BIA Advocacy Update

MN DLI 2025 Legislative Summary 

Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry published a summary of legislation passed this year that impacts the department. All legislation in the summary is effective July 1, 2025, unless otherwise noted. To view the summary, click here.

Of note for the industry are: 

Misclassification fraud impact report

Article 5, section 9, establishes a misclassification fraud impact report that the commissioner must complete by Jan. 15, 2027, and provides associated funding. It also establishes that the commissioners of the Department of Revenue and the Department of Employment and Economic Development must coordinate with the DLI commissioner on the report. It also requires that the commissioners of the departments of Labor and Industry, Revenue, and Employment and Economic Development must submit a budget request detailing the costs to complete another report by Jan. 15, 2031, and every six years thereafter.

Earned sick and safe time Article 5, sections 10-13, make the following changes to the earned sick and safe time (ESST) law:

• updates notice requirements when the need for ESST is unforeseeable;

• updates documentation requirements such that an employer may require reasonable documentation when an employee uses earned sick and safe time for more than two consecutive scheduled work days;

• updates replacement-worker requirements to clarify an employee may voluntarily seek or trade shifts with a replacement worker; and

• updates requirements related to advancing sick and safe time to an employee before accrual by the employee. 

Construction Codes and Licensing Division fee alignment

The Construction Codes and Licensing Division (CCLD) fee alignment proposal is included over the next several sections, including the following.

• Article 5, section 14: Correcting a reference to the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training.

• Article 5, sections 15-19: Establishes plan review and inspections fees for industrialized/modular or prefabricated buildings, as well as associated definitions.

• Article 5, section 20: Establishes the $10 virtual inspection fee for stairway chairlift devices at a private residence.

• Article 5, section 21: Increases the elevator operating permit fee to $145.

• Article 5, sections 22-30: Updates electrical inspection fees and includes class 4 electrical systems policy.

• Article 5, section 31: Integrates the fee schedule for energy storage and battery systems into law.

• Article 5, sections 23-34: Establishes plumbing plan review and plumbing inspection fees.

• Article 5, section 35: Increases the boiler and pressure vessel registration fee to $25.

• Article 5, section 36: Updates a definition of “manufactured home” for federal conformity.

• Article 5, sections 37 and 40: Updates requirements for the notice of compliance form for a used manufactured home to require licensees to file the form with the commissioner and pay a filing fee of $100. It also establishes requirements to complete the notice of compliance form for rentals and for the owner to make necessary corrections for rentals. The new requirements for rentals and filing the notice of compliance form are effective Jan. 1, 2026.

• Article 5, sections 38-40 and sections 47-48: Provides technical changes to manufactured home sections.

• Article 5, sections 41-43 and 45-46: Updates fees related to manufactured homes.

Plumbing plan review and inspections delegated to the Minnesota Department of Health for well contractors performing plumbing work 

Article 5, section 32, directs the commissioner to enter into an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) delegating plumbing plan review and inspections for work covered under Minnesota Statutes section 326B.46, subdivision 6, by Jan. 1, 2026. It also scopes what the agreement with MDH must contain and how the agreement may be terminated. This section became effective June 15, 2025.

Summer Edition of the MN CCLD Review Newsletter

The Construction Codes and Licensing Division provided information on the following in their newest newsletter:

• Increased fees for some construction-related inspections, permits

• CCLD Learn offering online continuing education courses at your pace

• Find code requirements in the Local Code Lookup

• Electrical statutes will now include Class 4 systems

• Easier inspections for residential vertical platform lifts

• Workplace Rights Week 2025

• and more. 

Click here to read the newsletter.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank shares construction sector survey results

Results from the regional survey were shared in a webinar in May. You can view that webinar here. 

Firms in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, 26 counties in Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were asked to complete the survey.

Key takeaways include

• Declining activity (more businesses are reporting declines than growth)
• Pressures across the sector 
• Relaxed but persistent cost increases
• Unrelenting labor challenges 
• Expectations for the coming months on the lower end 
• Uncertainty

You can also view the powerpoint presentation for a quick overview of results. 

Floodproof basement exception in Cass County communities

Your Association has been working closely with the city of Fargo the past couple of months as they work on updating their policies for floodproof basements. This comes after the need for communities within the floodplain to reapply for the basement exception through FEMA.

In addition to Fargo, the communities of West Fargo, Horace, Harwood, Casselton and Reile's Acres are reapplying for the exception. BIA sent a letter of support for each community, highlighting the important role basements play in our communities as a safety feature during inclement weather.

The need for the exception will remain until the F-M Diversion is certified, at which point remapping will occur. We’re hopeful that many areas in our communities will then be removed from the floodplain. 

You can review the city of Fargo's updated floodproofing construction requirements here. 

News from NAHB: Congress Passes Tax Bill (H.R. 1)

The Senate and House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and President Trump signed the bill on July 4, 2025.

The bill includes several housing and business provisions that will benefit small businesses, real estate and NAHB members. Most notably, NAHB was able to secure wins regarding state and local tax deductions for individuals and pass-through businesses.  

Here is a brief overview:

Individual Provisions

• The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s key provisions will be made permanent, including the tax rate structure and increased exemptions for the Alternative Minimum Tax. This blocks a $4 trillion tax increase set to take effect next year.
• The estate tax exemption will increase to $15 million, made permanent and be indexed for inflation.
• Current mortgage interest deduction rules will be made permanent and mortgage insurance premiums will now be allowed to be deducted.
• The Pease limitation on itemized deductions will be permanently repealed. In its place is a new limitation that reduces the value of itemized deductions for taxpayers in the top bracket from 37 cents to 35 cents, but excludes 199A deductions for this limitation.

Business Provisions

• The Section 199A Qualified Business Income Deduction, which helps provide tax parity for pass-through entities, will be made permanent at 20%.
• The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit will be expanded permanently with a 12% increase in 9% credit allocations, along with reducing the 4% bond test to 25%, which will expand resources in bond-constrained states.
• 100% bonus depreciation will be restored and made permanent.
• Section 179 business expensing limits will be increased for small businesses.
• Opportunity Zones will be made permanent.
• The 1099 reporting threshold will be increased permanently to $2,000 and indexed for inflation starting for 2025.
• The Section 460(e) Completed Contract rules will be expanded to include condominiums, in addition to single-family homes. This is a key tax accounting provision that ensures that home builders are not taxed on deposits paid by a buyer during the construction of a single-family home, but rather the home is taxed when sold. This bill extends the same tax treatment to deposits paid by condominium buyers during the construction phase, which is a change NAHB advocated for.

For additional information, you can read the full NAHB article here.