September 7–13, 2026
A quiet week for local and state legislation; the action this week was almost entirely federal, with a handful of bills signed into law and several others cleared from committee and headed toward a House floor vote.
This was a thin week for legislation that touches day-to-day life in Olmsted County directly. The most relevant thing to land: a federal disaster tax bill now law, which matters if you've experienced a federally declared disaster.
If you've had disaster losses.
Congress sent President, and the President signed, a bill (HR 5366) that extends federal tax breaks for people hit by major disasters. If you suffered uninsured losses from a federally declared disaster between late 2019 and early 2027, you can now deduct your full loss rather than absorbing a $500 reduction per incident. Separately, if you received money from a nonprofit, government agency, or other source to cover losses from a federally declared wildfire after 2014, including living costs or lost wages, those payments are now tax-free at the federal level. This is now law.
Transparency in federal spending.
Also signed this week: a bill (HR 2069) requiring federal agencies to post a category of contract called "other transaction agreements" on the public website USAspending.gov. These contracts were previously exempt from standard reporting rules, meaning they didn't show up when the public searched federal spending records. The Treasury Department must now set up automatic reporting for them and publish annual reports on any gaps. Now law.
Several other federal bills signed this week dealt with matters outside Olmsted County: an extension for an EMS memorial construction group in Washington, D.C., and a land-use change for a property in Paducah, Kentucky.
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Coming up next week:
Federal farm security drill. A bill (HR 9394) cleared committee and is headed toward a full House floor vote. It requires the Department of Homeland Security to run a large-scale exercise within four years, involving federal, state, local, and private partners, to practice responding to biological attacks on farms and food systems. Given that Olmsted County sits in agricultural southeastern Minnesota, the drill would include the kinds of food producers and agricultural facilities that operate throughout this region. No firm floor date is set yet.
Shelter dogs as federal support animals. HR 9327 also cleared committee and awaits a House floor vote. It would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to run a three-year pilot program adopting dogs from local animal shelters and training them as support animals for staff dealing with grief and trauma. Dogs would be sourced from local shelters, which could include facilities in communities like Rochester.
Government publishing access. HR 9342, also cleared from committee, would lock in free public access to federal documents through libraries and online, while giving the Government Publishing Office new tools to digitize older materials. No floor date is confirmed.
Two other federal bills cleared committee this week. One would dissolve a congressional records advisory panel (HR 9360) while keeping the National Archives in charge of records. The other (HR 2317) transfers federal land in Nevada to state and local governments. Neither affects Olmsted County.
See what's up for a vote now · Find your representatives