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Minn. House passes bill to share agency savings with frontline workers, adds 2030 sunset
Summary
The Minnesota House passed House File 289, a measure to let frontline state workers share in certain agency savings and form committees to decide uses of those funds. Lawmakers adopted an amendment restoring a June 30, 2030, sunset and approved the bill 133-0 on a roll call.
The Minnesota House on a roll-call vote of 133-0 approved House File 289, an act relating to state government that would allow frontline state workers to share in certain agency savings and establish committees to decide how to use the funds; the chamber also adopted an amendment adding a June 30, 2030, sunset.
Representative Quam of Olmsted County, the bill’s author, told the House the proposal grew out of discussions with unionized frontline staff and is intended to give employees “a greater voice” in how savings are spent. “If we're to have the most effective and efficient government in the state, we need to involve the frontline workers,” Quam said on the House floor.
The bill as introduced would create a process by which agencies identify savings; part of those savings could be set aside with a portion going to the general fund and a portion going to an account overseen by committees that include frontline workers, according to Quam’s floor explanation. The intent, he said, is to encourage savings and allow workers to direct some funds toward operational needs they identify.
Representative Cleavorn offered amendment A2 to restore a sunset date that Quam said had originally been in the bill. Cleavorn described the change as “very simple” and said it would set the sunset for June 30, 2030. Quam said he viewed the amendment as friendly, and the House adopted the amendment without recorded opposition.
Representative Freiburg of Hennepin County spoke in support on the floor, saying the bill “presents an opportunity for there to be some innovation in state agencies” and that she would vote yes.
After brief additional floor proceedings, the clerk called the roll of members voting remotely. Representatives Gander and Hicks were recorded as voting yes on the roll call. The clerk closed the roll with a tally of 133 yays and 0 nays; the clerk then said the bill “passes and its title is agreed to.”
The bill passed as amended; the amendment restored the sunset date of June 30, 2030. The text of the bill as passed and next procedural steps (for example, transmittal to the Senate or enrollment) were not specified in the floor transcript.
Votes at a glance: - House File 289 (1st Engrossment, as amended by A2) — Passed; recorded roll call 133-0. Amendment A2 (Cleavorn) restoring a June 30, 2030, sunset — Adopted (voice/without recorded opposition).
