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House Passes Local Government Omnibus Bill Without Opposition
The legislation includes changes to public notice rules, audit thresholds, and utility oversight.
The House of Representatives passed the local government omnibus bill, HF 2098 as amended, 132-0 on May 1. Sponsored by Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL-Golden Valley), the bill would make a handful of policy changes that benefit local governments.
Co-chair Rep. Duane Quam (R-Byron), commended both the House Elections Finance and Government Operations Committee and Freiberg for their work in giving local governments more flexibility to meet their communities’ needs.
“That’s the sum of what we did — local option, empowering the local people,” Quam said.
Provisions in the bill would:
- Allow the establishment of public utilities commissions with three, five, or seven members.
- Permit cities to post required public notices on their websites when their qualified newspaper closes. Read a previous article about public notices.
- Authorize public water and sewer districts to install lines and ancillary infrastructure within public road rights-of-way.
- Raise the annual audit revenue threshold to $1 million starting in 2025, with future annual adjustments for inflation. The current threshold is $276,000, according to the Office of the State Auditor.
The Senate’s state and local government omnibus bill, SF 3045, (Sen. Tou Xiong, DFL-Maplewood) contains similar provisions on newspaper publication requirements, water and sewer lines in rights-of-way, and increasing the annual audit revenue threshold. The bodies will reconcile the differences during the conference committee process.