Legislative Update 2016

The Minnesota Legislature adjourned in May after an extremely abbreviated session. This year’s legislative agenda focused on taxes, bonding and a supplemental budget. All of the bills were passed with bipartisan support; however, Governor Dayton ending up pocket vetoing both the tax bill and the bonding bill. A pocket veto essentially means he refused to sign the legislation so it “died on his desk.” The tax bill was meant to provide relief to business owners, veterans and students with college loans among.. The bonding bill was one of the most significant ever for transportation and water infrastructure – think Flint, Michigan.

The MNAES has growing support for legislation they introduced during the 2015 – 2016 legislative session. The bill required insurance companies to offer:

  • supplement insurance options to a policy;
  • require insurance companies to discuss a claim with a contractor;
  • require an insurance adjuster (with an insurance company) to have continuing education on Minnesota construction codes; and
  • would have allowed for certain findings e.g., Commerce Department findings to be admitted as evidence in a court case.

The MNAES was able to obtain signatures in both the House and the Senate to introduce the bill. While it didn’t receive a hearing in either body, it received substantial positive feedback and an informational meeting with legislators, staff, the MNAES and the insurance federation.

Several bills adverse to the industry were also introduced. The MNAES lobbied legislators on the detriments of these pieces of legislation and none of them received a hearing.

  • Contractors would have been required to pay attorney’s fees if they lost a court case on the home warranty statute (MN Statutes 327A);
  • Insurance policy limits would have been established for building code requirements; and
  • Clarifying in law that a public adjuster could not negotiate claims if the public

adjuster was in anyway affiliated with a business that performs loss on repairs or storm damage.

The MNAES has been working to build relationships with the Departments of Commerce and Labor and Industry (DOLI). This last month a meeting commenced with Commerce and DOLI to discuss several issues that have made it difficult for contractors to perform a high quality job for their customer. Issues discussed including insurance companies requiring:

  • Unreacted to receive operating and profit;
  • A guidance memo on code requirements the insurance industry must pay on a claim;
  • Insurance company policy endorsements; and
  • Insurance companies directing consumers to preferred contractors.

The Departments will be working on a guidance memo for required building codes for storm repair damage. If you would like to submit codes you feel should be part of the guidance memo to assist a customer in getting their home repaired, please send them to Lisa Frenette at frenettela@gmail.com

Commerce was very interested that insurance companies have been changing policy endorsements. They have assigned insurance investigators to go over policies to look for other unfair changes in policy endorsements.

The MNAES will be scheduling in early September to continue working on these issues. Please contact Lisa Frenette if you have questions or comments at frenettela@gmail.com.

2020-01-09T19:13:18-06:00

Legislative Update 2015

Legislative Update 2015

The Minnesota Legislature adjourned in May with as many questions as answers. While all the public’s attention has been on education funding, other significant issues are still in limbo. To date the Governor and House Republicans have been meeting to resolve differences in the vetoed bills with the Governor continually renegotiating provisions he’d like to see put in or taken out of bills. Below are highlights of enacted laws or provisions the MNAES was able to stave off this year.

First, the last bill the Legislature passed was the Omnibus Jobs and Energy bill – literally in the last minutes of session. House DFL members instantly cried foul given they had no time to read the bill before passage. The bill was also criticized for a technical, but perhaps fatal, flaw given the House Clerk read the wrong bill number before the vote.

The most relevant piece to MNAES members was the provision prohibiting the mandate of fire sprinklers in new residential construction. To date, the Governor has not made removing the sprinkler prohibition mandate a priority for signing the Omnibus Jobs bill.

Second, the Construction Codes and Licensing bill contained the model code cycle language that MNAES worked on with BAM this session. The original bill was amended to move the full model residential and building (commercial) code updates prescribed by the ICC from three years to six years but allows the Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) to provide amendments in the case of updated technology or for the health, safety and welfare of the public. An example of this is when the legislature passed a law requiring code changes for window fall protection. If there wasn’t flexibility, the department wouldn’t have been able to provide rule making mandated by the legislature. The bill also clarifies in federal law on energy codes which requires DOLI (as well as the other 50 states) to certify to the Department of Energy that the state has reviewed provisions of the energy codes and made a determination as to whether it is appropriate for the state to update its energy codes. This year DOLI reviewed the new energy codes and made the decision not to proceed with anything new.

The Department of Labor and Industry also has several clean up provisions in its bill this year.

  1. Construction Contractor Registration dates have been changed. All registrations issues on or before December 31, 2015 expire on on December 31, 2015 in the odd numbered year. The previous date was June 30, 2015.
  2. A residential roofer under 326B.86 must “give and maintain” a bond with a penal sum of

$15,000 to DOLI as a ground for sanctions for failure to “give and maintain” the bond.

The MNAES was also able to hold back bills that would have been detrimental to the industry. This includes attorneys fees against a contractor, insurance limitation on building code coverage and the regulation of insurance claims. These bills are still in the mix next year and the MNAES should fully expect them to surface as part of a legislative agenda.

Stay tuned for more special session information as well as new regulatory information on asbestos and lead.

2020-01-09T19:12:58-06:00
Go to Top