House Ways and Means Committee combines three omnibus bills to start busy week

Three omnibus bills became one Monday as the House Ways and Means Committee kicked off what should be a very busy week of hearings before Friday’s third committee deadline, when all committees must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.

Rep. Lyndon Carlson Sr. (DFL-Crystal), the committee chair, had four omnibus bills on Monday’s agenda, plus HF7, which would fund a border-to-border broadband development grant.

That bill, as amended, was incorporated into HF2208, the omnibus jobs and economic development finance bill sponsored by Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul).

The committee then incorporated the omnibus energy and climate finance and policy bills, HF1986 and HF1833, into the jobs bill as well. By incorporating the three bills into HF2208, Carlson said it now aligns better with the committee structure in the Senate.

The committee then approved HF2208, and HF2400, the omnibus education finance bill, as amended, sponsored by Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Mpls).

Both were referred to the House Taxes Committee because each had new budget implications.

The House Ways and Means Committee has hearings scheduled on several other omnibus bills this week:

Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.

• HF2414 (Liebling) omnibus health and human services finance bill;

Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

• HF1555 (Hornstein) omnibus transportation finance bill;

• HF2200 (Poppe) omnibus agriculture and food finance bill;

• HF1151 (Hausman) omnibus housing finance bill;

• HF2209 (Hansen) omnibus environment and natural resources finance bill;

Thursday at 10 a.m.

• HF2544 (Bernardy) omnibus higher education finance bill;

• HF2792 (Mariani) omnibus public safety and criminal justice reform finance bill; and

• HF2705 (Lesch) omnibus judiciary finance bill;

Friday at 9:30 a.m.

• HF2125 (Marquart) omnibus tax bill;

• HF1935 (Nelson) omnibus state government finance bill; and

• HF2086 (Ecklund) omnibus veterans and military affairs finance bill.

Friday’s deadline comes a day before the annual Easter/Passover break that is scheduled to begin April 13 and run through Monday, April 22. Legislative activity can resume at 8 a.m. April 23.

When members return, most action is expected to take place on the House Floor based on unofficial deadlines established early this year by Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders.