By Sara Quam
The city of Luverne is figuring out how best to use its new border city development funds. And while citizens may have heard of the term, they may not be clear on what exactly happened with the legislation or how it could affect the city.
The lobbying firm that helped push legislation wrote a final report that condenses what was included under various newspaper headlines.
The city of Luverne attempted to pass the border city development zone law in the 2000 legislative session, but it did not pass. The Senate Tax Bill contained the provision, but the House Tax Bill did not.
At Luverne's request, Rep. Richard Mulder and Sen. Arlene Lesewski agreed to offer the border city legislation in the 2001 session.
It was then introduced by Mulder in the House Jan. 18. Lesewski introduced it in the Senate Jan. 25.
In the House, the first step was to get the Luverne legislation passed out of the Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee to the House Tax Committee. The Luverne legislation was given a hearing Feb. 5 in the Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee. Prior to the committee meeting, Flaherty and Hood lobbied key members of the committee and met with the chair. Mulder, Luverne Mayor Glen Gust and lobbyist Corey Elmer presented the information and successfully got it referred to the House Tax Committee.
The bill was sent to the House Tax Committee, chaired by Rep. Ron Abrams (R-Minnetonka). Mulder, Gust and Luverne City Administrator Matt Hylen met with Abrams to discuss the legislation. Abrams indicated sympathy with Luverne’s situation but didn’t indicate that he would support the legislation to extend the law to Luverne.
The lobbyis's strategy was to use Mulder's relationship with Abrams and work with Gust to convince Abrams of Luverne’s need for the legislation.
In the Senate, the Luverne legislation was referred directly to the Senate Tax Committee's Income and Sales Tax Budget Division. The bill was heard April 5. Lesewski and Luverne City Council member Keith Erickson testified in support of the legislation. Prior to the meeting, the lobbyists met with key members of the committee to explain the legislation and get support.
At that hearing, several committee members spoke in favor of the legislation. The committee discussed the legislation and laid it over. Somewhat out of the ordinary, the Senate Property Tax Budget Division also heard the bill April 20, which is where the bill has been heard in the past. The bill was discussed and laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus Tax Bill. Later, both divisions of the Tax Committee released their respective lists containing their recommendations regarding what bills or provisions should be included in the Omnibus Tax Bill. Both lists contained the Luverne legislation.
However, despite the recommendations, Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis) did not include the Luverne legislation in the Senate draft of the tax bill. Lobbyists then worked with Lesewski, John Hottinger (DFL-Mankato), and Sen. Jim Vickerman (DFL-Tracy) to determine the best approach and timing for adding the provision.
The decision was made to offer the legislation as an amendment to the Senate Tax Bill on the Senate floor. Lesewski engaged the help of Vickerman because of his position as a ranking majority member of the Senate to offer Luverne's amendment.
On May 11, the Senate Tax Bill was heard on the floor. Vickerman offered the Luverne amendment. Pogemiller stated his continued and unwavering opposition to it. The Senate voted to add the legislation to its Omnibus Tax Bill. The Senate was swayed by the comments of several DFL and Republican senators, from both Greater Minnesota and the metropolitan area, who spoke in favor of the amendment.
In the House, Mulder succeeded in getting the support of Abrams, which was the key to the inclusion of the Luverne legislation in the House Tax Bill. As a result, both the House and Senate tax bills contained the Luverne provision, which is a significant achievement.
The tax conference committee, or working group, spent several weeks negotiating the differences between the two tax bills. Luverne's local legislators, lobbyists and Gust aggressively lobbied for the legislation, and in the end it was included in the final tax bill. The language that passed allocates $175,000 for tax reductions or offsets, a reduction of $8,000 from the original request, and allows for up to three areas to be designated as border city development zones.