Interagency agreements on request not required, House says

Quarterly reports to the Legislature from the MNsure board must include copies of any interagency agreements or service-level agreements with a value greater than $100,000.

Making the agreements available upon request, instead of included with the reports, is the goal of HF943/SF799*.

The bill was passed by the House 129-0 Monday, as amended by Rep. Matt Dean (R-Dellwood), the House sponsor, to reflect the House language. It will return to the Senate, where it was passed 65-0 April 20 and is sponsored by Sen. Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake).

Interagency agreements can be constructive and help state government to run smoothly, Dean said, however, they can also serve as “a way for the executive branch to re-write budgets.”

By making sure legislators are informed of interagency agreements, “it brings the Legislature back in and helps us do our job a little better,” he said.

Having the agreements available upon request instead of included by default makes the reporting “more reasonable,” and more useful to the Legislature, said Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester).