Tech Policy Download: March 27, 2023

The last two weeks were the busiest of the legislative session. During that period, all bills dealing exclusively with policy had to have made it through their respective committees or else they would not continue to be viable. Of course, nothing is ever completely dead until the legislature adjourns and some of these bills may return as amendments to viable bills.

The projected surplus will remain the same going forward with $17.6 billion available for additional spending and/or tax relief. The governor has submitted some additional items that he would like to see funded including more money for higher education. The House and Senate will be taking a break for the Easter/Passover holidays on April 5th and returning to work on April 12th. At that time, they will finalize their respective versions of spending and tax bills and begin floor action, which will ultimately take us to the end of the session.

This bi-weekly newsletter provide updates on legislation MnTech is actively following and engaging with in support of Minnesota’s tech ecosystem, and we look forward to working with any interested parties on advancing (or voicing concern over) any of the issues highlighted below.

This session MnTech is focused on legislation to get Minnesota out of last place in the nation in access to foundation computer science courses – we’re currently ranked 50th out of 50 states. We are also focused on expanding successful experiential learning opportunities like the SciTech program which increase the diversity of our tech talent pipeline. With average annual median tech wage at $94,715, 106% higher than the median state wage, we must ensure that education and training pathways into tech are accessible for all Minnesota students.

Computer Science Education Advancement Act

HF 727(Lee) / SF 757 (Gustafson): This legislation aims to help Minnesota get out of last place in the nation in access to foundational computer science courses at the high school level by creating an Advisory Committee on computer science education expansion and providing annual funding for training computer science teachers.

Status: MnTech supports this legislation. The House Education Policy Committee unanimously passed the amended version of the legislation and referred it to the House Education Finance Committee. The Education Finance Committee laid it over for possible inclusion into the omnibus K-12 funding bill. On the Senate side, the legislation passed unanimously out of the Senate Education Policy Committee and passed it onto the K-12 Education Finance Committee for consideration and inclusion in its Omnibus K-12 Finance Bill.

SciTech Legislation

HF 1107(Kotyza-Witthuhn) / SF 1284 (Mohamed): This legislation provides expanded funding to the SciTech Internship program, which has placed over 2,000 interns in STEM related internships at small businesses across the state.

Status: MnTech supports this legislation. This legislation passed unanimously out of the Senate Jobs and Economic Development Committee on February 15th. The bill was heard by the House Workforce Development Finance and Policy Committee on Friday, March 17th. It was laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus Jobs Bill.

MnTech supports legislation advancing the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband’s outstanding recommendations for the state’s border-to-border broadband program, ensuring all Minnesotans have access to reliable broadband. This includes ensuring that schools have access to reliable, high-speed broadband. We are actively monitoring policy issues such as privacy, net neutrality and a national broadband funding framework, which we believe should be addressed at the federal level to avoid a patchwork of regulations from state-to-state.

SF 1408 (Wesenberg) / HF 1441 (Wiener) – This legislation expands the Broadband grant program to include fixed wireless.

Status: MnTech supports this legislation. No committee action at this time.

SF 1523 (Putnam) / HF 1564 (Brand) – This legislation expands the broadband tax exemption to include fiber and conduit used in broadband and Internet access services

Status: MnTech supports this legislation. This bill is currently in the Senate Tax Committee and the House Tax Committee and may be included in the Omnibus tax bill.

HF 1813 (Norris) / SF 1874 (Rest): This legislation reinstates the small business investment income tax credit (Angle Investment Tax Credit).

Status: MnTech supports this legislation. This legislation passed out of the House Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee and was sent to the House Tax Committee. It was laid over in the Senate Tax Committee for possible inclusion in the Omnibus tax bill.

HF 295 (Elkins) / SF 405 (Mann) – This legislation ensures that covenants not to compete are void and unenforceable.

Status: MnTech opposes this legislation and recommends Minnesota wait to take any action until the FTC issues their final rule on noncompete clauses. This legislation was heard and amended in the House Labor and Industry Finance and Policy Committee. The Commerce Finance and Policy Committee passed the amended legislation on Wednesday, March 8th. The Senate Labor Committee amended and passed the legislation and referred it to the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. The Committee passed the bill out and has sent it to the Senate Finance Committee.

HF 468 (Noor) / SF 2237 (Dibble) – This legislation modifies sales and use tax provisions modified to include taxation of transfers of prewritten computer software.

Status: MnTech opposes this legislation as drafted as it creates an additional tax on individuals and businesses, often small businesses, in a state with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the country. This bill is currently in the House and Senate Tax Committees and awaits action.

HF 790 (Robbins) / SF1762 (Rasmusson): – This legislation allows an annual rather than amortized state subtraction for research and experimental expenditures.

Status: MnTech supports this legislation. This bill is currently in the House and Senate Tax Committees and awaits action.

MnTech opposes efforts such as right to repair legislation that allow uncertified repairs to electronic equipment and other devices with sensitive intellectual property, as doing so increases the introduction of cybersecurity risks. This not only impacts the protection of the intellectual property, it adds greater risk to system failures resulting in increased property damage and potential human harm. We are actively monitoring the pending introduction of legislation related to data privacy, which in previous legislation sessions have been drafted to have a much broader than intended scope and a wide variety of unintended consequences, and legislation related to age-appropriate design code.

HF 1337 (Fischer) / SF 1598 (Kupec) – This legislation allows for expanded digital repair services and authorizes the Attorney General to issue penalties for noncompliance.

Status: MnTech opposes this legislation as it impacts consumer safety and proprietary information. The House Committee on Commerce Finance and Policy amended this legislation and passed it out of committee and referred the legislation to the Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee, which amended and passed it out of committee on February 28th. The Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee passed the legislation out of committee on February 28th and referred it to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. The Bill is scheduled for hearing on March 24th.

HF 1503 (Robbins) / SF 2101 (Mathews) – Prohibiting social media algorithms that target children.

Status: MnTech opposes this legislation as written due to the large number of non-social media platforms the legislation unintentionally includes (including retail and video streaming services) and lack of clarity on compliance and enforcement. The legislation was amended and passed out of the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee on March 1st. The Committee amended the bill and re-referred it to Judiciary Finance and Civil Law.

HF 2257 (Bahner)/ SF 2810 (Maye Quade) – Minnesota Age-Appropriate Design Code Act

Status: MnTech is not supportive of this legislation as written. This bill was passed out of the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee on Wednesday, March 1st and referred to the Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. On March 16th there was a hearing on HF 2257 with Judiciary Finance and Civil Law. An amendment was moved (H2257A2) and the motion prevailed. The amendment was adopted. HF 2257 was recommended to be re-referred to the Commerce Committee. There was a hearing on SF 2810 on March 23rd in the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection. The bill was amended, recommended to pass and re-referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.

Don’t see a bill or article listed here that you think MnTech should be following, or want to get more involved in tech advocacy? Let Jeff Tollefson know at Jeff@mntech.org.