Author: Whitney West

Re: BAM Written Testimony; SF2075

On behalf of the Builders Association of Minnesota (BAM), I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share written testimony. Our membership of nearly 1600 residential builders, remodelers, subcontractors, and industry partners are joined together through eleven local associations across Minnesota, and we are proud to be the statewide voice of the Minnesota Home-Building Industry since 1974.

BAM Strongly Supports:

• Adding ”Construction” As An Eligible Field Of Study For MnSCU Workforce Scholarships: We applaud Chairs Pelowski and Fateh for their leadership by including language from SF1177 (Putnam) / HF2842 (Wolgamott) that expands eligibility for MnSCU Workforce Scholarships to the construction field of study. Residential construction careers are challenging and rewarding, and our members are committed to current and future workforce needs that help address Minnesota’s housing availability and affordability crises. We appreciate efforts like these that grow opportunities for students.
• Investing In Workforce Scholarships: Workforce Scholarships can make a meaningful difference to students interested in the field of construction, so we applaud the investments in both the House and Senate bills. We urge the Conference Committee to adopt the larger $21.4M House commitment.

BAM respectfully requests that these provisions be included in your Conference Committee Report.

Re: BAM Written Testimony; SF3035

On behalf of the Builders Association of Minnesota (BAM), I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share written testimony. Our membership of nearly 1600 residential builders, remodelers, subcontractors, and industry partners are joined together through eleven local associations across Minnesota, and we are proud to be the statewide voice of the Minnesota Home-Building Industry since 1974.

BAM Strongly Opposes

• Onerous Wage Theft Language In The House Bill: While BAM supports efforts to mitigate wage theft, BAM opposes this massive new liability mandate from HF1859 (Feist) that unfairly and impractically holds contractors and project owners of construction sites liable when a subcontractor(s) is alleged to have committed wage theft. This provision will increase the cost of housing as the language attempts to turn contractors and project owners into state regulators. Instead, BAM supports aggressive enforcement of the robust wage theft law passed in 2019.

BAM Supports

• No Changes To Residential Energy Codes: BAM supports the Senate language, which does not make changes to the residential energy code.
• Contractor Recovery Fund (CRF) Re Solar: BAM supports the House and Senate language as it relates to solar installers and the Contractor Recovery Fund. The CRF is funded by Minnesota’s licensed residential contractors, and we are proud of the role the CRF plays as a consumer protection tool. We also appreciate the Department of Labor’s ongoing stewardship of the fund.

Re: BAM Written Testimony; HF2335

On behalf of the Builders Association of Minnesota (BAM), I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share written testimony. Our membership of nearly 1600 residential builders, remodelers, subcontractors, and industry partners are joined together through eleven local associations across Minnesota, and we are proud to be the statewide voice of the Minnesota Home-Building Industry since 1974.

BAM Supports:

• First Generation Homebuyer Downpayment Assistance Fund: We applaud both chairs for including robust funding, and thank Representative Agbaje and Senator Oumou Verbeten for authoring the legislation. BAM enthusiastically supports innovative efforts like this that will help create more housing units in the marketplace and address Minnesota’s troubling housing disparities gap. We urge the Conference Committee to adopt the Houses’ higher funding commitment ($150m).
• Greater MN Infrastructure Grants: These grants to reduce infrastructure costs for new workforce housing underscore the need to help residential developers address housing affordability by reducing rising upfront costs across the state.
• Housing Cost Reduction Incentive Program: BAM appreciates the Senate’s inclusion of this innovative local fee waiver program that highlights the need to reduce city and county fees to help lower housing costs.

BAM respectfully requests that these provisions be included your Conference Committee Report.