Committee refers bonding maintenance-plan requirement bill to General Register after amending effective date

The House Capital Investment Committee on March 24 approved referral of House File 24-18, a bill that would require applicants for governor’s capital budget earmarks to certify that they have a capital maintenance plan, sending the measure to the General Register after adopting a technical amendment.

Author Chair Tack (S6) told the committee: "what this bill does is, requires that anyone receiving bonding, money create a capital maintenance project." The sponsor said the requirement is intended to ensure state-funded projects have plans for future maintenance and was developed with cities and counties.

The committee adopted an A1 amendment that changed the affected date from 2026 to 2027; Chair Lee (S1) called and the amendment passed by voice vote. Representative Sexton (S7) questioned additional preplanning costs and asked for a five‑year sunset to collect data; he said he would vote "not yet" and requested a roll call that he later withdrew. Sexton pressed for a roll-call to record concerns about cost and scope.

Craig Johnson (S8) of the League of Minnesota Cities told members the League had worked with the bill authors and that the requirement would apply only to projects seeking the governor’s capital budget (earmarks) and is similar to planning already required by many competitive grant programs. Johnson said the checkbox is intended to verify that communities have done the same level of planning they would for other state funding pots.

Chair Franzen (S9) and other sponsors described prior vetting of the bill and said the change to the law is primarily informational — creating a certification step and leaving final decisions to the legislature. Chair Lee (S1) renewed the motion to refer the bill as amended to the General Register and the motion prevailed by voice vote.

What happens next: House File 24-18 (as amended) will appear on the General Register for further consideration and potential floor action. The committee record shows the A1 amendment (effective date change) and that the DE4 language was discussed and adopted into the amended bill.