A proposal to establish direct funding to cities and counties for elections administration was heard in the House Elections Finance and Policy Committee.
The House Elections Finance and Policy Committee on March 17 considered HF 2765 (Rep. Nathan Coulter, DFL-Bloomington), a bill to provide ongoing direct funding to cities and counties for elections administration.
The bill establishes a voting operations, technology, and election resource (VOTER) account within the Office of the Secretary of State. Local governments would be required to report use of the funds annually by Dec. 31 to the Office of the Secretary of State.
The funds would be distributed by July 20 each year to counties, with 20% of the total balance going to counties in equal amounts and 80% allocated to each county in proportion to its share of registered voters.
Counties and their respective local governments would have to agree on a distribution plan for allocating funds from the account, similar to the process used for funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
If the county and a local unit of government do not agree on a distribution plan, the county would be required to allocate the funds to that unit of government as follows:
These funds would be required to be segregated into an election funding account.
A local unit of government would be able to use the funds for the following purposes, provided that they are directly related to elections administration:
The bill received support from county representatives, city representatives, and Secretary of State Steve Simon. New Brighton City Clerk Terri Spangrud testified in support of the bill on behalf of the League.
View a video of the March 17 House Elections Committee hearing.
The bills companion, SF 1548(Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope), was heard in the Senate Elections Committeeon March 7. SF 1548 differs from the House bill by establishing an ongoing reimbursement and grant program for certain elections expenses, rather than providing direct funding.
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Direct Elections Funding Bill Heard in House Committee - League of Minnesota Cities