Today, Governor Mark Dayton signed 22 bipartisan bills into law. The bill numbers and brief descriptions are below:

Chapter 85, SF 301/HF 506, which will establish a gross misdemeanor penalty for assaulting a law enforcement reserve officer. The same penalty will also apply to postal and utility workers. The bill also adds law enforcement reserve officers and their horses to a statute that creates criminal penalties for assaulting police horses. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 86, SF 1285/HF 1500, is the Department of Human Services Chemical and Mental Health Services Agency policy bill. It is designed to align state statutes related to chemical and mental health with legislative changes made in recent years. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 87, HF 387/SF 471, which will extend and expand the driver's license reinstatement diversion pilot project that the legislature established in 2009. The program will be extended to June 30, 2013 and expanded to allow counties to participate, in addition to cities. The program provides diversion driver's licenses to offenders who have had their licenses suspended and agree to pay their outstanding fees, fines and surcharges back in installments and meet other requirements required under law, or established in program guidelines. The bill passed the Legislature with unanimous support.

Chapter 89, SF 1159/HF 1362, is a Workers Compensation Advisory Council agency bill. The bill adopts several recommendations made by the Workers Compensation Advisory Council and also appropriates $600,000 from the Workers Compensation Special Fund to pay for a new case management system in the Office of Administrative Hearings. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 90, HF 905/SF 612, will require young athletes, upto the age of 18, participating in athletic activities in which a fee is paid, have access to information about the nature, risk and effects of concussion. All participating coaches will be required to receive initial online training and online training at least once every three years. Coaches will be required to remove a youth athlete from participating in athletics when the youth exhibits symptoms consistent with a concussion. The bill passed the Legislature with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 91, SF 881/HF 1270, will expand the use of the statewide electronic charging service (eCharging) to include citations, juvenile adjudication and implied consent test refusal or failure. The bill passed the Legislature with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 92, SF 477/HF 637, clarifies and creates several exemptions from the Minnesota Department of Health food safety licensing and inspection requirements. The bill exempts faith-based organizations, school concession stands and food service events following a disaster, from licensing, inspection and enforcement of food safety requirements. The bill puts in place new educational requirements for food workers at faith-based organizations, aimed at decreasing the likelihood of food-borne illness. The bill passed the Legislature with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 93, HF 1130/SF 799, exempts postsecondary institutions that provide student data to the Office of Higher Education, or other state agencies, from liability related to the use, destruction, or disclosure of the data by any of the public agencies or individuals having access to the data. The bill passed the Legislature with unanimous support.

Chapter 95, HF 1405/SF 1125, regulates processing of insurance claims on portable consumer electronics products, such as cell phones. With respect to an automated claims adjudication system, it defines this type of computer system, which is designed to process insurance claims on portable electronics. It specifies that it must be used only by personnel permitted under state law to use it, it must comply with Minnesota insurance adjusting laws, and must be certified by a licensed independent adjuster as complying with Minnesota law. The bill passed the Senate with broad, bipartisan support and the House with unanimous support.

Chapter 97, SF 1197/HF 1025, the omnibus energy policy bill. Noteworthy provisions include an exemption from the coal restrictions law to allow the Spiritwood coal plant in Jamestown, ND, to operate, modifications to the Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) that will streamline the exemption application for large industrial users and provides exemptions for rural cooperative utilities, and a provision to extend site permits and certificate of need for an innovative coal plant to a natural gas plant at Excelsior Energy. The bill passed the Legislature with bipartisan support.

Chapter 98, SF 812/HF 1230, the omnibus state lands bill. This bill includes provisions authorizing the sale and conveyance of certain lands administered by the Department of Natural Resources and other provisions related to the administration of state land. This bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 99, HF 954/SF 642, will allow Kittson and Marshall Counties to make the offices of recorder and auditor-treasurer appointed positions, subject to an 80 percent vote of the county board and reverse referendum. The new law allows the county board to adopt a resolution to make the offices elected again, but not until at least three years after the office was made appointed. The law is effective after approval by the local government. The bill passed the Legislature with bipartisan support.

Chapter 100, HF 1144/SF 849, corrects a clerical mistake in which a person did not receive the paperwork needed to pay their premium payments for the State Employee Group Insurance Program (SSEGIP). The bill passed the Legislature with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 102, SF 1287/HF 1478, is the Department of Human Services Sex Offender Agency bill, that makes several non-controversial changes related to MN Sex Offender Program (MSOP) statutes. The bill gives MSOP more authority to deal with security threats and to apprehend program escapees. It also differentiates several portions of MSOP law from other forms of civil commitment. The bill passed the Legislature with unanimous support.

Chapter 103, HF 1179/SF 939, clarifies that districts may provide to pupils attending an area learning center between-building bus transportation along school bus routes, when space is available. It also requires the Department of Education to develop and maintain a list of school bus training instructional materials, rather than a school bus safety training program, and expands the definition of transportation services for pupils with disabilities to include transportation for a curricular field trip activity on a school bus equipped with a power lift, when required by a student's disability. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 104, HF 287/SF 361, establishes the third full week of September as Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 105, SF 1280/HF 809, modifies the employment gratuity sharing provision in state law. The new law will remove the restriction against employer participation in gratuity sharing agreements by employees to allow employers to safeguard and disburse shared gratuities if requested to do so by employees, and to report amounts received as required for tax purposes. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 106, HF 1643/SF 1234, is the Office of the Secretary of State Business Services housekeeping bill. It consists of provisions that will streamline the administration of the office. Many of the provisions allow the office to provide email notices instead of mailing notices. Other provisions eliminate references to transactions that are no longer used. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Chapter 107, SF 1115/HF 1097, the omnibus environment policy bill, which contains a collection of policy initiatives. Significant initiatives include: changes to how MPCA can permit aquatic pesticide applications, changes to the Wetland conservation Act, increased civil penalties for failure to comply with Aquatic Invasive Species laws, changes to the Lutsen Mountain water permit, elimination of the mandatory EAW for expansions of ethanol plants, among other provisions. The bill passed the Legislature with bipartisan support.

Chapter 108, SF 1045/HF 1395, contains a number of updates to laws administered by the Department of Commerce, relating to professional licensing, continuing education, health insurance, and worker's compensation self-insurance. The bill passed the Legislature with unanimous support.

Chapter 109, HF 1105/SF 1058, establishes a distinction in registration and license plate display between commercial and noncommercial full-size pickup trucks. The bill passed the Legislature with unanimous support.

Chapter 110, SF 1286/HF 1508, makes technical changes to Minnesota's case mix classification formula that controls how nursing facilities are reimbursed for certain residents based on their level of need. The changes are technical, and conform to changes in federal law related to Medicaid reimbursement. Additionally, the bill authorizes the state to enter into interstate contracts for detoxification services, and also makes technical changes to body art technicians and establishes a licensing process, with required coursework, operated through the Minnesota Department of Health. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support, and the House with broad, bipartisan support.

Governor Dayton also vetoed the following bills:

/governor/assets/CH-94-HF-988.pdf_tcm1055-93892.pdfChapter 94, HF 988, a bill which that modifies who is eligible to be represented by a public defender.
/governor/assets/CH-96-SF-86.pdf_tcm1055-92316.pdfChapter 96, SF 86, a bill which would roll back restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions by energy utilities.
/governor/assets/CH-101-HF-264.pdf_tcm1055-92980.pdfChapter 101, HF 264, the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, known as the "Cheeseburger Bill."
/governor/assets/CH-111-SF-943.pdf_tcm1055-92125.pdfChapter 111, SF 943, the Game and Fish bill.

Copies of the veto messages are attached above.