Governor Dayton and the new majority of Republican legislators have not agreed on the big picture of taxes and omnibus proposals. However, they do continue to move and sign bills into law. This past week the governor acted on two proposals.

COMMUNITY PARAMEDIC

The first was a community paramedics bill, HF 262/SF 119, creating certification for emergency medical technicians-community paramedics (EMT-CP) and was slightly controversial, drawing criticism from the nursing community. Proponents of the bill touted this as a great way to reach underserved populations, especially in rural Minnesota.

FEDERAL CONFORMITY, TAX REFUNDS ADVANCE

The second bill the governor acted on included two important tax measures for employers. HF 79 is authored by Representative Greg Davids, R-Preston, and Senator Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen.

The first provision aligns state law with federal law in regard to health coverage, among other items. Under federal law, health coverage provided for an employee’s adult nondependent children younger than age 27 is generally tax-free to the employee for federal purposes. Now those benefits will be tax-free to the employee for state purposes as well. The change was made for the tax year 2010 only. In addition, employers would not be required to reissue W-2s related to this provision. The House and Senate will likely debate federal conformity for tax year 2011 and beyond as part of future tax bills this session.

The second item repeals a 2010 law that delayed capital equipment and corporate income tax refunds as part of the budget compromise. Businesses will now receive these refunds immediately rather than waiting until July 1, 2011.

View a table of bills signed or vetoed by the governor.

We will keep you posted on items moving forward throughout the legislative process.

Toby Pearson
952.851.2480
tpearson@careproviders.org