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Committee advances bill to ease financial reporting burden for small grain buyers
Summary
Senate File 1552, carried by Senator Kupak, would create a tiered financial-reporting approach for grain buyers and exempt small cash buyers under $1,000,000 in annual purchases from the full reporting requirement. The committee passed the bill to the Senate floor after testimony from small operators who said CPA-level reviews had become prohibit
Senator Mary Kupak presented Senate File 15 52, a bill intended to update the Department of Agriculture’s financial-reporting requirements for licensed grain buyers. Kupak said the bill restores a tiered approach: small buyers would be able to submit account-prepared financial reports rather than CPA-reviewed statements, and cash sales under $1,000,000 annually would be exempt from the full reporting requirement unless MDA requests additional information.
Multiple small operators and industry groups testified in support. Jim Falk, a licensed grain buyer and seed processor, said recent mandatory reviews cost his business roughly $7,000–$7,400 per year and duplicated tax reporting. Donovan Storey, owner of a small feed mill with annual grain purchases around $500,000, described being denied a license renewal because his accountant’s review was not a CPA review. Storey said he faced months of refusals from accounting firms and was later quoted about $18,000 for a CPA review; he received a cease-and-desist order and appealed.
The Minnesota Grain & Feed Association (Laura Lemke) supported tiered thresholds and the cash-exemption but raised concerns about replacing the phrase "generally accepted accounting principles" with "national or international accounting standards" and about eliminating CEO/board certification of financial statements; she warned of limited department staff capacity to review diverse statement types. Representatives from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture explained the rationale: the national/international-language allows companies headquartered outside the U.S. to submit their standard financials and the bill permits MDA to request additional information as needed.
Members of the committee discussed amendments to address outstanding concerns and agreed to work with stakeholders. Senator Kupak moved the bill; the committee reported Senate File 15 52 as passed and moved to the floor by voice vote (no roll-call tally recorded in the transcript).
