The 2011 Minnesota Legislature adjourned at midnight Monday after passing numerous MSBA proposals in a flurry of activity during the final four days of the session.   

SF137, which contained five technical proposals from the Real Property Section, was amended on the House floor Friday night to include HF1573/SF1306, a bill from the Probate & Trust Section.  The bill was returned to the Senate on Saturday and the Senate concurred with the  House language.  Also on Saturday, HF396/SF136, a Real Property Section bill that consists of a handful of technical changes to, as well as re-codification of, Minn. Stat. 515B (the Minnesota Common Interest Ownership Act), was amended onto HF1023, the omnibus judiciary policy bill, which ended up in a conference committee before being passed by the House and Senate late Monday night.  In other last-day-of-session action, the House and Senate passed an omnibus technical tax bill that contains SF1156/HF1436, a proposal from the Tax Section that modifies Minn. Stat. 278.05, subd. 6 (aka, “The 60-Day Rule”).  Both chambers also passed SF1234, the Secretary of State’s omnibus bill, which included a proposal from the Business Law Section to fix a scrivener’s error in Minn. Stat. 317A.255.  

All told, it was an extraordinarily successful legislative session for the MSBA’s sections.  A total of nine different section proposals passed both bodies of the Legislature.  All nine await action from Gov. Dayton.   Four other proposals made it through the House but not the Senate, and another four were introduced but did not move; those eight bills will remain alive for the second year of the biennium.  In addition, sections provided technical feedback on over a dozen bills, as well as drafting assistance with several legislative proposals.  Finally, sections vetted four Uniform Acts that were introduced, one of which, revisions to Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, was signed by Gov. Dayton.      

For a full breakdown of all MSBA legislative activity during the 2011 Session, visit http://msbabuzz.org/advocacy/msba-legislative-action/