While we don’t often weigh into politics and policy here on the Practice Blawg, we occasionally like to give you a heads up on what’s happening at the state capitol. This session, the MSBA is lobbying for Section legislative priorities as well as for two major MSBA initiatives: judicial selection reform and funding for Minnesota’s justice system.

Judicial Selection Reform

Just this week, a first significant step in the effort to reform judicial selection in Minnesota occurred at the Capitol. In voting to move House File 224 ahead, the State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee recommended passage of a bill to establish a constitutional amendment to change the way Minnesota’s judges are selected and retained. If approved by Minnesota voters in the fall, the amendment would in part implement retention elections for judges, doing away with partisan elections that threaten judicial independence and integrity. It’s a first positive move on a long road to get a state constitutional amendment enacted. More information on this issue is available on the MSBA’s impartial justice web site.

Justice System Funding

Another MSBA priority involves funding for Minnesota’s justice system. The MSBA has established the 1000Supporters network to assure adequate funding of the so-called “three-legged stool” of justice, which includes the judiciary, public defenders, and legal aid. With $14.7 million in budget cuts already proposed for the judiciary this session, the issue is front and center at the legislature and being closely monitored by the MSBA. More information is available on the MSBA’s 1000Supporters site.

MSBA Legislative Proposals

As covered in a recent MSBA Capitol Connection, six MSBA Sections have proposals pending at the legislature:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution: Adoption of the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act with certain revisions incorporated.
• Business Law: A three-part proposal that includes substantive and technical amendments to the Minnesota Business Corporation Act, parallel changes to the Minnesota Nonprofit Incorporation Act, and a technical change to fix a drafting error related to non-business LLCs.
• Family Law: Modification of Minnesota’s Uniform Parentage Act to bring the law in line with widely-used medical reproductive techniques, and give additional legal parental presumption to non-genetically related intended parents.
• Probate & Trust: A three-part proposal. First, clarifying that certain short- and long-term capital gains distributions will be treated as distributions of principal for trust accounting purposes. Second, a proposed new law that provides a procedure for appointing a temporary or emergency conservator. Finally, amendments to the Uniform Probate Code provisions defining the parent-child relationship for intestate succession purposes.
• Real Property: Two proposals: First, to add supplemental declarations to the list of documents that may be recorded against common interest community certificates of title. Second, a proposal to clarify the mortgage registry tax on mortgages that secure less than the full amount of the debt, in light of a recent Minnesota Supreme Court decision (Business Bank v. Hanson, WL 2253250).
• Tax: A proposed new “interest netting” statute that would eliminate an inequitable tax burden that arises when the state and a taxpayer, as part of resolving an audit, agree to move income from one year to another.

One of the best ways to stay informed of developments is to read the MSBA’s weekly Capitol Connection, which MSBA staffer Bryan Lake writes and distributes each Friday. In it, he highlights pending legislation that is crawling or stalling its way through the Minnesota state house and senate.