Capital Closeup: Do any Midwestern states require that all bills receive a legislative hearing and/or vote?

In most states, the introduction of a bill does not ensure that it will receive a formal hearing or vote. Instead, some discretion on what legislation gets considered often is left to legislative leadership, a special rules or assignments committee (typically composed of top caucus leaders and controlled by the majority party), and/or the chair of the standing committee that has been assigned the bill. However, there are exceptions.

For example, under the rules of the North Dakota House and Senate: “Every bill and resolution referred to committee must be scheduled for a hearing in committee, and a hearing must be held on the bill or resolution before the appropriate deadline for reporting the bill or resolution back to the [full chamber].”

Through a vote of its members, the relevant standing legislative committee in North Dakota recommends a “do pass” or “do not pass” on each bill. Regardless of that vote, though, every measure reaches the floor of the legislative chamber from which it originated. The result: All House or Senate members in North Dakota have the chance to vote on, and decide the fate of, every bill introduced in their respective chamber.

Under the rules of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, all bills and resolutions (with the exception of some technical legislation) must receive a public hearing from the relevant standing committee. Unlike in North Dakota, a Nebraska standing committee can vote to indefinitely postpone, or kill, a bill.

Rules in some states allow members of the legislature to get a bill withdrawn from a committee (after a certain period of inaction) and placed on the legislative calendar. The number of votes required for such a move varies from state to state. In South Dakota, if one-third of the members of a chamber vote to “smoke out” a bill that stalled in committee, the measure is sent to the floor for a vote by the full House or Senate.

Limits on bill introductions

Another variance among states: the number of bills being introduced during legislative session. In 2020, that number exceeded 9,000 in Illinois and Minnesota, compared to fewer than 500 in South Dakota. According to The Council of State Governments’ most recent “The Book of the States,” seven states in this region limit when bills can be introduced, either via rules adopted by the full legislative body or dates set by leadership (see map).

Legislation in Nebraska must be introduced by the end of the 10th day of session. After the 12th day of a 40-day session in South Dakota, members are limited to being the prime sponsor of three bills; they cannot introduce any legislation after the 15th day. Likewise, North Dakota stops the introduction of bills after the 13th day of session, and after the eighth day, members only can serve as the primary sponsor of up to three bills.

The Indiana House and Senate cap how many pieces of legislation that individual members can introduce: in the House, no more than 10 bills in odd-numbered session years and no more than five in even-numbered years; and in the Senate, no more than 15 bills or resolutions in odd-numbered session years and no more than 10 in even-numbered years.

 

 

Capital Closeup is an ongoing series of articles focusing on institutional issues in state governments and legislatures.

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Recent legislative actions mean lower taxes for retirees in several states

One tax-cutting idea that has gained momentum across Midwestern state legislatures in recent years: Allow people to keep more or all of their retirement income.

In 2022, Iowa lawmakers approved a sweeping measure (HF 2317) that excludes income from pensions, retirement benefit plans, annuities and IRAs. Nebraska, meanwhile, is ending its taxation of Social Security benefits by 2025 as the result of last year’s passage of LB 873. A proposal to accelerate elimination of the tax also was introduced this year (LB 641).

According to AARP, most Midwestern states already don’t tax Social Security benefits; Nebraska has been one of three exceptions, along with Kansas and Minnesota, where the benefits of some higher-income residents are subject to the state income tax. Along with the recent change in Nebraska, proposals to end all taxation of Social Security benefits have been under consideration this year in Kansas and Minnesota.

Michigan’s HB 4001, signed into law in March, phases out over the next four years a state “retirement tax” that had been implemented a decade earlier. As part of this new law, income from public and private pensions will be exempt from taxation, Mlive.com reports. This means public and private pension payments will not be taxed in four Midwestern states: Iowa, Michigan and Illinois, as well as South Dakota, which has no income tax at all. (Additionally, in Kansas, in-state, government pensions are not taxed.)

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Feed people, help farmers: How two nutrition programs have grown in two Midwestern states

More than a decade ago, a program known as Double Up Food Bucks launched in a handful of local farmers markets in Detroit.

Not long after, a similar pilot initiative, Market Bucks, was up and running in Minneapolis.

With both initiatives, the idea was to boost the food-purchasing power of lower-income people getting assistance via the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), while also opening up new sales opportunities for local farmers. These were not state programs. Eventually, though, they got the attention of legislators who saw promise in an approach that could address three objectives at once.

“We feed people, we get money into our farmers’ pockets, and people are able to get fresh, healthy vegetables in a community-centered setting,” Minnesota Sen. Erin Maye Quade says.

Funding for Market Bucks began being included in Minnesota’s budget in the middle of the last decade; likewise, Michigan lawmakers started allocating dollars for Double Up Bucks. That has allowed for an expansion of both of these programs to locations across each state.

In Minnesota, for example, Market Bucks was available in 105 different farmers markets last year, says Jill Westfall, director of programs for Hunger Solutions Minnesota.

More SNAP purchasing power

Here is how Market Bucks works: For purchases of SNAP-eligible foods at a farmers market, a SNAP participant gets a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $10 per visit. Spend $10 at the farmers market, and you can get $20 worth of items. State funding is used to cover that match.

A federal grant provides another dollar-for-dollar match (also up to $10 per visit) for purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables. This program is known as Produce Market Bucks.

“That double match made it more attractive, especially for some of our smaller farmers markets,” Westfall says.

Demand for the program has never been higher, and it’s one reason why Sen. Maye Quade and other legislators want a funding boost in Minnesota’s new biennial budget. She has proposed an annual appropriation of $500,000, up from the existing $325,000 (SF 1927). Right now, Market Bucks is only available at farmers markets. Under Maye Quade’s bill, two other options would be added: one, direct sales from farmers; and two, sales based on a “community supported agriculture model,” in which individuals purchase subscriptions, or shares, of food produced from a local farm in advance of the growing season.

Michigan’s Double Up Bucks provides a similar dollar-for-dollar match. It only applies to purchases of fruits and vegetables, but sales are not limited to farmers markets. Grocery stores are able to participate as well. At these stores, during the heart of Michigan’s growing season (July through November), at least 20 percent of the sales for Double Up Bucks must come from state-grown products, says Nathan Medina, senior manager of state policy for the Fair Food Network.

Michigan’s most recent annual appropriation for Double Up Bucks was $900,000, but a supplemental budget proposal would mark a big shift in state support — a proposed $15.5 million in spending that would be spread over five years. Medina says that change would provide the program with more funding certainty and improve the chances of securing federal grants.

Since its start in Detroit, Double Up Bucks has expanded to more than 25 U.S. states, including most in the Midwest. The scope of these programs, as well as their sources of funding, varies from state to state. Federal support for nutrition incentive programs such as Double Up Bucks and Market Bucks began with the 2014 farm bill, and Medina says the next farm bill is likely to include additional funding opportunities and enhanced federal matches.

 

 

Michigan Sen. Roger Victory has chosen Food Security: Feeding the Future as the focus of his Midwestern Legislative Conference Chair’s Initiative for 2023. This article was written as part of the MLC’s yearlong focus on this issue.

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Illinois adopts first law in Midwest requiring paid leave for workers

Starting next year, every worker in Illinois will have the chance to accrue at least 40 hours of paid leave annually. Signed into law in January, SB 208 allows individuals to begin earning paid leave on their first day of employment, at a rate of one hour of leave for every 40 hours worked. Illinois became only the third U.S. state (and first in the Midwest) with a law mandating paid time off. The language in SB 208 says workers can use these 40 hours to “maintain their health and well-being, care for their families, or … for any other reason of their choosing.”

In recent years, a more common state action has been to guarantee access to paid family and medical leave. According to a recent U.S. Congressional Research Service study, 11 states (none in the Midwest) either were running or were working to implement insurance programs that provide cash benefits to eligible employees who take time away from work due to caregiving needs or for qualifying medical reasons.

Under these state-run programs, 12 weeks or more of benefits are made available per year, with benefit amounts ranging from 50 percent to 100 percent of an employee’s average weekly earnings. Each program is financed in part or fully through the combined payroll taxes paid by employees; one variance in these state programs is whether employers also must pay into the program via the payroll tax.

Existing laws in Minnesota and Wisconsin ensure certain workers have access to unpaid family and medical leave, and governors in both those states introduced proposals in early 2023 to establish paid-leave programs. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers say one-time state funding is needed to get their respective state-run insurance programs up and running; ongoing revenue would then come from mandatory contributions made by workers and businesses.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem proposed an alternative approach: establish state grants to encourage businesses to offer paid family medical leave. These businesses would then enter the same insurance pool used by the state to offer paid family leave to public employees. This plan (SB 154) did not advance in the Legislature this year.

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Feed people, help farmers: How two nutrition programs have grown in two Midwestern states

This article, written in support of the 2023 MLC Chair’s Initiative of Michigan Sen. Roger Victory on “Food Security: Feeding the Future,” shows how Michigan and Minnesota have helped expand the reach of initiatives that expand the purchasing power of SNAP recipients at local farmers markets.

 

 

More than a decade ago, a program known as Double Up Food Bucks launched in a handful of local farmers markets in Detroit.

Not long after, a similar pilot initiative, Market Bucks, was up and running in Minneapolis.

food securityWith both initiatives, the idea was to boost the food-purchasing power of lower-income people getting assistance via the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), while also opening up new sales opportunities for local farmers. These were not state programs. Eventually, though, they got the attention of legislators who saw promise in an approach that could address three objectives at once.

“We feed people, we get money into our farmers’ pockets, and people are able to get fresh, healthy vegetables in a community-centered setting,” Minnesota Sen. Erin Maye Quade says.

Funding for Market Bucks began being included in Minnesota’s budget in the middle of the last decade; likewise, Michigan lawmakers started allocating dollars for Double Up Bucks. That has allowed for an expansion of both of these programs to locations across each state.

In Minnesota, for example, Market Bucks was available in 105 different farmers markets last year, says Jill Westfall, director of programs for Hunger Solutions Minnesota.

More SNAP purchasing power

Here is how Market Bucks works: For purchases of SNAP-eligible foods at a farmers market, a SNAP participant gets a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $10 per visit. Spend $10 at the farmers market, and you can get $20 worth of items. State funding is used to cover that match.

A federal grant provides another dollar-for-dollar match (also up to $10 per visit) for purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables. This program is known as Produce Market Bucks.

“That double match made it more attractive, especially for some of our smaller farmers markets,” Westfall says.

Demand for the program has never been higher, and it’s one reason why Sen. Maye Quade and other legislators want a funding boost in Minnesota’s new biennial budget. She has proposed an annual appropriation of $500,000, up from the existing $325,000 (SF 1927). Right now, Market Bucks is only available at farmers markets. Under Maye Quade’s bill, two other options would be added: one, direct sales from farmers; and two, sales based on a “community supported agriculture model,” in which individuals purchase subscriptions, or shares, of food produced from a local farm in advance of the growing season.

Michigan’s Double Up Bucks provides a similar dollar-for-dollar match. It only applies to purchases of fruits and vegetables, but sales are not limited to farmers markets. Grocery stores are able to participate as well. At these stores, during the heart of Michigan’s growing season (July through November), at least 20 percent of the sales for Double Up Bucks must come from state-grown products, says Nathan Medina, senior manager of state policy for the Fair Food Network.

Michigan’s most recent annual appropriation for Double Up Bucks was $900,000, but a supplemental budget proposal would mark a big shift in state support — a proposed $15.5 million in spending that would be spread over five years. Medina says that change would provide the program with more funding certainty and improve the chances of securing federal grants.

Since its start in Detroit, Double Up Bucks has expanded to more than 25 U.S. states, including most in the Midwest. The scope of these programs, as well as their sources of funding, varies from state to state. Federal support for nutrition incentive programs such as Double Up Bucks and Market Bucks began with the 2014 farm bill, and Medina says the next farm bill is likely to include additional funding opportunities and enhanced federal matches.

 

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Voting Abroad: Lessons and Takeaways from Italy 2022

The Overseas Voting Initiative (OVI) traveled to Italy in December 2022 to gain a better understanding of the challenges that Americans living overseas face when voting from abroad.

The first day of meetings in Venice kicked off with Denise Tecchio from American Corners based in Trieste, Italy. American Corners, or American Spaces, are supported by the U.S. Department of State and provide cultural programs and events for foreign citizens. In addition to providing English language classes, a maker space for doing crafts and DIY projects and a ukulele club to sing English songs, Ms. Tecchio’s group assists American citizens with information on elections and voting. American Corners in Triste coordinates with the U.S. Embassy in Milan to help voters send their ballots by diplomatic post. The OVI group had a good conversation with Ms. Tecchio about the barriers to voting in primaries, which is not just a problem faced by overseas citizens, but a nationwide turnout problem.

Upon arrival in Florence the following day, the group traveled to the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, containing the headstones of 4,392 Americans who died defending freedom during World War II in Italy. The group heard from an American citizen who is the superintendent of the facility, which is owned by the U.S. government, about the history of the war effort in Italy. Election Assistance Commission Chair Thomas Hicks and Commissioner Donald Palmer, recently retired Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos and Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) Director Scott Wiedmann laid wreaths at the memorial.

The next day’s meetings began with information on FVAP’s Ambassador program. Developed over the last several years, the program engages expatriate Americans living in a country to act as liaisons to help U.S. citizens vote. Ambassadors are currently located in Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. Italy’s FVAP Ambassador, Sean Greene, told the group that the most common question he gets are about a voter’s residency and which address to use when voting. He also received many practical questions, like how to provide the embassy a ballot to include in the diplomatic pouch, how to fold an FVAP-provided DYI envelope and whom to contact with questions. Mr. Greene noted that during the pandemic it was more difficult to engage voters, but he was able to engage overseas citizens online through social media and Zoom Q&A sessions facilitated by the embassy and consulates. Going forward, Mr. Greene suggested that FVAP could have regional ambassadors who set up virtual office hours and conduct much of their outreach online.

The afternoon session in Florence and morning session in Rome featured discussions with expatriates about the barriers they face in returning ballots from abroad. Of note, these discussions highlighted that Europe has stronger privacy laws than we are accustomed to in the United States, making it difficult to identify and track U.S. citizens living abroad. This can make it hard to reach these citizens to inform them of their right to vote and how to cast a ballot. It can also take a long time for mail to travel from abroad to the United States, and there is sometimes a lack of trust in the local mail system, particularly in Italy.

Another barrier is simply understanding the system. Expatriates don’t always realize that getting a ballot is a multi-step process that requires a citizen to first register to vote and then request a ballot, or that the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) in most states achieves both of these requests. Additionally, depending on their state of residency, voters may have to request a ballot each calendar year. There is also a misunderstanding about “intent to return,” the question that classifies overseas citizens as living permanently overseas or temporarily overseas, which affects the type of ballot voters are eligible to receive in some states. Often, U.S. citizens living abroad aren’t sure whether or not they will return to the U.S. and they have difficulty answering the question. They may also worry about tax implications, both in the U.S. and in their current country of residence, depending on how they answer the question.

The final activity of the group was a highlight for many – a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Rome and a tour of the mail facilities. The Embassy in Rome and other U.S. Overseas Missions (embassies and consulates) provide secure collection boxes for U.S. citizens to return their ballots during federal elections. Ballots are sent to the U.S. via an unclassified diplomatic pouch, through the Diplomatic Post Office (DPO). Diplomatic pouches containing ballots and other unclassified mail are sent first to a sorting facility in Dulles, Virginia, and then put into the U.S. mail stream. This process has important implications for election officials because many states permit ballots from military and overseas voters to be counted if they are received after election day but postmarked beforehand. The issue of how they are postmarked when received at a U.S. embassy and when they are received at the Dulles sorting facility thus may affect whether the ballot is ultimately counted or not.

The ability for overseas citizens to track their ballots through the system is another area of concern for those living abroad. Engaged voters like to be informed of when their ballot arrives in the U.S., is in the hands of election officials and is ultimately counted. Using the DPO system described above, State Department employees and their eligible family members can track their ballots, but expatriates not associated with the State Department don’t have tracking capabilities.

The conversations and many lessons learned from the trip to Italy will help inform the work of the OVI in the coming years, with a particular focus on understanding the unique barriers of private, non-military citizens living overseas.

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