
Redistricting
Redistricting legislation is in neither omnibus bill. We expect both chambers to have informal hearings on redistricting over the summer and into the fall. It is unclear whether any redistricting legislation will receive a floor vote in either chamber before the end of session in May.