SF1937: Senate Energy Omnibus appropriations bill

The Senate Omnibus Jobs, Commerce, Energy, Labor and Industry, and Employment and Economic Development appropriations bill provides money for jobs and economic development, makes changes to commerce, telecommunications and energy policy.  Hereinafter the bill will be referred to as the “Energy Omnibus bill.”

Because the Minnesota House of Representatives passed an Energy Omnibus Bill with provisions differing from the Senate’s version of their Energy Omnibus bill, a Conference Committee met to work out the differences between the two versions.  The Conference Committee worked out the differences and produced an updated version of the bill.

A vote on the Senate floor was required to adopt the updated version of the Energy Omnibus bill.

The bill proposed to:

• exempt small electric cooperatives and small municipal electricity providers from meeting the energy saving goals of the Conservation Improvement Program
• eliminate the Renewable Development Fund created because of concerns about the Prairie Island nuclear dry storage casks and then use that revenue to create a new undescribed legislative energy fund
• repeal the Made in Minnesota solar program
• exempt petroleum pipelines from environmental review at the Public Utilities Commission
• prevent local communities from banning or taxing single use plastic bags
• jeopardize the $47 Million in VW settlement funds by mandating legislative control
• require legislative approval for any rules affecting the cost of construction greater than $1,000, including public health and safety rules.

The updated Energy Omnibus bill, as amended by the Conference Committee, was passed by the Minnesota Senate with 34 “Yes” votes compared to 30 “No” votes. On May 15, 2017, Governor Dayton vetoed SF1937.

Governor Dayton’s veto letter can be found here.