Senate committee advances omnibus commerce, consumer protection bill with amendments

Senator Roger Klein, chair of the Minnesota Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, opened the committee’s April 8 hearing on Senate File 2216, an 88-page omnibus commerce and consumer protection bill, and the committee adopted an author’s A6 amendment by voice vote. "Mister chair, I offer the A6 author's amendment," Senator Klein said, and committee staff later reported that the amendment was adopted after members answered no questions and the chair called the voice vote.

The bill package includes both appropriations and policy provisions spanning financial institutions, insurance, consumer protection, electric vehicle infrastructure, common interest communities, cannabis finance, and product safety. Committee staff walked the panel through a spreadsheet of change items and revenue offsets attached to the bill. Among the finance and staffing items described were a proposed $441,000-per-year general-fund increase to support an estimated three full-time equivalents in the securities unit at the Department of Commerce, a $2.585 million general-fund operating adjustment for the department’s Administrative Services Division in 2026–27 (and $3.726 million in 2028–29), and several items tied to an Office of Cannabis Management operating increase.

The bill would also create a common interest community (CIC) ombudsperson and a CIC registry with dedicated funding: committee staff described a $500,000 one-time development cost for the registry with $25,000 per year for maintenance, and staffing costs estimated separately. To support the new registry and related work, the bill would set an annual CIC registration fee of $55, which staff estimated would generate about $440,000 per year.

Other budget and revenue items included reductions tied to a planned transfer of the Commerce Fraud Bureau to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Department of Public Safety (a general-fund reduction of approximately $2.23 million each biennium and associated special-revenue reductions), and a new or increased fee on broker-dealer agent transfers that would raise the transfer fee from $25 to $60 and was estimated to bring about $441,000 per year to the general fund. The bill also includes a statutory appropriation for a new electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) inspection fee to support weights-and-measures testing and inspection work (estimated at $188,000 in 2026–27 and larger amounts in the following biennium).

On insurance, the omnibus includes language intended to codify National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) model provisions for group capital and liquidity stress testing in chapter 60D to maintain Minnesota’s NAIC accreditation. Article 3 collects multiple health-insurance–specific provisions drawn from department policy bills, including changes to Medicare supplement rules and the creation of a defined classification for "limited long-term care insurance." Committee staff also said the bill incorporates a modification to the mandated benefit evaluation process in statute (cited in committee as section 62J) and related rulemaking and form requirements.

The bill text spans regulatory and consumer protections for emerging products and markets (EV charging, EVSE testing, broker-dealer oversight), administration of insurance oversight, and newly proposed consumer oversight for common interest communities. After presentation and public testimony on individual provisions, Senator Klein said the committee would lay the bill as amended over for further work. "The bill as amended will be laid over, and we will see you on Thursday," he said.

Votes and formal actions at the April 8 hearing were limited: the committee adopted Senator Klein’s A6 author’s amendment by voice vote and laid the amended bill over for further consideration. No final passage votes on individual bills within the omnibus occurred during the hearing.

Outlook: The omnibus consolidates many department-proposed changes and smaller policy bills into a single vehicle that the committee will continue to refine; the committee indicated further amendments and discussion are expected in subsequent hearings and work sessions.