Committee advances Commerce bill to update contract-for-deed language, adopt NAIC holding-company standards

The House Commerce, Finance and Policy Committee on March 27 adopted an author’s A1 amendment to House File 2601 and voted to re‑refer the bill to the Judiciary and Civil Law Committee.

The bill, carried by Representative Hewitt, makes three principal changes requested by the Minnesota Department of Commerce: it updates contract‑for‑deed language, replaces a Fannie Mae benchmark that the department can no longer obtain to calculate statutory maximum interest rates, and adds NAIC holding‑company group capital and liquidity stress‑testing language to Minnesota statute.

"This is a simple bill brought by Commerce that . . . cleans up some of the verbiage around contract for deeds," Representative Hewitt said during the committee hearing. He described contract for deed as a financing tool that was common in…