Today, Governor Mark Dayton signed six bills into law:

• Chapter 286, Senate File 1808, the omnibus pension bill.

• Chapter 287, House File 2685, the omnibus transportation policy bill.

• Chapter 288, House File 1721, containing several provisions related to economic development, including the authorization of demolition loans, establishment the office of small business advocate in the Business Assistance Center and authorization of the city of Albert Lea to establish an industrial sewer charge rebate program.

• Chapter 289, Senate File 1983, eliminating any construction code fund transfer to the general fund, appropriating funds from the fire safety account and making additional changes to the fire safety account. This bill passed with unanimous support from both bodies of the legislature.

• Chapter 290, Senate File 1143, the omnibus data practices provisions bill.

• Chapter 292, House File 2967, the annual forecast bill, aligning appropriation amounts with forecast spending levels. The bill includes several funding items, totaling just over $2 million, many of which are from the governor's supplemental budget proposal, including:

  • $210,000 for the GI bill;

  • $100,000 for the Veterans Honor Guard;

  • $100,000 for Veterans Assistance;

  • $200,000 for County Veterans Service Grant Program;

  • $472,000 for Soft Body Armor;

  • $457,000 for MnSCU equipment updates;

  • $235,000 FEMA matching funds;

Among other provisions, this bill creates a public health exception to the Genetic Information Act to give the Department of Health a one-year period to continue to perform critical public health operations and testing programs (i.e. infectious disease surveillance) permitted by current rules and statutes, while developing a new legislative initiative on this issue for next year.