Week of May 13, 2007

On Monday, I attended a caucus meeting and a lengthy floor session. The agenda's main item is the omnibus transportation finance bill (HF946). I voted for the bill, as I voted for the original House version, and it passed 91 to 42. The governor is expected to veto this bill, but apparently there might be enough votes to override. Ninety votes are required to override a veto. This the one bill that we are all watching, because we actually have a chance to override, and the press was swarming in the chamber to observe the final vote.

Here are the highlights:
* Infuses $5.1 billion into our transportation infrastructure during the next ten years
* Authorizes $1.5 million in trunk highway bonds over ten years, with a debt service surcharge of up to 2.5 cents on the gas tax to pay for it (the governor proposed $1.7 billion but didn't give a way to pay for it)
* Raises the gas tax by five cents starting in September of this year (down from 10 cents proposed by our original House bill)
* Incorporates a new tab fee structure
* Allows metro counties to set up a joint powers board to assess a half-cent sales tax for both roads and transit (I voted for an amendment in the original House bill to require a referendum on this, but it was not included in the conference committee report and we can't amend such a report. Counties MAY require a referendum if they want to do so.)

If you have a car that gets 15 mpg and drive the average of 11,000 miles annually, your increase in the gas tax would be $36.66 per vehicle annually. I get 30 mpg so my increase in the gas tax would be $18.33 annually. My wife gets 50 mpg and so the additional tax would be $11.00 annually on her vehicle.

I blogged back in March about the original House bill. You may want to click on this link to see some of the background information about how the various financing mechanisms would work.

After a recess of two hours for dinner, we met again on some less controversial bills until about 10:45 p.m.

On Tuesday, we voted on several bills that were not related to the state budget, including a "lemon law" for used cars and a bill on allowing nurses to dispense oral contraceptives. The latter bill took up a lot of time, as anything related to family planning does. What usually would be a bill that is limited in scope attracts a lot of amendments that deal with abortion, and that was the case today. We adjourned about 1:45 p.m. to allow some of the conference committees and some of the committees that are sending bils to the floor to meet.

On Wednesday, we had several caucus meetings and one big floor session interrupted by several recesses. We got in at 9:00 a.m. and we're still going at 11:15 p.m. Today we've tackled a lot of small bills that we fit in between the big bills. The most controversial so far today was on construction code and licensing changes (HF1208), mostly on provisions requiring licensing for certain types of plumbers.

The speaker, the Senate majority leader, and the Governor are meeting in person on the final negotiations on the budget. Looks like we will be pretty close to the constitutionally deadline on Monday at midnight. Should they come to a "global agreement" on the big bills like education, we should see a rapid approval and signing of all the spending bills.

There were a lot of lobbyists hovering outside the House chamber today--as they usually do. Today they are focused on the proposed school employee statewide health insurance plan, or HF464. Most voters who are not involved in teaching or school board matters may not know that this issue has taken up a lot of time this session. We thought we would take up this bill Wednesday but it's looking like Thursday now. More on this bill after the vote.

On Thursday, I attended several caucus meetings and a floor session that never seemed to end. (I got home at midnight.) The major bill for the day was HF464, a proposed mandatory statewide health insurance pool for school employees. The bill passed 81-52 but I voted against it. The concept is good but after several weeks of consideration of this bill, I wanted our school districts (Centennial, Mounds View, and White Bear Lake) to have the option to either join this pool or to maintain their own health care plan if they choose. A major study from 2004 described the costs and benefits of this idea.

In theory, a pool of 200,000 school employees and dependents will create economies of scale that help control health care costs and to provide greater predictability. However, in order to create this new pool, school districts will be paying $150 million to create sufficient reserves to guarantee payment of claims. With our education budget for FY2008-09 looking less generous than we would like, it is likely that our local school districts are going to have to pay more to set up this pool than they would otherwise in the short term, and thus take resources away from paying teachers and the like. Since this bill passed, I hope that it works, but I'm concerned about increased costs for our three local districts in the short term. Major advocates for the bill included Education Minnesota, the state's major teacher's union. Major opponents included the Association of Metropolitan School Districts as well as our three local districts. Got home at 1:00 a.m. (I think).

On Friday, I attended several caucus meetings and a lengthy floor session. I got home at 10:00 p.m. We handled a heck of a lot of calendar bills. Still waiting for a "global agreement."

On Saturday, we came in at 10:00 a.m. and I attended two caucus meetings. We got our floor session going at 4:00 p.m. Hurry up and wait! We handled a variety of smaller bills, including a pensions bill. After a dinner break, we started about 10:00 p.m. in debating HF2285, the proposed constitutional amendment for dedicated sales tax revenue for outdoor habitat, clean water, parks, and the arts, historical and cultural resources. I voted for this bill and it passed, although I have some misgivings about using constitutional amendments to budget.

You can always see the action for the day in the Journal of the House.

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident supporting strong global warming provisions in the energy bill; four district residents (two in Shoreview, two in Blaine, one in Lino Lakes) supporting inclusion of HF659/SF536 in the omnibus health and human services finance bill that would reduce fees for child care providers; Shoreview couple against dedicated funding for habitat, environment, and the arts; Circle Pines resident against the transportation bill; Lino Lakes resident against taxes generally; Shoreview resident supporting transportation funding bill; Lino Lakes resident against taxes generally and against a proposed deed tax in particular; Shoreview resident asking if we will have a special session; Shoreview resident asking the legislature to finish on time; two Lino Lakes residents upset with my no vote on the tax bill; Shoreview resident supporting animal rights; Shoreview resident concerned that the Senate failed to pass a bill that allows homeowners to recover attorney's fees in disputes over warranties; Lino Lakes resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; North Oaks resident asking about my stance on the House and Senate education proposals (specifically about the difference between funding special education vs. money on the formula); Shoreview resident supporting an increase in the gas tax; Shoreview resident supporting 3% annual increase in K-12 education and special education funding; Circle Pines resident against statewide health insurance plan for educators; Shoreview resident supporting HF1078 relating to employment standards at the new Maple Grove Hospital; Shoreview resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Lino Lakes resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Lino Lakes resident against statewide health insurance pool for educators; Blaine resident against good faith insurance provision; Lino Lakes resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Circle Pines resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Shoreview resident upset about my support of a gas tax increase; Lino Lakes resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Lino Lakes resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; North Oaks resident against a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing health care (HF683) but supporting universal health coverage; Shoreview resident against gas tax increase; Circle Pines resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Circle Pines resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Lino Lakes resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Circle Pines resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Shoreview resident supporting early childhood education, social services, and health care; Shoreview resident supporting 3% annual increase in education funding and supporting special education funding; Circle Pines couple supporting the gas tax increase; Circle Pines couple against a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing health care (HF683); Shoreview resident against gas tax increase; Shoreview couple supporting gas tax increase; Shoreview against a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing health care (HF683); Shoreview resident against reducing labor protections during merger of Minneapolis and Hennepin County library systems; Circle Pines resident against more regulation of dog and cat breeders; Shoreview resident supporting health and human services budget and transportation bill; Shoreview resident against statewide health insurance pool for educators; Circle Pines resident against statewide health insurance pool for educators; Lino Lakes resident supporting overriding of the Governor's vetoes; Shoreview resident against statewide health insurance pool for educators; Shoreview resident supporting dedicated outdoor funding amendment; Shoreview resident supporting property tax relief for seniors; Lino Lakes resident supporting statewide health insurance pool for educators; Shoreview resident supporting Secretary of State's initiative (SF1218/HF1259) to help overseas military personnel to vote absentee; Shoreview resident supporting SF753/HF965 to allow appointment of unaffiliated election judges; two North Oaks residents and doctors supporting funding of medical interpreters; Lino Lakes resident supporting override of Governor's veto on transportation bill; Shoreview resident against HF683, a bill for a constitutional right to health care; Shoreview resident supporting constitutional amendment for sales tax for outdoor funding; Shoreview resident against gas tax increase; Shoreview resident supporting SF1075, a bill to divest state board of investment assets from companies doing business with Sudan over the Darfur crisis; Shoreview resident supporting global warming mitigation bill; Shoreview resident supporting salary supplement for state employees; Centennial School Board member disappointed by components of proposed K-12 finance bill and against a mandatory school employee health insurance pool; Shoreview resident supporting a gas tax increase; North Oaks resident supporting comprehensive sex education; Circle Pines resident supporting strong global warming mitigation bill; Shoreview resident supporting a comprehensive transportation package including a gas tax increase; Lino Lakes resident asking about K-12 education bill; Circle Pines resident supporting Senate version of statewide health insurance pool for school employees that includes an opt-out provision