With few changes, omnibus jobs and energy panel OKs conference report

The omnibus jobs and energy conference committee posted its report Monday night and passed the $378 million package on a divided voice vote at a meeting Tuesday morning.

Rep. Pat Garofalo

Policy changes from the delete-all amendment to HF2209/SF1937* that the committee adopted May 1 are few. The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board would no longer be renamed, so “Advisory” was removed throughout the part of the bill that would restructure the agency.

Another section, concerning sprinklers in townhomes, was deleted because similar standalone legislation has since been enacted.

MORE View the spreadsheet

Citing a series of provisions he took issue with, Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul) termed the conference committee report “a veto missile to the governor.”

Another concern was addressed by Sen. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL-Mpls), who said funding for Services for the Blind shown on the conference committee’s fiscal spreadsheet is not reflected in the text of the report.

Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) said he and his conference committee co-chair, Sen. Jeremy Miller (R-Winona), pledged to fix that problem – including in another near-future omnibus jobs and energy conference committee, if necessitated by a gubernatorial veto of this committee’s report.