Elected Officials Join in Recognizing Medical Alley Day in Minnesota; Attend MAA Annual Dinner
Just under two weeks ago, Governor Tim Walz issued a proclamation
making April 24 Medical Alley Day in Minnesota. Issued to coincide with the
2019 Medical Alley Association Annual Dinner, the proclamation recognized the
positive impact the Medical Alley community has on patients throughout the world
and on Minnesota’s economy. You can read the full proclamation here.
Elected officials from around the state joined in and shared their appreciation for the work that is done right here, in the global epicenter of health innovation and care. Here are a few examples:
Today – in honor of #MedicalAlleyDay – I want to thank @MedicalAlley for providing the health care and medical technology industry the tools and resources needed to offer excellent life-saving devices and patterns of care for patients throughout the country.
Medical Alley is the global epicenter of health innovation and care. From globally known innovators like Rochester’s own @MayoClinic, to some of the most influential startups in the world, the future of healthcare is right here in Medical Alley. #MedicalAlleyDay
Minnesota is the global epicenter of health innovation and care. Many people in our district work in the medical device industry, including @Medtronic in Mounds View and @bostonsci in Arden Hills. Thanks to @GovTimWalz, today we celebrate Medical Alley Day. #mnlegpic.twitter.com/Kovd9wkzE9
The day was capped by the 2019 Medical Alley Association Annual Dinner, which was attended by nearly 1,000 leaders from the health innovation and care industry. Representatives Dean Phillips and Tom Emmer joined for a portion of the event and learned first-hand about the groundbreaking innovation being done throughout Medical Alley. Additionally, Steve Grove – the Commissioner of DEED – spoke during the dinner’s program about his commitment to developing policies and programs that help meet the needs of current Medical Alley companies and helping the region continue to develop as a hub for investment and growth in health innovation and care.
Thank you to all the elected officials who shared their recognition of Medical Alley Day and the support of our community. We especially appreciate Representatives Phillips and Emmer for taking the time to attend our Annual Dinner and Commissioner Grove for speaking. We look forward to continuing to work with public officials at all levels of government to continue realizing the vision of Medical Alley as the global epicenter of health innovation and care!
Update from the Minnesota Legislature
With just under two weeks to go until the adjournment deadline, the
Minnesota Legislature is hard at work negotiating a balanced budget that can
earn the signature of Governor Tim Walz.
There are significant differences in the approaches of the
DFL-controlled House and the GOP-controlled Senate. We’ve put together a quick
summary of the key differences in the three bills most interesting to the
Medical Alley community.
House: Reinstates the Angel Tax Credit for tax years
2019 and 2020 at $10 million per year and lowers investment threshold for
eligibility to $7,500 for those investing in targeted businesses (those located
in Greater Minnesota or that are owned or operated by women or minorities).
Senate: Reinstates the Angel Tax Credit for tax year
2019 at $5 million and includes veteran-owned businesses as targeted businesses
for purposes of the 50% credit set-aside.
Conformity
to Section 179 Expensing
House: Fully conforms to federal Section 179
Expensing limits starting in tax year 2018 and repeals the 80% add-back and five
year full-value deduction.
Senate: Fully conforms to federal Section 179
Expensing limits starting in tax year 2019 and repeals the 80% add-back and five
year full-value deduction.
Conformity
to Bonus Depreciation
Both: Conforms to federal bonus depreciation
limits, retains 80% add-back and five year full-value deduction.
Duluth
Regional Exchange District
House: Establishes a public economic development
project to support the medical centers in Duluth, similar to the Destination Medical
Center in Rochester.
Senate: Does not include this provision.
Eliminates
Marriage Penalty for Minnesota Student Loan Tax Credit
House: Removes a disincentive for married
couples to file jointly for purposes of the Minnesota student loan tax credit. This
makes the tax credit more accessible for married couples and easier for
employers to use as an incentive for potential employees to locate in Minnesota.
Global Intangible Low Tax Income (GILTI): Treats
a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) as a domestic corporation if it
generates GILTI for a shareholder and if it is a member of a domestic unitary
group; a “deemed domestic corporation’s” income would then be attributed to
Minnesota for corporate tax income purposes. Creates an optional election for
companies impacted by this CFC/GILTI provision to elect worldwide reporting
that is binding for ten years.
Deemed Repatriation Income: Includes deferred
foreign income deemed by the 2017 Federal Conformity bill, to be included as
subpart F income for tax year 2017 as dividend income.
Senate: Does not include any of the above. Conforms
with Federal Law for GILTI and Foreign-Derived Intangible Income (FDII)I, does not
attempt to tax deemed repatriated income.
Repeal of
Data Center Sales Tax Exemption
House: Makes several changes to the data center sales
tax exemption, most notably it retroactively changes the sales tax exemption
for companies that have already taken advantage it – depending on when it was
utilized – by narrowing what qualifies, reducing the years exempted, or
lowering the credit amount.
Senate: Does not make any of these changes.
Increase
to the Statewide General Levy
House: Changes the calculation for the Statewide
General Levy (also called the Statewide Business Property Tax) from a set
dollar figure to a set rate to increase the net revenues to the state on an
annual basis as the value of commercial property increases. (This is similar to
what happens on local property taxes.) Seasonal recreational property, which is
the only other class of property subject to a statewide general levy, is not
impacted by this change.
Senate: Does not make any of these changes.
Health & Human Services
Finance Omnibus Bill – House File 2414
Documents: Still in progress
Key Provisions:
Creation
of Rare Diseases Advisory Council (RDAC)
House: Funds the creation of the RDAC, for $150,000
per year, at the University of Minnesota for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 only.
Senate: Does not fund RDAC in this bill. The
funding is carried in the Higher Education bill, and is $100,000 per year, but
is permanent.
Extend
Step Therapy Protocol Override to Public Programs
House: Fully funds the extension of last year’s step
therapy protocol override to public programs (e.g. MinnesotaCare, Medical
Assistance).
Senate: Does not have this provision.
Prescription
Drug Price Transparency
Both: Requires prescription drug manufacturers
to disclose, when certain pricing triggers are met, select inputs for that
specific drug; the disclosure thresholds, what needs to be disclosed, and the
intellectual property/trade secret protections are different in each bill.
OneCare
House: Adopts Governor Walz’s proposal for a
state-provided, platinum level, buy-in on the individual market, similar to
what is offered through MinnesotaCare and creates a gold- or silver- level
buy-in option in areas where the existing individual market does not provide
options. Provides for state negotiated prescription drugs for all public
programs, with the option for private plans to join.
Senate: Does not have these provisions.
Provider
Tax
House: Repeals the sunset of the provider tax
(currently scheduled for the end of 2019), continues the 2% tax moving forward.
Senate: Does not have this provision.
Jobs & Economic Development
Finance Omnibus Bill – House File 2208
House: Establishes a Metropolitan Jobs Training
Program (MJTP); this mimics the successful Jobs Training Incentive Program
(JTIP) that is available in Greater Minnesota and provides a state match to
companies for training workers in newly created positions.
Senate: Does not contain this provision.
Minnesota
Investment Fund (MIF) & Job Creation Fund (JCF)
House: Reduces funding to MIF by $10.1 million
for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 and JCF by $2.5 million in fiscal years 2020 and
2021; reduces MIF by $14 million and JCF by $5 million in fiscal years 2022 and
2023; increases maximum MIF award to $2 million.
Senate: Does not reduce appropriations to MIF or
JCF from current law but does not increase maximum MIF award.
SciTechsperience
Internship Program
House: Includes funding for the SciTechsperience
program as part of a pool of potential awardees of competitive grants.
Senate: Includes $1.5 million directly for
SciTechsperience in each of fiscal years
2020 and 2021.
Paid
Family Leave
House: Creates a new state-operated paid family leave
program; levies tax on employees and employers to fund it, modeled off of the
Unemployment Insurance program, raising $400 million in each of fiscal years
2021 and 2022.
Senate: Does not contain this program.
Other Notable Differences Between
House and Senate
Changes
to the Gas Tax
House: Increases the per-gallon gas tax by 20
cents per gallon, spread out over a number of years. The gas tax is
constitutionally dedicated to be spent on roads and bridges. Makes several
changes to the vehicle registration tax with the net result of increasing
revenue to the state, which is also constitutionally dedicated to roads and
bridges. Increases the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax by .375% to 6.875%, the proceeds
of which are split between road and bridge maintenance (57%) and transit (43%).
Senate: Contains none of these changes.
Education
Funding
House: Increases the allotment to the general education
formula by 3% in fiscal year 2020 and 2% in fiscal year 2021, for a total of
$520.5 million in those two years combined, and $702 million in fiscal years
2022 and 2023.
Senate: Increases the allotment to the general education
formula by .5% in each of fiscal years 2020 and 2021, for a total of $96
million in those two years and $139 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
Note: Funding to the general education formula
was already projected to increase under current law by $274 million in fiscal years
2020 and 2021 and another $139 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023; the
amounts from the House and Senate bills would be in addition to these amounts.
Major Issues Outstanding That Are
Not in any of the Budget Bills
Reinsurance
House: Has not passed a reinsurance bill. The
HHS omnibus bill does contain Gov. Walz’s plan to buy-down premiums for those
purchasing plans on the individual market, similar to what was in effect for
2017 under former Governor Dayton.
Senate: Passed a bill continuing Minnesota’s
reinsurance program for an additional three years.
Opioid
Stewardship Fee
Both: The House and Senate each passed separate
plans for raising $20 million from drug manufacturers — primarily those that
produce opioids — and wholesale distributors, as well as for spending these
dollars. These bills are currently in a standalone conference committee that is
working through the differences.
As you can see, there is quite a bit of ground for the sides to cover before adjournment on May 20. Whether they finish on May 20, May 22, June 1 or sometime later this year, we’ll break the full conclusion down for you shortly after the gavel falls in our 2019 Minnesota Legislative Session Recap.
Lilly’s Legislative Life
The most exciting part for lobbyists is upon us, the
notorious conference committees. This means all the omnibus bills have passed
out of each legislative body and the House and Senate appointed conferees from each
body to negotiate the differences between their two versions of each particular
bill. The gavel is passed each day from the Senate Chair to the House Chair,
and committees will adopt same and similar language before the real fun begins.
Conference committees are at the call of the chair, meaning lobbyists and
advocates will be spending plenty of time waiting around while negotiations
take place.
A friendly reminder that with only 13 days left of session,
that there will be plenty of long and sleepless nights, so please be extra kind
to both partisan and nonpartisan staff. These folks are the ones putting in
extra hours behind the scenes to make sure the Legislature gets done on time.
Fingers crossed we can work our way through negotiations and get some good bills
passed.
Good luck. We made it to the final stretch. See you next
week with some (hopefully) exciting updates.
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