Policy provisions take center stage in fourth COVID-19 response package

A new law focused on policy issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic covers a range of areas including civil law, transportation, taxes, and health and human services.

Sponsored by House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) it is the fourth law to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effective April 16, 2020, the law will add an additional $1.25 million to a fiscal year 2020 appropriation to reimburse Second Harvest Heartland for the purchase of milk and protein products, including meat, dry legumes, cheese, and eggs.

It will also strengthen the Department of Health’s temporary emergency authority, allowing it to delay, waive, modify, or issue variances to some state laws, and providing related reporting requirements.

The law limits the department to actions necessary for preparing for, preventing, and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, but provides the flexibility needed to respond quickly in the face of constant change and rapid developments.

Furthermore, the Health Department can establish temporary alternative health care facilities by suspending some compliance and regulatory standards to allow for nontraditional spaces to be used. Consultation on state building code issues will be required with the commissioner of labor and industry as needed to safely establish and regulate beds.

The facilities will be enrolled as Medical Assistance providers.

Policy changes intended to make telemedicine services more functional and accessible will require health carriers to provide coverage for those services and prohibit them from denying coverage based on the mechanism or platform used to deliver services.

Supervised mental health practitioners and respiratory therapists will be eligible to provide telemedicine services, and the law expands the definition of “telemedicine services” to include phone conversations, which would likely be more comfortable for older, less tech-savvy patients.

The law includes other policy provisions that will, during the peacetime emergency:

• clarify that Medical Assistance is available for uninsured individuals for the testing and diagnosis of COVID-19;

• provide Medical Assistance coverage for diagnostic products used for identifying COVID-19;

• extend out-of-state commercial driver’s licenses for new Minnesota residents;

• allow the Department of Public Safety to issue commercial driver’s licenses without immediately administering eye exams and taking in-person photographs;

• require reports from the Metropolitan Council and Department of Transportation about the use of any temporary powers during the emergency;

• allow local registrars to accept electronic filings, mailed or faxed marriage licenses and allow examination of the parties under oath using audio or video;

• temporarily allow nonconforming wills to be probated if execution defects are shown to be harmless by clear and convincing evidence;

• suspend the running of statutory deadlines that govern district and appellate court proceedings;

• permit a child support obligor to file a motion contesting the May 1, 2020, cost-of-living adjustment until June 30, 2020; and

• delay the enforcement of certain debts secured by agricultural property, such as foreclosing a mortgage, by extending the mediation period under the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act.

The Department of Revenue will be given broader discretion in "posting" bars, restaurants and other businesses that serve beer, wine or liquor for being delinquent on their taxes. Posting is a punitive measure that prohibits liquor wholesalers from delivering to businesses until their taxes are paid up. Such discretion will continue through four months after the expiration of the governor's executive order closing bars and restaurants.

Another provision – updating a law passed last year – will allow members of a public body, such as a city council, to remotely participate in meetings from locations not accessible to the public up to three times per year, if the participant has been advised against being in a public space by a medical professional.

This allowance will only apply during a declared state of emergency, and for up to 60 days after that emergency declaration has ended, but is not limited to the COVID-19 crisis.

The law also contains a handful of policy provisions unrelated to COVID-19, a series of technical changes and corrections, and forecast adjustments that will bring Department of Human Services’ appropriations for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 into conformity with the 2020 February Forecast.

HF4556*/SF4462/CH74

HF4556* / SF4462 / CH74