Paul Gardner, State Representative (District 53A)

October 2009 Update

2009-11-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

October turned out to be as busy as September, plus I had flu-like symptoms twice that knocked me out for a couple of days. Wash those hands!

Conservation Minnesota Award: On October 26th, I received a conservation leader award from Conservation Minnesota for my work on water conservation and solid waste. I am very honored to be in the company of Will Steger as well as my constituent Dr. Michael Kilgore for his work on the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.

Endocrine disruptors in Lake Owasso: The MPCA just issued a study that measured chemical compounds in our rivers and lakes that disrupt the endocrine systems of fish. Lake Owasso in Shoreview/Roseville was among those tested. The good news: Lakes where houses are connected to the city sewer have fewer endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in them. The bad news is that the EDCs go to sewage treatment plants where we can't get rid of the EDCs either. Lake Owasso has high level of organic wastewater compounds in it including DEET and high level of caffeine compared to other lakes tested.

Mental Health: Representative McFarlane and I attended a meeting hosted by NAMI-MN (National Association for Mental Illness), Health Partners, the Archdiocese Office of Social Justice, and the MN Psychiatric Society. The purpose was to discuss the Governor's unallotment and line-item veto of General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC), a program that covers the health care costs of 30,000 people who have virtually no assets and are often chemically dependent and mentally ill. I voted to override the Governor's veto and Rep. McFarlane did not. My assertion in the meeting was that people with private health care coverage end up paying for people without health coverage who show up at the emergency room, and that saving GAMC is cheaper for those with insurance.

Later in the month, I met with an assistant commissioner for the Department of Human Services and his staff about their proposed re-design of State Operated Services (SOS), which are the state's treatment facilities for mental health.

On October 14th, several House committees held an informational hearing about mental health costs in the criminal justice system. We could save a lot of taxpayer dollars by better integrating information about mental health into law enforcement and corrections training.

Phone books: I had a good meeting with members of the Yellow Pages Association and Dex to hear about their efforts to allow consumers to opt-out of yellow pages delivery. State rules still require delivery of a white pages, and we might work on legislation to get rid of that rule.

Water: The MN Rural Water Association invited me to their training class on October 27th in St. Cloud about how to set water/sewer rates that create enough reserves to fund future upgrades. Not enough cities do this and they are often stuck going to the state for funding. They also talked about the conservation rate structure legislation that I authored last year.

Arsenals and race tracks: One proposal made to the City of Arden Hills for the use of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) is for a NASCAR track. I happen to be a NASCAR fan, but I am not a fan of this proposal. The 35W corridor between 694 and U.S. Hwy 10 is one of the most congested spots in the north metro because several corridors converge there. In addition, 694 is only two lanes wide from 35E to 35W. So this would be a congestion nightmare. Finally, the noise would likely carry for many miles.

Bioplastics/yard waste: KARE-11 did a story about my legislation on yard waste bags and the Star Tribune did an article as well. On October 19th I spoke about the topic to a national conference focused on using organic waste as an energy source. The MN Pollution Control Agency hosted a great panel discussion on-line on October 16th about biopolymers and their potential in Minnesota.

Campaign finance: A recent New York Times column outlines the many ways in which state campaign finance law there hinders democracy. The State Legislature has ceased to be an effective organization in recent months. I am pleased to say that many of the proposed reforms in the column are already law in Minnesota!

Reporting unsafe drivers: The MN Department of Public Safety has a web page where you can report unsafe drivers. The driver gets a letter notifying that somebody noticed them driving unsafely, and your contact information is not divulged.

Visited these folks or attended these meetings: Product Stewardship meeting in Eagan and Minneapolis about innovative ways to cut taxpayer costs for waste managment; gathering of north metro MN Utility Investors members in Shoreview; waste haulers in Prior Lake; White Bear Lake Area senior transportation meeting; Turtle Lake Elementary School kindergartners; water expert; Qwest area office in Shoreview; Capitol Beverage in Fridley; CTV15 cable TV station for interview on bike commuting; visit with Express Scripts in Bloomington about HF1217; boy scouts in Shoreview; Golden Lake PTA in Circle Pines; RAM/SWANA Conference on recycling, composting, etc.; Sierra Club members in Shoreview; Senator Rummel on issues of mutual interest; UPS Freight tour in Blaine

Visitors: Healthy Legacy lobbyist about state purchasing/bonding ideas that promote less toxic products; Chamber of Commerce representatives about product stewardship; group of about 20 members of the MN Council of Nonprofits learning about the legislature; lobbyists for syringe manufacturer and pharmaceutical products about my legislation; member of League of MN Cities regarding product stewardship proposals; General Accountability Office (GAO) researchers from Washington, D.C. following up on MN's e-waste recycling law; industry representatives from biopolymer sector

September 2009 update

2009-10-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here's an update of my September 2009 activities and other information.

District happenings

Domestic violence: I was very troubled to hear of the second case of fatal domestic violence in district 53A in as many months. The murder-suicide was covered in two articles in the Star Tribune here and here. I'm talking to a few legislators to see if any changes in legislation would help avoid this situation in the future. Alexandra House, the only women's shelter of its kind in Anoka County, was mentioned several times.

Constituent suffering from PTSD: Minnesota Public Radio recently covered the case of a Circle Pines Marine who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his service in Iraq. I've spoken to a few people involved and it is clear that we have a big job ahead of us in treating the large number of returning servicemen and women with PTSD. Some officials at Fort Snelling are doing their best to avoid the worst case scenario of suicide among veterans. [10/11/09 update: The Pioneer Press reported on 10/08/09 that the Marines are calling into question the story of the Circle Pines Marine. It's a little hard to tell what the truth is on this case but I would still point out that PTSD is a major problem.]

Scrap tires on Highway 14: Anoka County rebuilt Highway 14 through Centerville and Lino Lakes recently. Because the section that crosses the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes does not have a very stable base underneath, the county used 2.6 million shredded scrap tires to shore up the road. I know the tire recycling folks and the U.S. produces about one scrap tire per person per year, which means that this project used about half of all scrap tires collected in MN in one year.

Energy savings in Mounds Views SD: Congratulations to the Mounds View School District for the first year of results from its Schools for Energy Efficiency (SEE) program. The district saved $400,000 by reducing energy use by 12%! Well done.

Mounds View SD requests lottery funding: The Mounds View School District, which owns the Laurentian Environmental Learning Center (ELC) in Britt, MN, and several other ELCs have proposed a project to the commission recommending uses for lottery proceeds. The Legislative Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) is hearing proposals this fall for possible recommendations next session. The ELC proposal would request funding for energy efficiency upgrades as well as educational programs on energy.

Centennial levy: The Centennial School District is putting a levy referendum on the ballot this fall. There will be two questions. The first will be asking to renew the existing five-year levy and the second questions would ask for some additional funding. There is more info at the Vote Yes site for the referendum.

Anoka County inmates going to Sherburne: Part of Anoka County's budget cutting includes transferring some inmates from Lino Lakes to Sherburne County in Elk River.

Local business and Gopher Stadium: The new Gopher football stadium includes a novel stormwater treatment system developed by a local company. Rehbein Environmental Solutions in Blaine created a system that can store 132,000 gallons of water at a time instead of releasing it immediately into the stormwater runoff system. WCCO did a story on the stadium's green components.

Sewer charges and Blaine interceptor: The Met Council is considering changes to sewer rates. Revenue for sewage capacity from new development in the outer suburbs has slowed because of the lack of new construction, so the MC may charge people in developed areas (that's us) more.

Health care

Insurance for those rejected from other plans: The Health Care & Human Services Policy Committee that I serve on had a recent hearing on several topics including MCHA--the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association. MCHA (pronounced EM-cha) is a program run by the insurance industry to offer coverage to people who, among other things, have been rejected by health insurers because of a pre-existing condition. It's not a state government program but it was created by the legislature. Premiums make up about half the revenue of the program and the rest comes from the insurers through an assessment on their regular customers' policies of about three percent. However, self-insured plans (like those created through large employers) do not get charged the assessment, leaving the cost to small businesses and individual policy holders.

Hidden health care tax: A group called Families USA has updated information about how much consumers with private insurance are paying as a "hidden tax" to cover the cost of the uninsured. In Minnesota we have almost half the number of uninsured as the national average so hospitals and clinics have to write off fewer losses, but the average family policy pays $650 more a year in this state in the "hidden tax."

Transportation

Bike commuting: During the first few weeks of September I've been commuting on my bike to the Capitol and using the bus as part of that once in a while. I'm not the first in our area to do this by any means but it's been a good way to get in shape. The Met Council has a Bike2Benefits program on-line where you can log in your miles and see how many gallons of gas you are not using and how much in greenhouse gas emissions you are not creating. You can also track the location and arrival times of your buses in real-time using a PDA on the Metro Transit web site.

694 & 35W: MnDOT plans to update one of the exit ramps at 694 and 35W.

Transit: One of the most used forms of transit in the northern suburbs is paratransit or dial-a-ride. Seniors and the disabled use this service regularly. I'm following the work of the Interagency Committee on Transportation Coordination (ICTC, or "Ick-tick") to find out how to encourage more coordination among our state and local agencies so that we can maximize the use of all our transportation assets. The Met Council is also consolidating its dial-a-ride program in a way that will bring this service to Shoreview for the first time.

Environment

New technology for treating garbage: I visited a company's R&D facility in Blaine recently that can pre-treat garbage in what is called a thermal vessel. The garbage is heated up to 280 degrees or so and the resulting organic material can be put in an anerobic digester to create energy, and recyclables can be separated out also. The company is Visiam and its main office is in White Bear Township. Their web site has a video of the process. I also had the chance in September to visit a new landfill site in Lynd, Minnesota in Lyon County where I met with county commissioners from seven southwestern MN counties.

My bills

Scrap law working: In 2007, I got legislation passed that required scrap metal recyclers to keep records on the people selling them scrap because of a rampant metal theft problem. This recent article highlights one scrap yard that is successfully working with police on the issue.

Product stewardship: Several of my bills for 2009-2010 relate to a concept of product stewardship (PS). PS would assist taxpayers by asking for industries that create products that are difficult to dispose of safely to take some financial responsibility for the waste material. Senator Doll, Rep. McNamara, and I recently spoke to a gathering of local government officials about legislative ideas on PS. I also attended a recent panel discussion at the MPCA on sustainable packaging. Presenters included NatureWorks LLC, Aveda (based in Blaine), and General Mills. Aveda has a very successful plastic bottle cap program that you can get involved with at local schools.

Compostable bag legislation media: WCCO recently gave some coverage about my legislation requiring compostable plastic yard waste bags if you use a plastic bag.

Pharmaceuticals in our water: Blog readers may be familiar with my bill that would create a secure "take-back" system for unused medications that are often flushed. Many of these medications end up in our rivers and streams because wastewater treatment cannot remove certain endocrine-disrupting compounds. The U.S. Geological Survey has just reported that of nine rivers tested nationwide, Lake Pepin on the Mississippi has the highest number of fish that have both male and female sex characteristics! During October and November, I'm meeting with various stakeholders to get their input on my bill, HF1217, for next year to work out technical issues.

Taxes

Cuts to county program aid: One of the least-known programs at the state level to help reduce your property taxes is county program aid. This MinnPost article (albeit with a partisan bent) describes the effects of the Governor's recent unallotment to county program aid. Non-partisan House Research also has this info on the program.

Cuts to market value homestead credit (MVHC): One of the way that the state lowers your property taxes is to give you a market value homestead credit via your city. Lino Lakes along with Shoreview lost all its MVHC from the Governor's unallotment. Due to the loss of MVHC and declining property values, Lino Lakes is making some significant budget cuts.

Meetings: I had the chance to visit Second Harvest Heartland in Maplewood, which has a very sophisticated operation in supplying our community food shelves. Senator Rummel and I hosted a meeting with Shoreview residents who live around Kerry Pond to hear from the DNR about changes in aquatic plant management permits. I also visited Lifetrack Resources in St. Paul, which provides child care and other services for children who are under court protection. I enjoyed greeting 4th graders from Rice Lake Elementary School in Lino Lakes at the Capitol.

August 2009 Update

2009-08-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

Einhausen group: Shoreview has a sister city relationship with Einhausen, Germany, and this year a group of Einhausen residents came to visit Minnesota. Senator Rummel and I met with them in early August for a tour of the state capitol. Find out more about the sister city organization here.

Business visit: I visited Old Dominion Freight Co in my district in Blaine, where they are celebrating 75 years. It included a very cool traveling trailer with exhibits, including a Wii truckdriving game (I crashed) and a radio-controlled 18 wheeler that I successfully backed up after 10 minutes. Argh.

Group house: Senator Rummel and I received a lot of e-mail from irate Lino Lakes residents about a proposed group house in Centerville that would house the developmentally disabled. After the house was vandalized and after a crowded public meeting, the organization proposing the facility, Zumbro House, cancelled the project. KSTP did a story on the controversy. I still don't have all the facts about what type of residents were to live there, other than that they were teenaged and disabled. Some of the information I received but couldn't confirm was that the residents were to be either low-level sex offenders or had serious behavioral issues.

Recent criminal activity: A murder recently took place in 53A, where a Circle Pines man killed a Blaine resident over what appears to be a drug case. A Star-Tribune article has the details. There was another murder in Circle Pines earlier this month in a case of domestic violence.

LEED certified building: I recently visited a house in Lexington that is LEED certified--meaning it has many green components to its design. A husband and wife team designed it and operate their business there. You can visit their web site and see how it was built!

Meeting with Senator Franken about pharmaceutical waste: On August 13th, I attended a great meeting in North Branch for Sen. Franken on Chisago County's successful take-back program for unused pharmaceutical waste. My bill HF1217 would help expand this statewide--look for it in 2010. A description of the problem we are seeking to solve comes from the Product Stewardship Institute. Chisago County worked on this because they originally had a big meth problem, and now teens have moved from meth (which is harder to make now) to "pharm" parties where they swipe drugs like painkillers from adults and mix it with alcohol. When certain pharmaceuticals are flushed down the toilet, our wastewater treatment plants cannot break down some endocrine-disrupting compounds and that can change the genetic structure of fish and also end up in someone's drinking water.

Rice Creek Trail: The Rice Creek Trail that I tried to get state funding for in 2008 will be partially completed by next spring. John VonDeLinde, Director of Parks and Recreation for Anoka County sent me this update:

"...Lino Lakes Town Center to Rice Lake Elementary Trail

"At this point, all of the cultural resources review is complete, and we have found a way to construct the trail through the park, while avoiding any buried artifacts, etc. As you may know, the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes area is rich in Native American history and we are taking the
normal protocols in avoiding disturbance.

"Wetland assessment is also complete. Our engineer, SRF Consulting, has been working with the Rice Creek Watershed District on wetland impacts and floodplain mitigation. We do have enough credits from previous wetland creation projects in the park, so all appears to be good in that regard.

"Construction documents are complete for the trail from the Lino Lakes Town Center to Rice Lake Elementary. Our consultant has also completed the Project Memorandum for this section, which is a federal project requirement.

"In designing the project, we have determined that the old snowmobile bridge over the Rice Creek will need to be removed and replaced. It does not meet federal standards. The new bridge will provide more clearance over the creek and will be shared with the snowmobile trail.

"So, the project design for the main trail is now nearing completion.

"Hodgson Road to Baldwin Lake Trail

"Given the good bids the county has been receiving this year, we have also decided to move forward with construction documents on the section from Birch Street and Hodgson Road to Baldwin Lake Park. Originally, we did not think that this would be financially feasible - it may be now.

"This additional section will require similar planning and construction documents. We expect those to be completed within a month. Once those are in-hand, we can submit the entire design package to MnDOT for review and approval.

"In summary, my expectation is that we will be out for bids in July or August. Construction should be underway by September or October. The project will no doubt carryover to June of next year for completion...."

More information on the project was published in the Quad Communities Press.

Till next time: I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. My family and I spent two weeks in June and July visiting Glacier National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the Black Hills.

My 2009 Bills That Passed

2009-07-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a wrap-up of my legislation that passed from 2009. You can look up the text of the bills at the House web site.

HF167/SF0185: The Governor signed SF2082 (the State Government Finance Bill) on May 16th. In that bill there was the text of my HF167, which extends the term of the Legislative Coordinating Commission Working Group on Ethnic Heritage & New Americans. I'm the House DFLer on the working group, which brings together business, labor, and advocates on the issue of immigration to help find pragmatic solutions. The bill is now Chapter 101 of 2009 Session Laws, Article 2, section 1. This bill was an initiative of the Working Group.

HF239: For two years, several of us from the suburbs have worked to assist homeowners who have been hassled by their builders or remodelers over breaches of warranty. Some Shoreview residents I know have spent $100,000 out of pocket in legal fees while the builders delay a settlement, hoping that the homeowner will give up. Others in the state have had to spend thousands of dollars in hotel or rental housing costs when their house is uninhabitable. My bill, HF239, would allow homeowners to be reimbursed for short-term housing if they have to be out of their house as a result of warranty work. It passed the House and Senate and was presented to the Governor on May 15th. The bill is now part of Chapter 103, 2009 Session Laws. The Governor vetoed the bill and discusses details in his veto letter. I dispute his rationale for the veto but we need to move on. This bill was initiated by advocates for homeowners and Shoreview constituents.

HF356: HF2088 is an omnibus economic development and housing bill that the Governor signed recently to replace a previous bill that he vetoed. It included my legislation from HF356 to maintain the solvency of the manufactured housing relocation trust fund. The bill is now Chapter 78 of 2009 Session Laws, Article 8, Sections 1 to 3. (The Governor made some line-item vetoes in the bill but not my legislation.) This bill will help make sure that owners of manufactured housing (aka mobile homes) will be able to tap into a self-insurance pool should the owner of their mobile home park sell the land, requiring all residents to vacate. There are about 500 manufactured homes in my district. This bill was an initiative of All Parks Alliance for Change.

HF403: HF2123, the environment and energy finance bill, passed with a high number of votes on the House floor from both parties. It included budgets for the MN Pollution Control Agency, the DNR, and several other smaller agencies. My legislation in the bill included provisions that will boost two industries in Minnesota--bioplastics and compost. Many district residents are asked by their waste hauler to dispose of their yard waste in a rolling cart or a compostable bag because the regular plastic bags contaminate the finished compost. Haulers pay a higher fee to get rid of plastic and compost site operators can't sell their compost. The legislation has all metro area residents use certified compostable bags starting January 1, 2010 if they use a bag. (Carts and reusable bags are fine too.) The idea is to increase quality and streamline rules across multiple jurisdictions. We have several Minnesota manufacturers of compostable bags who will be able to meet consumer demand, and they are part of our growing bioplastic industry. The original bill was HF403. This bill was signed by the Governor and is now Chapter 37 in Minnesota statutes. This bill was my own initiative.

HF1333: The Governor signed HF1298, a non-controversial bill with various tax compliance and other tax provisions. My bill HF1333 that authorizes bonding for Met Council transit facilities was included. The bill is now in Chapter 88 of 2009 Session Laws in Article 6, Section 20. This bill was initiated by the Met Council.

HF1373: My legislation to promote greater coordination of transit for the disabled and others who cannot drive passed. It's actually in two parts. The legislation creates the Minnesota Council on Transportation Access, where state and regional agencies that serve the disabled come together to figure out how to make a very fragmented and inefficient network of transit services more efficient and cost-effective. HF1373 was the original bill and the funding ended up in HF1309 and the enabling legislation ended up in the omnibus transportation policy bill in HF928. HF928 passed the House on May 17th and is now Chapter 151 of 2009 Session Laws, Section 28. The Governor vetoed the bill, and mentioned my legislation in his veto letter. The Governor signed HF1309 that is now Chapter 36 of Minnesota statutes. However, the Governor did direct the Department of Transportation to add additional members to the Interagency Committee on Transit Coordination (ICTC) as would have been required in my bill. Senator Dibble and I initiated this legislation.

My 2009 Bills That Did Not Proceed

2009-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here are bills of mine that did not proceed in 2009.

HF625: The Governor signed SF2082 (the State Government Finance Bill) on May 16th. The final bill did not include my HF625 that would require the state to use an Application Program Interface (API) that would allow third parties to analyze exported state budget information. Who says that the state must be the only entity that holds data and information that we paid for? Politics in Minnesota has followed this legislation and reported on the need for this legislation for greater government transparency. They have also aggressively followed up on it in articles on May 6th and May 7th. (The state Department of Finance doesn't like it because it is pretty sweeping legislation.) HF625 got in the House file of the State Government Finance Bill but not the Senate file and it was not accepted in the final conference committee. This bill was my own initiative.

HF663: This bill would require that truth in taxation notices for your property taxes get mailed before the November general election. You can see the video of the hearing. The bill was "laid over" by the Property Tax Division of the Taxes Committee so it might get included into an omnibus bill by that division. There were several lobbyists for the school board association and the Association of Minnesota Counties as well as the Department of Revenue who testified against the bill. The legislation got into part of a bigger tax bill but was ultimately removed because of objections from local governments. This bill was initiated by a constituent.

HF808: This bill would increase the reimbursement rate for an intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled (ICF/MR) in Shoreview. Reimbursement rates are set by the state, and a group house in Shoreview has increasing costs to care for these adults who have no family. The bill was initiated by Lutheran Social Services and did not receive a hearing.

HF1548: This bill would cap property taxes as a percentage of income for seniors. This bill was initiated by the Minnesota Senior Federation and a constituent. It did not receive a hearing.

HF1642: This bill would create a Health Opportunity Account (HOA) pilot project for medicaid patients in Minnesota. Patients would have a high deductible account but the state would pick up the deductible. The idea is that the total cost of this arrangement would be lower than our existing Medical Assistance program while providing the same level of service. Earlier this spring, Congress prohibited new HOA pilot projects, making the bill moot. This bill was initiated by a constituent.

HF1643: This would change the levy referendum component of the K-12 education funding formula. Specifically, it would increase the referendum market value equalizing factor that has not been raised in many years. In English, this means that school districts like Centennial that have a smaller commercial tax base would see an increase in state funds for education. The bill was heard by the K-12 Education Finance Committee and was held over for possible inclusion in their omnibus bill. It was not included because of the cost during this difficult budget year. The bill was initiated by constituents in the Centennial School District.

2009 Bills That Will Be Back in 2010

2009-07-19T08:45:00.001-07:00

These are bills I introduced in 2009 that I would likely bring up again in 2010. You can look up the text of the bills at the House web site.

HF170: This bill would require publishers of telephone directories to allow consumers to opt out of delivery. I asked for an informational hearing only since I want to spend most of my legislative time helping to create jobs or address the deficit. The Yellow Pages Association and R.H. Donnelly testified about the bill and demonstrated Dex's opt out web site. You can hear audio of the hearing on-line. This hearing concluded my work on this issue for the year. KARE-11 did a web article on the bill on the KARE website. This bill was my own initiative. The 2010 version of this bill would likely just remove the state’s requirement that phone book publishers must distribute a White Pages.

HF298: This bill would remove some regulatory barriers for day training & habilitation (DT&H) organizations to serve more people with their bus and van fleets. Nonprofits in our area that pick up and drop off adults with developmental disabilities are interested in transporting other clients from other organizations to be more efficient, but their insurance rates would go way up, making the venture prohibitive. I don't have a Senate author, and after talking to a senator about it, I chose to invest time in HF1372 instead because it was a more wide-ranging initiative. This bill was initiated by Merrick Inc. and other DT&H providers.

HF336: This bill would allow homeowners associations to inform their residents about pesticide applications up to 48 hours in advance using newsletters, e-mail, etc. in lieu of sticking up those little signs after the application. This bill was initiated by a constituent with sensitivity to lawn chemicals. I didn't get a Senate author for this bill this year but would plan to proceed with this in 2010.

HF418: This bill would allow local governments to enact their own tougher ordinances to combat the spread of buckthorn. The bill received a hearing in the Agriculture Policy Committee and passed, and then was held up in the local government committee due to lack of time. This bill was initiated by a North Oaks resident, and I would like to proceed with it in 2010.

HF457: This bill would allow Minnesotans to donate their remains after death to an organization accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks instead of just to a university. This bill ran into opposition to a consortium of mortuary science stakeholders (seriously) that had worked on some reforms in this sector several years ago. I was under the impression that some other reforms would be forthcoming from another member this year and I could incorporate this legislation into that bigger bill, but the legislation did not materialize this year. I plan to pursue this issue in 2010. This bill was initiated by a constituent.

HF500: This bill would create standards for recycled water so that builders, plumbers, and others would have some guidance from the state when they are creating greywater systems that use treated wastewater. The dialogue among stakeholders was late in coming during the session so I did not proceed with this bill by the committee deadline in March. I hope to work on this in 2010. The bill was initiated by Sen. Jungbauer.

HF1118: This bill would change the allocation formula for revenue from the Solid Waste Management Tax (SWMT). The SWMT is collected on your waste hauler bill and up to 70% of it goes to the state's environmental fund to pay for cleaning up old landfills, recycling programs, etc. The bill would set an allocation formula for county funding. The bill received a hearing in the House Taxes Committee and was referred to the Environmental Finance Committee for consideration in 2010. The bill was originally authored by Rep. Demmer, who didn't have time to work on it. The bill was initiated by the Association of Minnesota Counties.

HF1217: This is a bill to set up a product stewardship program for unused pharmaceutical products to keep them out of our wastewater and drinking water and to keep them out of the hands of kids. Old medications often get flushed down the toilet and the chemical compounds do not break down in the wastewater treatment process. Many of these compounds are endocrine disruptors, meaning that they can change the DNA of fish and other aquatic life. They can also end up in our drinking water when it comes from a source where treated wastewater feeds into that source, like the Mississippi River. The bill would have the drug industry fund a secure "take-back" system at pharmacies. This is a pretty complicated bill so I introduced it this year so that stakeholders and I can discuss it during the interim and then I can modify it in 2010. This bill was my own initiative.

HF1286: This bill would give free fish and game license eligibility for disabled veterans. This bill was heard in the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee and was referred to the main Agriculture & Veterans' Affairs Committee but it was too late in the session to get through. This bill was initiated by a constituent.

HF1372/SF1323: This bill would require that retailers of more than 90 syringes in a carton must provide a "sharps" collection container for the consumer to store used syringes. Used syringes are one of the biggest safety hazards to waste haulers and other maintenance people. After passing the Senate easily and after passing the House Environment Committee on a voice vote, I was contacted by a national organization working on the issue and they asked for a delay in a floor vote on the bill in order to make some necessary changes. I will be working on this bill during the interim and will present some changes in 2010. This bill was initiated by a Minnesota vendor of collection containers.

HF2182: This bill would require the Department of Finance to request more information from state and local government agencies when they submit bonding requests for capital investment projects. This relates to the annual "bonding bill." I was interested in seeing more objective information when public entities want state funding so legislators can compare projects more clearly. The bill was introduced too late to be heard in the Capital Investment Committee, but the chair was interested in having an informational hearing. This bill was my own initiative.

HF2402: This bill would increase the fee charged by auto shops for unreturned used auto batteries from $5 to $10. Right now battery manufacturers are charging $10 to auto shops that do not exchange a used battery for a new battery, instead of the $5 they used to charge. State law requires that auto shops charge $5 to consumers when they don't return a used battery, so the auto shops are $5 short when this happens. Obviously consumers who bring in an old battery when they buy a new one get a total refund of $5. The bill was introduced too late to get a hearing but it will come forward in 2010. The bill was initiated by the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of MN, Inc.

HF2407: This bill is a sweeping product stewardship initiative to keep hazardous or valuable waste materials out of the garbage. It would create a process by which the MPCA would suggest products that would require special attention. This was introduced on the last day of the session so that I could get feedback from industry and government before requesting a hearing in February. This bill was my own initiative.

Week of May 10 & 17, 2009

2009-05-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

This is the last full week of the session, and the major budget bills and omnibus policy bills are coming forward. Here's a quick summary.

Tax or Borrow: The major sticking block in our budget negotiations with the Governor is about $1 billion. Our bill that the Governor vetoed on Saturday would raise $1 billion in taxes (see entry from last week) and his proposal since January is to borrow $1 billion, then to spend the next 20 years paying it off along with $600 million in interest. We have made major cuts to our hospitals, people with disabilities, nursing homes, economic assistance to needy families, as well as curbed spending in other areas like education. We are also looking at deferring some of our state payments (a "shift") to schools. That still leaves us with big gap that the $1 billion will help fill.

DNR Game & Fish Bill (HF1132): This always has some interesting sounding provisions like "free either-sex deer permit for recently discharged service members" and "elimination of slot limits for spearing northern pike." But they are important to many folks. This is also the first bill I've seen since my first election that deals with firearms, and that is always controversial. The bill contains a provision that would allow uncased firearms in your vehicle. The idea is that if you are hunting and you are going from one area to another close by, it takes a long time to case up your gun or bow. The Public Safety Policy Committee chair had the bill amended to maintain current law in the seven county metro area. There are various conditions under which you can have an uncased gun or bow that make this more palatable to me. The bill also has an amendment that would require gun show vendors to do a background check on their customers just like gun dealers at a store. I support this provision--I don't think requiring a 10-minute check is particularly burdensome and this is the law in 18 other states.

Manufacturing Housing Legislation Passes Again: HF2088 is an omnibus economic development and housing bill that the Governor signed recently to replace a previous bill that he vetoed. It included my legislation from HF356 to maintain the solvency of the manufactured housing relocation trust fund. The bill is now Chapter 78 of 2009 Session Laws, Article 8, Sections 1 to 3. (The Governor made some line-item vetoes in the bill but not my legislation.)

State Government Finance Bill: The Governor signed SF2082 on May 16th. In that bill there was the text of my HF167, which extends the life of the Legislative Coordinating Commission Working Group on Ethnic Heritage & New Americans. I'm the House DFLer on the working group, which brings together business, labor, and advocates on the issue of immigration to help find pragmatic solutions. The bill is now Chapter 101 of 2009 Session Laws, Article 2, section 1. The final bill did not include my HF625 that would require the state to use an Application Program Interface (API) that would allow third parties to analyze exported state budget information. It was in the House file but not the Senate file and it was not accepted in the final conference committee.

Technical Tax Bill: The Governor signed HF1298, a non-controversial bill with various tax compliance and other tax provisions. My bill HF1333 that authorizes bonding for Met Council transit facilities was included. The bill is now in Chapter 88 of 2009 Session Laws in Article 6, Section 20.

Transportation for the Disabled: My legislation to promote greater coordination of transit for the disabled and others who cannot drive has passed. It's actually in two parts. The legislation creates the Minnesota Council on Transportation Access, where state and regional agencies that serve the disabled come together to figure out how to make a very fragmented and inefficient network of transit services more efficient and cost-effective. HF1373 was the original bill and the funding ended up in HF1309 and the enabling legislation ended up in the omnibus transportation policy bill in HF928. HF928 passed the House on May 17th and is now Chapter 151 of 2009 Session Laws, Section 28, awaiting action by the Governor.

Homeowner warranty bills pass: For two years, several of us from the suburbs have worked to assist homeowners who have been hassled by their builders or remodelers over breaches of warranty. Some Shoreview residents I know have spent $100,000 out of pocket in legal fees while the builders delay a settlement, hoping that the homeowner will give up. Others in the state have had to spend thousands of dollars in hotel or rental housing costs when their house is uninhabitable. My bill, HF239, would allow homeowners to be reimbursed for short-term housing if they have to be out of their house as a result of warranty work. It passed the House and was presented to the Governor on May 15th. He has three days to sign it, which would be May 18th, the last day of session. The bill is now part of Chapter 103, 2009 Session Laws.

Public Safety Finance Bill: coming soon

Health & Human Services Finance Bill: coming soon

Capital Investment Bill: coming soon

E-12 Education Finance Bill: coming soon

Higher Education Finance Bill: coming soon

Agriculture & Veterans Affairs Finance Bill: coming soon

End of Session Wrap-Up

2009-05-19T14:12:00.001-07:00

The 2009 legislative session just ended and news reports say that a “deal” was not made on the budget. In fact, the Legislature did deliver a balanced budget to the Governor after five months of rigorous work.

During the last five months, all committees in the legislature worked to enact significant cuts to the state budget and hold the line on spending in major areas. We cut ethanol subsidies, agency administrative budgets and bureaucracy, reimbursement rates for certain health care providers, and many more items.

We also made significant reforms. We reduced mandates on schools and other local governments, reduced reporting requirements, and restructured health care payments. We also agreed with the Governor to delay $1.8 billion in payments to K-12 schools.

In addition, we made prudent use of federal money to maintain health care eligibility for more than 100,000 people, many of whom have recently been laid off, and to cap higher education tuition increases.

That left us with a $1 billion gap in a $6.4 billion deficit that could only be solved in one of four ways. The first option included the Governor’s proposal to borrow the money and pay off the bonds for 20 years plus $600 million in interest. Constituents overwhelming rejected this idea in my legislative survey, and Democrats and Republicans voted against this option on the House floor almost unanimously.

The second option was increased gambling revenue. We also voted on this idea and it did not pass. The Governor said he would not sign a bill that increased revenues from gambling.

The third option was a tax increase. We passed a bill that would raise the money from a higher income tax rate for joint filers making more than $250,000 a year, a surcharge on credit card companies that charge higher than 15% in interest rates, and increased taxes on alcohol. Our plan dedicated this funding to K-12 schools, nursing homes and similar facilities, and our hospitals. We felt that this was a pay-as-you-go approach as opposed to a borrow-and-spend approach. The Governor vetoed this bill.

The final option was more cuts. The Governor signed all of our finance bills, but vetoed our bill to raise revenue. To close the gap left by his veto, the Governor said he would make some line-item vetoes in those bills and then use his unallotment power to unilaterally make cuts starting on July 1. The first line-item veto he made was $380 million in General Assistance Medical Care. GAMC provides health coverage to 30,000 adults who make less than $7,800. Seventy percent of these patients have a serious mental illness and many of them—including veterans—are homeless. In public testimony, the Governor’s own Department of Human Services Commissioner Cal Ludeman said these people are the “poorest of the poor, and the sickest of the sick.” These are precisely the people—the least of these—for whom a government safety net is required.

In addition, our hospitals like Regions and HCMC are expected to make significant job layoffs and reductions in services because this funding makes up such a large part of their budgets. HCMC in Minneapolis could be cut up to $100 million and Regions could be cut up to $46 million. This will drive up health care premiums for those of us with private health coverage.

Readers of my columns and blog will know that I do not engage in a lot of partisan rhetoric and finger-pointing. But that line-item veto, and the subsequent party-line vote in the House that upheld the veto, were the coldest and fiscally counter-productive political actions I have ever witnessed.

The Governor’s unallotment is also likely to cut higher education significantly, and the University of Minnesota tells us that will likely increase tuition by about 15%. Circle Pines and Lexington residents will likely see increased property taxes due to his proposed cuts to local government aid and the rest of us will lose a lot from cuts to the market value homestead credit and the property tax refund program. Taxes hurt, but so do cuts.

There was a lot of good legislation that ran under the radar this session, due to the budget shortfall, including some of my own legislation. But that can wait for a future entry. Have a good summer, and I hope that you will share your thoughts with me in the months to come.

Questions about the End of Session

2009-05-14T09:02:00.001-07:00

Minnesota Budget Bites posted a good set of frequently asked questions about what happens at the end of the legislation session, such as discussing deadlines, vetoes, overrides, and so on.

The House of Representatives Session Weekly includes a good article about unallotment, which is the tool that the Governor says that he is going to use to balance the budget.

At this writing, the details are sketchy as to where the Governor unallot once the new fiscal year starts on July 1. I'll defer judgment until we see the details, but he would have to unallot something like ten times the amount that has ever been done in state history, and I don't know how he can pull it off.

Here's what the Governor is saying about what he will do.

Facts about Recent GOP Mailing about Home Heating Fuel

2009-05-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Many district residents received a mailing from the Republican Party of Minnesota during the last few days that makes some misleading statements about my bill (HF1584-which is incorporated into an omnibus tax bill, HF2323).

It suggests that all consumers would be taxed on their home heating fuel, which is not correct. Right now heating fuel is exempt from sales tax during the period November to April. The bill (as I amended it in the Tax Committee) would have the sales tax kick in ONLY after one's cumulative use exceeds 130% of average use for the whole winter, which right now is about 875 "therms" on your Xcel bill for natural gas. Only about 10% of all heat that could be taxed in the state would be taxed. I looked at my own bill in my 2,000 square foot 1972 rambler with four people and I didn't reach 700 therms for the whole winter, so LOTS of people will not even be taxed at all.

The idea here is that the largest energy users tend to drive up prices for everyone else because during the coldest periods demand for these users disproportionately higher. We have also been advised by experts to focus on narrowing or ending certain sales tax exemptions (so called "tax expenditures") to avoid tax revenue volatility from year to year. This is why many people recommend charging the sales tax on clothing, for example.

However, critics believe that there will be too many drafty houses, especially in rural areas, where people with low or fixed incomes live. I can't get them to prove to me that the tax would apply to them, but just in case, we amended the bill to exempt anyone on heating assistance. Also just in case, I have an amendment to exempt anyone who is affected by the Cold Weather Rule who has trouble paying their bills, often because of a job loss.

It looks like this bill will not proceed in any case--the metering technology in rural Minnesota for electric heat is not very uniform and the variability in the housing stock is too great to precisely target the legislation to the right people. But it certainly raised some helpful issues for future deliberations. Sometimes we propose ideas that might seem like a "stinker" on the surface but it's important to have the dialogue and in so doing we often stick our necks out a bit in the legislative process.

Improving communications with your legislative colleagues

2009-05-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings. I am posting the text of an e-mail I sent out to my colleagues today along with an attached letter.

Dear colleagues,

At this time in the session, the pressure builds, the deadlines loom, and the differences among us start to magnify. We're tired and a little cranky. That said, we still need to maintain high standards in our communications to each other, either with the opposite caucus or within our own.

I recently failed to maintain those high standards in some electronic communications regarding two of our members. I have attached a letter that I shared with Rep. Emmer and Rep. Buesgens.

Education & Health Care/Tax Bill & Legacy Funding Bill (May 8, 2009)

2009-05-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

The House and Senate are voting today on a new education and health care bill that would raise about $1 billion in revenue and use the funds for K-12 education, nursing homes and similar facilities, and hospitals.

Here's the breakdown. There would be three accounts set up: E-12; Nursing Homes & Long-Term Care; and Hospitals.

* K-12 Education: The bill would generate $585.7 million in the next two year budget cycle for an E-12 account. If we were to cut $500 million from K-12, it would break down this way.

Centennial School District: Loss of $3.8 million, or $566 per student
White Bear Lake: Loss of $4.7 million, or $580 per student
Mounds View: Loss of $5.5 million, or $584 per student

Statewide, 12,000 teachers would lose their jobs.

* Nursing Homes & Long Term Care: The bill would generate $287.5 million in the next two-year budget to a specific account. The bill passed today would have us cut 30% less than the Governor to our nursing homes. Many rural nursing homes in particular are in danger of closing. The funding would also avoid deeper cuts to services for Minnesotans with disabilities. We have a lot of group homes in our district and families with disabled children so this is of particular interest to our area.

* Hospitals: A hospital account in this bill would receive $114 million in the next two years. Support from the state comes in different forms including General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC), which serves indigent Minnesotans who do not have health care and often have other major mental health or chemical dependency issues; Medical Assistance (MA) which usually supports health care for the disabled; Minnesota Care, health coverage for low-income adults who have a job but no coverage; inpatient mental health treatment that is cheaper than institutionalization, and others. Under the Governor's proposal, our hospitals would be cut significantly. Here's how our area's hospitals would be affected under the Governor's budget proposal:

Unity (Fridley) cut of 7.3%

HCMC (Minneapolis) cut of 15.1%
Abbott Northwestern (Minneapolis) cut of 4.1%
Regions (St. Paul) cut of 9.9%
Bethesda (St. Paul) cut of 7.2%
St. Joseph's (St. Paul) cut of 5.9%
St. John's (Maplewood) cut of 5.0%

These cuts all get passed along to the rest of us who have health coverage through private plans, so this bill would help lessen the impact of the cuts on our premiums.

Where the revenue comes from:
* A 9% income tax rate on joint filers with $250,000 in taxable income a year (2.3% of all filers), raising $516.3 million. This provision would sunset in four years.
* An increase in the alcohol tax, raising $240.9 million.
* Surtax on credit card companies on interest penalties charged on rates above 15%, raising $216.3 million.

The amount of revenue raised equals what the Governor is proposing should be raised through appropriation bonds. Our proposal chooses taxes over borrowing, and I voted in favor of this bill.

Legacy funding bill: The other bill taken up this evening is the Cultural & Outdoor Resources Finance Division finance bill, HF1231. This bill allocates the funding derived from the new dedicated sales tax approved by the voters in November. There are four funds in the bill: outdoor heritage (for habitat); clean water fund (including money for drinking water); parks and trails fund; and the arts and cultural heritage fund. There is some controversy with the bill among hunting and fishing organizations because they want the legislature to adopt 100% of the recommendations of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council, which recommends projects to be funded by the outdoor heritage fund. We actually are likely to pass all of the PROJECTS recommended by the council, but the House has cut the amount of administration money that the council wants. We also are requiring that there be a web site for the public to see where the money is being spent, and some folks don't like that apparently. We are still in the middle of debate, but I plan to vote for this bill.

Weeks of April 26th & May 3, 2009

2009-05-07T08:59:00.001-07:00

The last two weeks have seen a lot of floor activity and plenty of constituent e-mail, letters, calls, etc., so it has been pretty hard to keep up!

Earlier this week, the House and Senate passed three finance bills out of about nine that need passage. These bills were among the least controversial so the Governor and legislative leaders decided that we should proceed with these first to help "set the table" for the big bills. Two of these bills also don't have that much funding from the General Fund that is in deficit. The bills included environment & energy, economic development, and transportation. All of them had some legislation of mine that deal with bioplastics, housing, and transit for the disabled.

HF1309, the transportation bill, relies mostly on dedicated funds from the motor vehicle sales tax, the gas tax, and so on and was pretty uncontroversial. My provision in the bill will help better coordinate transit for people who cannot drive. There is a lot of room for taxpayer savings in this area because there is a lot of duplication in bus and van fleets that serve seniors, the developmentally disabled, and others. The legislation (originally from HF1373) would set up a coordinating body of the folks who operate the fleets. The Governor signed this bill just before midnight on Thursday and is now Chapter 36 of Minnesota statutes.

SF2081, the economic development bill, included a wide variety of legislation related to housing, economic development programs, funding for the Department of Employment and Economic Development, and some cultural resources programming. This bill contained controversial language about forgiving the last remaining debt that St. Paul has on the Xcel Energy Center loan. The loan forgiveness would not actually kick in for four years so it would not affect the next two two-year budgets. The city would then use the dollars to build a community ice rink across from Xcel. I am not enthusiastic about this proposal but we also have some important stuff in this bill for assisting people who are losing their homes. My provision in this bill was a revision to the manufactured housing (mobile homes) relocation trust fund so that a fund that helps these homeowners relocate when their mobile home park closes will be solvent. The Governor vetoed this bill over the Xcel Energy Center provision.

HF2123, the environment and energy finance bill, passed with a high number of votes on the House floor from both parties. It included budgets for the MN Pollution Control Agency, the DNR, and several other smaller agencies. My legislation in the bill included provisions that will boost two industries in Minnesota--bioplastics and compost. Many district residents are asked by their waste hauler to dispose of their yard waste in a rolling cart or a compostable bag because the regular plastic bags contaminate the finished compost. Haulers pay a higher fee to get rid of plastic and compost site operators can't sell their compost. The legislation has all metro area residents use certified compostable bags if they use a bag. (Carts and reusable bags are fine too.) The idea is to increase quality and streamline rules across multiple jurisdictions. We have several Minnesota manufacturers of compostable bags who will be able to meet consumer demand, and they are part of our growing bioplastic industry. The original bill was HF403. This bill was signed by the Governor on Thursday and is now Chapter 37 in Minnesota statutes.

We have several other bills which are in conference committee and are ready to go pending a few minor decisions that have to be made. The state government finance bill includes language from my HF625 that would require the state Department of Finance to allow the exporting of state budget information into a common format so that enterprising and tech-saavy people can develop third-party applications for this information. Who says that the state must be the only entity that holds data and information that we paid for? Politics in Minnesota has followed this legislation and reported on the need for this legislation for greater government transparency. They have also aggressively followed up on it in articles on May 6th and May 7th. (The state Department of Finance doesn't like it yet.)

Federal funding for local roads and bridges: Anoka County just informed me that the federal recovery program will provide funding for the 35E & Highway 14 intersection at $4.825 million. You can track the accounting on these projects at www.recovery.gov. I believe that a park and ride lot will get installed there after it's all done.

The way it was: The Minnesota Legislative Library has a 30 minute documentary posted on line about the legislature in 1976. The filmmaker follows Rep. Tom Berg. The technology (typewriters!) is interesting to see, as well as all the smoking and plaid suits. Thought readers might be interested! A lot of the experience is still very much the same.

Mounds View Schools survey and article: The Mounds View School District recently performed a survey in the community, and the results can tell you about the possible results of state budget cuts.

Tax bill from April 25th: I voted against our first tax bill. While I thought there were some good ideas in it, it was really a lot to ask of almost all Minnesotans. My particular concern was the provision for allowing a local options sales tax of one-half of one percent. We have another tax bill coming on May 8th and I look forward to considering it thoughtfully.

Constituent contacts: The volume is so high right now that I can't list all of them as in the past. However, I can give you a flavor of what people are sending me. They include: weatherization funding from federal recovery legislation to be used for low-income Minnesotans (all pro); K-12 education funding (all pro); alcohol tax increase (all against, from beer distributor employees in district); state agency enforcement of law against internet gambling (all against); DNA newborn screening (several MDs for, many conservative constituents against), medical specialist reimbursement rates (all MDs against cuts); provider tax (all MDs against increasing it); mortgage interest deduction changes in first tax bill (a lot, all against); tax cuts (all pro and all form e-mails generated by Minnesota Majority website); freedom to breathe act/smoking ban (all pro); medical marijuana (all pro); tax increase on the wealthiest (all pro and all form letters)

Some misinformation about heating fuel tax

2009-04-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday during the House Tax Bill debate, there was a lot of hay made about my legislation to narrow the sales tax exemption on home heating fuel. But there was a lot of misinformation about it, with other members suggesting that all Minnesotans' heat would be taxed. Not true.

According to current law, home heating fuel during the months of November through April is exempt from the sales tax. My bill would narrow this exemption for the first 850 therms (or hundred cubic feet or ccf) for natural gas and for the first 5,750 kilowatt hours of electric heat. My concern is that there are a lot of big homes out there that consume a lot of non-renewable energy while we are cutting health care, education, and so on. We could help with the deficit while incentivizing conservation at the same time.

Two commissions of business leaders and financial experts have repeatedly told the legislature that we need to consider extending the sales tax to certain things that are currently exempt to avoid the wild volatility of our budget over many years.

In the FY2009-2010 biennium, if the state collected sales tax on all residential heating fuel users, the state would bring in $320,000,000. My legislation (see text below) would bring in $34,200,000, or only 10.68% of all taxable heat.

Liquid propane, propane gas, fuel oil, wood, coal, steam, and hot water heating fuels are not covered by this provision and would remain exempt. It only covers metered electric heat and natural gas, mostly because it is much easier to calculate and collect tax through our regulated utilities instead of 850 other energy vendors.

The legislation would help to stabilize volumes during peak times which holds prices down for everyone. 100% of natural gas and most of our electricity comes from fossil fuels, so we have an opportunity to smooth out or curb the use of finite natural resources.

Some of my colleagues are saying that folks in drafty houses will end up paying the tax. Well, if that is the case, there are more FREE weatherization services available due to the stimulus package through county community action programs (CAPS) than ever before, so Minnesotans in need will have resources available for sealing older homes and even getting some new furnaces and other appliances. So there are a lot of opportunities for avoiding the tax if indeed there would be people who exceed the tax-exempt threshold. (I do not think that there will be that many.)

Rep. Olin and I worked on an amendment to exempt people on low income heating assistance (LIHEAP) from the tax. I am also working on an amendment to exempt people who are behind on their bills (for something like job loss) and are covered by the Cold Weather Rule.

Here's the text of the legislation from HF2323, 3rd engrossment.

177.15 Sec. 28. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 297A.67, subdivision 15, is amended to read:
177.16 Subd. 15. Residential heating fuels. (a) Residential heating fuels are exempt
177.17as follows:
177.18(1) all fuel oil, coal, wood, steam, hot water, propane gas, and L.P. gas sold to
177.19residential customers for residential use;
177.20(2) for the period encompassing the billing months of November, December,
177.21January, February, March, and April, the first 850 hundred cubic feet per dwelling unit of
177.22natural gas sold for residential use to customers who are metered and billed as residential
177.23users and who use natural gas for their primary source of residential heat; and
177.24(3) for the period encompassing the billing months of November, December,
177.25January, February, March, and April, the first 5,750 kilowatt-hours per dwelling unit of
177.26electricity sold for residential use to customers who are metered and billed as residential
177.27users and who use electricity for their primary source of residential heat.
177.28(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), residential heating fuel sold to a customer
177.29registered with their natural gas or electricity service provider and receiving assistance
177.30through a federal or state low-income home energy assistance program is exempt as
177.31follows:
177.32(1) for the billing months of November, December, January, February, March, and
177.33April, natural gas sold for residential use to customers who are metered and billed as
177.34residential users and who use natural gas for their primary source of residential heat; and
178.1(2) for the billing months of November, December, January, February, March, and
178.2April, electricity sold for residential use to customers who are metered and billed as
178.3residential customers and who use electricity for their primary source of residential heat.
178.4EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective for sales and purchases made after
178.5June 30, 2009.

I don't know if this provision will survive conference committee or not, but I offered the idea as one way to help with the deficit in a means-tested way. We'll see.

Weeks of April 12 & 19, 2009

2009-04-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

During the week of April 19th, we have been taking up our omnibus finance bills. Every two years, our finance committees put together a budget within a funding target set earlier in the session. There are about 10-12 of these bills.

Schedule: On Monday, April 13th, I met with a business owner and constituent about how S-Corps fit into the state tax code. On Tuesday, April 14th, I attended the House Taxes Committee and we heard my bill HF1118 about the solid waste management tax. We had a short floor session and did a cable TV interview. On Wednesday, April 15th we had two Taxes Committee meetings and two caucus meetings and I met with our GIS office about a map. Thursday, April 16th included a Taxes Committee meeting, a floor session, and a meeting at the North Metro Mayors Association. On Friday, April 17th we had the Taxes Committee meeting, a meeting with Rep. Dean Urdahl and his Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Later in the afternoon we had a short floor session and a Taxes Committee meeting. On Saturday, April 18th, the Taxes Committee met and then the committee caucus met until about 9:00 a.m. to discuss the omnibus tax bill. I also went to a town hall meeting in White Bear Lake with Rep. McFarlane about health care. On Sunday, April 19th, we had a tax committee caucus in the evening.

On Monday, April 20th, I met in Tax Committee where the committee unveiled its tax bill. (More info below.) Afterwards we had a caucus meeting and a floor session, followed by a committee caucus meeting and another Tax Committee meeting where we took public testimony on the tax bill. On Tuesday, April 21st, I met with a Centennial high school student who is a page this week. Then I attended the Taxes Committee where we marked up the bill. We had a floor session in the afternoon and had a lengthy House DFL Caucus meeting.

On Wednesday, April 22nd, on the floor we voted on the agriculture and veterans affairs finance bill, the higher education finance bill, and the environment and energy finance bill. In the agriculture and veterans affairs budget, we cut ethanol subsidies by 20% and when a vote came up to eliminate the remaining subsidy (about $26 million or so) I voted in favor, although the amendment failed. Last year the amendment only got about 37 votes and this time it got 49. Find out more at this MPR story. (We received a report from the legislative auditor about biofuel subsidies and how we need to change them.) The higher education bill included a cap on tuition. After a recess we handled the environment bill, in which my legislation regarding compost and bioplastics are located. We started at 9:30 a.m. and finished at 12:15 a.m.

On Thursday, April 23rd, we took up the early childhood education finance bill, the K-12 education finance bill, and the state government finance bill.

Minnesota leads in public health: The New York Times ran a strong article about how the Minnesota Department of Health did excellent work for the rest of the country on detecting food-borne illness including the recent peanut food poisoning issue. Way to go!

35W bridge collapse fund: Survivors of the collapse praise the work of the special master appointed to administer the compensation fund. MPR did a good story.

House and Senate Tax Bills and Mortage Deductions: The House has set "budget targets" where the body decides how many dollars will be available for spending and how much will be cut, how many payments would be deferred to the next fiscal year (a "shift"), and how much new revenue must be raised. Our target for new revenue is $1.5 billion for the budget. The House Tax bill (HF2323) raises the revenue this way:

$11,535,000 resulting from conformity with new federal tax laws
$913,656,000 from individual income taxes increases and modifying a lot of income tax breaks
$122,925,000 from corporate sources, mostly closing of loopholes
$20,600,000 from changes to the estate tax
-$11,570,000 from loss of sales tax revenue (mostly due to modification of transportation taxes)
$413,272,000 from special taxes (half from alcohol and half from tobacco products)
$21,250 from "other"

That adds up to $1,501,363.

Here's how the individual income tax increases of $913,656,000 break out.

$489,365,000 from ending or modifying tax breaks for individuals
$467,700,000 from raising the highest income tax bracket to 9% on single filers making $156,000 or more or joint filers making $300,000 or more
-$43,409 from various changes in tax code

Here's the deal about the $489 million in tax breaks. A big amount of this comes from changing the current state (not federal) income tax deduction for mortgage interest and from eliminating the deduction of property tax payments. There is a lot of misunderstanding about the mortgage interest payment deduction. A homeowner would still be able to deduct up to $10,000 from their state taxable income but not beyond that. A deduction is a deduction from your taxable income, not a dollar-for-dollar subtraction from your income taxes. The House bill would replace the deduction with a dollar-for-dollar tax credit so everyone would get a credit whether or not they itemize their taxes. The idea here is that we stop subsidizing million dollar mortgages and let all homeowners benefit. This has the same net effect as raising taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans because people who are wealthier tend to live in big houses with big mortgages. Wisconsin has tax law similar to this. Our researchers have put together a one-page summary that is linked to this Politics in Minnesota web page.

While I support progressive taxation, the parts of the House tax bill that I find objectionable include a local option sales tax and street improvement districts. Under the bill, counties would be able to levy a 1/2 percent sales tax in their county to pay for local expenses. However, the bill's language about how citizens are made aware of this possible tax increase and how they can have a reverse referendum on this tax is extremely weak, and counties are just going to levy this tax without much public input. In addition, the language about what counties can use the money for is WAY too vague and I am concerned that it will not be used for reducing property taxes. We are asking for Minnesotans to sacrifice a lot in this recession, either through program cuts or higher taxes, and I am concerned about this method to increase the sales tax, which has been raised twice in the last year already. It is for this reason that I did not support the bill in committee.

The Senate proposes raising $2.2 billion, mostly from the rolling back of income tax increases from 1998 legislation. These dollars would come from all taxpayers, not just the highest earners. I am opposed to the Senate version because even people making less than $33,000 would pay higher income taxes.

Visitors: Shoreview constituent and U of M student who introduced me to about half a dozen immigrant students; Circle Pines and Lino Lakes residents representing American Parkinson's Association; lobbyist for MN Grocers Association about HF403; Environment Minnesota about nuclear power plant moratorium; kindergarteners from Island Lakes Elementary in Shoreview; building trades lobbyist about a construction stimulus package; two constituents about GLBT issues

Constituent contacts: hard to keep up with--hopefully I will get this in soon

Week of March 22, 2009

2009-03-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is the week of policy committee deadlines, so policy bills must pass all necessary policy committees in one of the two houses by March 27th or they are dead for the year. So we met late into the night most of the week to hear a long list of bills. I've often thought that we ought to consider a unicameral legislature but I think that having our current system in both houses tends to weed out bad ideas that don't make it through deadlines.

Fetal alchohol issues: We heard a bill in the health committee about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. According to advocates, "FASD affects more live births than autism. Autism affects 2-6 babies per 1,000 live births a year, while FASD affects 10 babies per 1,000 live births a year. "

Nursing homes: One of the bigger expenditures for the state in health and human services relates to nursing homes. Rep. Gunther from SW MN presented a bill in committee that would try to free up more dollars for rural nursing homes. Not many people know this, but Minnesota and North Dakota are the only states that require that the same rate be charged to both publicly and privately funded nursing home patients. Rep. Gunther's bill would eliminate equalization so that private pay patients pay more. AARP and others oppose this because it would likely have private pay patients exhaust their savings quicker and then they would end up on public assistance anyway. There is no nursing home in my district but in rural Minnesota this is an extremely big deal because of the rapid aging of the population in many areas.

Tax Reform: The House Tax Chair, Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL-Bloomington) and the House Property Tax Division Chair, Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth) came out last week with some big tax reform proposals. Rep. Lenczewski proposes in HF1782 to get rid of a lot of individual and corporate tax breaks in order to lower taxes overall in a revenue-neutral way. Revenue-neutral means that the state would receive the same amount of tax revenue despite the changes. I received a letter from a group of medical device manufacturers who are opposed to getting rid of the R&D tax credit. One of the companies was Advanced Molding Technologies in Blaine in my district.

Legislative Audit Commission findings: The Office of the Legislative Auditor continues to be an important resources for finding waste and inefficiency in state government. Three reports came out this week that are alarming. Here's the summary.

"The reports included three material weaknesses:

The Department of Human Services did not adequately communicate to its subrecipients of federal funds the compliance requirements related to those funds. As a result, we estimate that more than $100 million was not included in subrecipients’ single audit coverage. Additionally, this issue resulted in our qualification of the audit opinion about the state’s compliance with federal requirements for several major federal programs, including the Medical Assistance Program.The Department of Human Services did not have sufficient controls to prevent or detect a fraud within the Medical Assistance Program. The Department of Finance did not ensure that state agencies fulfilled their responsibilities when passing federal funds through to subrecipients.

"In addition, six of the reports note that the agencies did not have a comprehensive internal control structure to ensure compliance with federal program requirements. (Education, Employment and Economic Development, Health, Human Services, Natural Resources, and Public Safety)"

Centennial bill hearing: At the behest of Centennial Area Advocates for Responsible Education (CAARE), I introduced HF1643 and got a hearing on it in the K-12 Education Finance Committee this week. The bill would in effect leverage more state dollars for Centennnial and other similar school districts for the local property tax levy dollars that Centennial residents pay. CAARE works closely with Schools for Equity in Education (SEE) on legislative issues. The SEE director testified with me and he has a blog that explains the bill in more detail.

Schedule: Monday included a bill hearing for HF1333 on bonding authority for metro transit facilities; a caucus meeting, a short floor session, and a meeting of the Taxes Committee. I ended up chairing the committee while Chair Lenczewski presented her bill that would reform many tax credits and loopholes. In the evening, I attended a potluck at Summer House in Shoreview. This senior housing complex worked with a nonprofit group to find ways to reduce energy consumption and the nonprofit gave a presentation and some awards to the best energy savers! On Tuesday, I attended a committee caucus meeting, a short floor session, and the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee and the Health Care & Human Services Policy (HCHS) Committee. On Wednesday, there was a Taxes Committee meeting, a short floor session, a visit to the eye doctor, an HCHS Committee meeting in the afternoon and evening, and a meeting of the House DFL Caucus. Another late night. On Thursday, we had a caucus meeting, a short floor session, two committee caucuses, an HCHS Committee meeting in the afternoon and evening, and an Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee meeting that went late. At this time of year, legislators end up shuttling between different rooms since a lot of committees go late. Also on Thursday, I presented my bill HF1643 that would change how the state administers levy equalization for K-12 that would help the Centennial School District. On Friday, I chaired a meeting of the House DFL Suburban Caucus and met with the Speaker on suburban issues.

Visitors: Lino Lakes college student supporting private college grant program; electronics company representative (by phone) regarding proposed changes to e-waste recycling law; Senator about HF356; constituent services staff about a constituent's family law issue; two North Oaks residents for MN Utility Investors day on the hill; Ramsey County library staff and board members for library day on the hill; three constituent beer distributors for MN Beer Wholesalers day on the hill; Department of Administration staff about "green" government purchasing; staff from U of M about pharmaceutical waste issues; industry lobbyist about HF1338

Constitutent contacts: coming soon!

Weeks of March 29 & April 5, 2009

2009-04-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hi, folks! With our policy committee deadlines on March 26 and April 7, we've been working late at the Capitol. It's kept me from updating you, but now here it is.

Survey: If you've sent me e-mail as a constituent during the last two years, you should have received an e-mail from me asking you to take an on-line survey. If you didn't get an e-mail on this and you are a constituent, please e-mail me at rep.paul.gardner@house.mn and I'll send you the link. I've received almost 400 responses in 72 hours.

Bonding bill: Last week we passed the House version of a bonding bill. Usually in a budget year the legislature considers a smaller bonding (or capital investment) bill to address acute needs for state buildings and the like. Rep. Alice Hausman, the House Capital Investment Committee chair put together the bill and it is about $200 million, with funds to be spent on a limit amount of state projects like "asset preservation" for state buildings--that means paying to fix up those buildings, bring them up to code, etc. The Senate has a much bigger bill that has lots of non-emergency projects in it. (I prefer the House version.) The bill is now in conference committee. I introduced a bill this year (HF2182) that would require all proposals for bonding to have specific outcomes listed publicly so that the legislature can compare these projects for merit. Too often in the past the legislature will put together a bonding bill that has projects in it where the public does not have a way to confirm the project's purported benefits. It is too late to get a vote on this bill this year but I have asked for an informational hearing.

Alzheimer's Disease statistics: I recently received a useful report on Alzheimer's disease and its impact in Minnesota. Minnesota data is on page 23. The value of unpaid care in MN is $1.685 billion with 175,000 unpaid caregivers helping out Alzheimer's patients.

21st Century Tax Commission: Last year the Governor appointed business leaders to a 21st Century Tax Commission to help promote business growth in Minnesota. The group released its report and we had a hearing on it in the Taxes Committee. The group suggests repealing the corporate tax and cutting taxes for S-Corps, limited liability corporations (LLC), and partnerships. To make up for the lost revenue, the commission recommended extending the sales tax to clothing and other exempt items. The Governor has praised the tax cuts but didn't agree about raising the other taxes. I appreciate the fact that the commission did what a lot of people don't do when they come to the Capitol--they asked for a cut in taxes in one place but explained how they would pay for the deficit it would create.

Green Acres: On the House floor we recently voted to make changes to the Green Acres law. Green Acres is a program that allows certain agricultural land to be taxed at a lower level if the owner (usually a farmer) agrees not to plant on it. The idea was to preserve non-cultivated farmland as suburban sprawl takes place. There were quite a few abuses in the program outlined by the Legislative Auditor last year, and the legislature ended up repealing the program in 2008. There was a huge amount of opposition to it from many Green Acres program enrollees, and the new law delays some of the changes and creates a new rural preserve program. One problem with Green Acres is that each county gives the farm owner the tax break and then spreads the cost of it to all other property owners to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. There is no state money involved. In Ramsey County it is a pretty small program--the increased cost for an owner of a $185,000 house is $1 a year and in Anoka it is $23 a year. But in Wright County it is $146 a year, in Carver County it's $168 a year, and in Chisago County it's $104 a year.

Next wave of foreclosures: In committee, the MN Foreclosure Partners Council spoke to us about the "next wave" of foreclosures that are likely to take place. The first wave was due to subprime mortgage resets that totaled about $1 trillion in assets nationwide. The next wave would be for the resetting of Alt-A and Option ARM mortgages in 2010 and 2011. The total amount of assets in these mortgages is up to $1.6 trillion nationwide.

TIF: Recently the Taxes Committee heard proposals by local governments for tax increment financing (or TIF). House Research has several web pages about TIF, but the basic definition is that TIF is a method of financing real estate development costs to encourage developers to construct buildings or other private improvements or to pay for public improvements, such as street, sidewalks, sewer and water, etc. TIF pretty much sets aside the new property tax revenue from the development to pay for the improvements, thereby paying off the costs but keeping the new revenue from going into that city's property tax base until a certain number of years pass. Cities come to the legislature to extend the TIF financing period (e.g., five years to ten years) or to make other changes. One of the proposals recently was for Arden Hills' proposal for the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP), or HF1468.

In 53A, here is the percentage of our net property tax capacity that is locked up now in TIF by city: Blaine 4.8%; Circle Pines 14.8%; Lino Lakes 2.4%; Shoreview 5.6%. (There was no TIF data for Lexington or North Oaks.) Here are the percentages for our school districts: Centennial 10.8%; Mounds View 10.1%; and White Bear Lake 5.0%.

Low Carbon Fuels: In committee we heard a proposal for creating a low carbon fuel standard
The advocates for this policy include the Izaak Walton League and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and they have a set of fact sheets on-line. This would be one of the several dozen proposals we have for how the state can reduce its carbon emissions. The idea is that gasoline could have reduced carbon intensity that would require some reformulation. The two refineries in the state, Marathon and Flint Hills Resources, and their labor unions are staunchly against the policy. We received an interesting map of Canadian and U.S. crude oil pipelines and refineries. I couldn't find it on-line but did find a similar map here. Most of the crude oil in Minnesota comes from Canada. What was frustrating is that no one in the hearing--either pro or con--could tell us what would need to take place chemically to reduce carbon in fuels or what it would cost. We either heard that it was good for the climate or that it was bad for jobs.

Letter in the Shoreview Press: Last week a letter from Joyce Thompson of Shoreview appeared that expressed displeasure at the conduct of our Health Care & Human Services Policy Committee. She came to the Capitol to protest against a bill (HF1341) that would update the state's DNA newborn screening program.

First some background on the bill. For several decades the Department of Health has had a program that has helped save the lives of many children (including the son of Rep. Paul Thissen, who is the bill's author) by requiring that hospital staff take a DNA blood sample after birth. The sample is then screened for more than two dozen genetic diseases, many of which are fatal if not detected. Opponents to this program argue that parents did not know that their child's DNA was being sampled and that the Department of Health kept the samples. HF1341 would require that hospital staff notify parents that the sample will be taken and that parents have the right to opt-out of the testing and to request the destruction of the DNA sample. DNA samples that are still in existence would be destroyed and those that are kept until destruction will have a serial number that is kept separate from the name of the child. The Health Department can only "link" the number and name by appealing to an independent review board. I am satisfied that this legislation now provides an appropriate balance between saving lives and data privacy. However, the opponents still believe that government may have some nefarious purpose for the DNA samples--what that purpose is is not clear to me.

As for the committee, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano)--an opponent of any kind of screening--saw that the committee was going to support the bill and just before the vote moved to strike out several substantial sections of the bill. In this committee, we have what is called a 24-hour rule. All amendments to a bill must be given to the committee 24 hours in advance so that we can actually read the amendment to figure out how it would change the bill. Democrats and Republicans alike have had to comply with this rule. The vice-chair of the committee, Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester), told Rep. Emmer that he was out of order and Rep. Emmer started to lose his temper. After we had a vote to uphold the ruling of the chair on the 24 hour rule, he then stomped out of the room, shouting, "I'm out of here!" and other words to that effect. Rep. Emmer knows this topic very well and apparently didn't prepare. As for the issue of signs in the committee room, we also have a rule about not allowing signs in committee rooms and in the House gallery. This is a little like not allowing signs, buttons, stickers, etc. for candidates at your polling place. You can have signs in the Rotunda, in the hallways, etc., but just not in places where members vote.

Schedule for Week of March 29th: Monday included two caucus meetings and a floor session. On Tuesday, I did a cable TV interview, attended the Health Care & Human Services Policy committee (HCHS), presented my HF403 bill on bioplastics to the Environment & Natural Resources Finance Committee, and spoke to a group of ISAIAH members at a church in Circle Pines about health care. Wednesday included a committee caucus meeting, the House Taxes Committee (presentation of the Governor's 21st Century Tax Commission report), a floor session, an HCHS Committee meeting, the House DFL Caucus, and an evening meeting of the HCHS Committee. On Thursday I presented my HF1373 bill in the Government Operations Committee, and attended a caucus meeting, a floor session, and HCHS and Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee meetings. On Friday, we had a committee meeting for Taxes on tax increment finance district (TIF) proposals.

Schedule for Week of April 5th: On Monday, Senator Olseen and I visited Northern Technologies International Corp. in Circle Pines to talk about the bioplastics industry. In the afternoon, I attended two caucus meetings and a floor session, and presented my bill HF1584 in the Taxes Committee. On Tuesday, I attended the Taxes Committee and presented HF1333, attended a floor session, presented my bill HF625 in the House Government Operations Finance Committee, and chaired the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee where we had an informational hearing on Rep. Hortman's bill on creating a low carbon fuel standard. On Wednesday, Senator Rummel and I attended a half-day workshop at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs' Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy. Several legislators met with industry and environmental group representatives to talk about how to make better policy regarding chemical risks. It is part of an ongoing dialogue. On Thursday and Friday, the legislature was on Easter/Passover Break.

Visitors: Shoreview resident about property taxes; several utilities about my bill HF1584; staff from All Parks Alliance for Change and MN Manufactured Housing Association about my bill HF356; lobbyist and staff from Ramsey County about parks funding; lobbyist from City of St. Paul and Como Park staff about Como's bonding request

Constituent contacts: coming soon--this stacks up a lot!

Week of March 15, 2009

2009-03-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Budget update: As soon as I can post the info on our House budget targets I will do that. I've been out sick for a few days so I am behind!

Peer pressure for energy conservaton: WCCO recently did a report on a Connexus program on promoting energy conservation. Utilities are using some software that lets consumers know if they are using more energy on average than their neighbors. I've spoken to the head of the software company, and they integrate publicly available assessor data on square footage with the utility usage data and then they calculate the average energy use for similar types of homes in the same area. No consumer would know the consumption for their neighbors, which is not the impression you get from the title of the story. In California, this type of program led to a 2% reduction in energy usage. At first the utility out there used a "frowny face" for people who were above average in their energy use but it got some negative feedback on that!

Government Information: I just found this cool web site about government information in Minnesota. It is aptly named the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information. (I'm sure they spent many late nights working on the name.) The Coalition is "a network of individuals and organizations committed to open access to public information in print, electronic and digital forms." There are lots of tools for figuring out how to access public information. We rank dead last, by the way, in public disclosure of state contracts. My colleague, Rep. Ryan Winkler, is trying to remedy this with legislation.

Growth and Justice accountability report: Growth & Justiced has just released a report called Government with Accountability.

"The report outlines six essential principles that capture the essence of accountability in government and actions that can be taken to achieve better results from the vital public investments made through state and local governments. The principles, which were developed after study and consultation with some of the state’s leading authorities on public-sector management, are:

Establish leadership commitment. Dedication to accountability must come from the top.
Set long-term goals and priorities. Outcomes must be in clear and measurable terms and specify the indicators for making progress toward the goals.
Strive for transparency, straight talk and open books. Government should open its books and provide the information in a way that citizens can understand.
Maintain fiscal responsibly and fairness. Leaders should aim for revenue sufficiency required to provide stable, reliable services and programs.
Focus on efficiency and effectiveness. Leaders must recognize the difference between the two and that efficiency is doing things right and effectiveness is doing the right things.
Demand accountability for results. Consequences for meeting or failing to meet goals should be considered for government and public service providers and consideration should be given to transformational overhauls of public systems."

Stimulus money helping to weatherize local housing: The Community Action Partnership (CAP) of Ramsey & Washington Counties notified me of how federal stimulus money will help create jobs and save energy in our area. They have already weatherized 13,000 homes in the past 30 years, but the new federal dollars will allow them to create 50 new jobs for work that will weatherize between 1,800 and 2,000 homes, and which will infuse $1.5 million in spending for supplies. Payback for fuel savings is expected in 10 years or less. There are 3,500 homes on their weatherization waiting list.

Schedule: Monday included a floor session, a caucus meeting, and a meeting of the Taxes Committee. (I had to miss the Taxes Committee due to a sick child.) Tuesday included a committee caucus meeting, a cable TV and podcast interview on paratransit, a Health Care & Human Services Policy (HCHS) Committee meeting, a public hearing about Green Acres legislation, and Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee meeting. I also presented my bill about sharps disposal (e.g., used syringes), HF1372, in the Environment Committee and it passed to the floor without any big issues. I presented my two transportation bills for transit bonding and a transit council (HF1333 and HF1373) in the transportation committee about the same time and they passed to the Finance Committee. The environment and transportation meetings were at the same time so I was shuttling back and forth. This happens a lot in March as we approach policy committee deadlines. On Wednesday, I presented two bills in the Civil Justice Committee, including HF239 about homeowner warranties and HF403 about compost and bioplastics. They passed and HF239 goes to the floor and HF403 goes to Finance and then Environmental Finance. After that, I presented my bill on the manufactured housing relocation trust fund (HF356) to the Housing Committee that has been a product of much negotiation between the homeowners and the mobile home park owners. It was "held over" while we await a fiscal note. We then had a short floor session, a committee caucus meeting, a meeting of three of us from the suburbs with the Speaker, a meeting of the House DFL Caucus, and Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee and HCHS Committee meetings that were meeting at the same time. On Thursday, I had two caucus meetings, a floor session where we considered four non-controversial bills, a committee caucus meeting, an HCHS Committee meeting, and an Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee meeting. With the late meetings for the last three days I was at the Capitol for an average of 13 hours a day. Which would explain why on Friday I came down with some kind of virus and was at home sick all day.

Visitors: Revisor staff about HF356; lobbyists for Manufactured Housing Association of MN about HF356; staff from All Parks Alliance for Change about HF356; lobbyist for Met Council about HF1333; several constituent chiropractors for their day on the hill; lobbyist and staff for Project 515 regarding bills on same-sex partner benefits and other rights; citizen lobbyist for SAFPlan on family planning; four Centennial school district teachers about Education MN legislative agenda; several business owners with businesses in 53A for MN Business Day on the Hill; constituent citizen lobbyist for AARP; about four constituents from SEIU about its legislative agenda

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident about recycling policy; more coming soon

Week of March 8, 2009

2009-03-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

PCA mercury study: The MPCA has just reported that mercury levels in walleye and northern pike have not been decreasing. In fact, mercury concentrations have been increasing.

Ramsey County groundwater study: The Ramsey Conservation District (formerly the Ramsey County Soil & Water Conservation District) has published its draft Ramsey County Groundwater Protection Plan. I attended a public meeting this week where staff presented its findings and recommendations. You can take a look at the link above. There are quite a few pretty cool maps in there.

Mental Health Ombudsman: The state has an ombudsman who provides oversight on mental health and developmental disabilities. We hear testimony from the head of this office when our Health Care & Human Services Policy & Oversight (HCHS) Committee has hearings on wrongful death or some other grievance issues. They have a web site with much helpful information. Most recently, we heard about how some mental health patients were given medication as part of clinical trials even though their families indicated that the medication was creating adverse effects, including one suicide. The ombudsman also told us about a useful federal web site that has a registry of current private and public clinical trials.

Is Your Doctor's Prescribing Information Private? We voted on a bill in the HCHS Committee this week that would prohibit the use of doctor's prescription data for marketing purposes. A nonprofit called The Prescription Project has been promoting legislation like this because it believes that the relationship between doctors and drug companies is too cozy. The Atlantic magazine had a good article on this issue in 2006. In effect, drug companies get data (although not patient data) from data-mining companies that compile information about what drugs doctors are prescribing. If a doctor is putting people on a competitor's drug, a company can start pushing their product with the doctor.

What are the fastest growing expenditures in the state budget? The legislature requires that the Department of Finance (now Minnesota Management and Budget) report on any programs that increase in size by more than 15% from one budget to another. The most recent report has just come out.

MN still pretty low in Medicare reimbursement costs: Minnesota has been pretty low on the national scale for Medicare spending per capita. In committee, I recently came across this very cool interactive map from the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care.

Bills pulled: I was to have bill hearings on HF457 on anatomical bequests and HF500 about recycled water standards on Tuesday but I pulled the bills because they were really not ready yet. There was a lot of technical stuff that has to be worked out and we need to focus more on the budget, so I can work on these next year.

Tax Incidence Study: The Department of Revenue issued its annual report showing who pays how much taxes in Minnesota. This data gets used by both parties to prove their points in subsequent floor debates.

Schedule: On Monday, I attended a caucus meeting, a short floor session, and a meeting of the House Taxes Committee. Tuesday included the Taxes Committee (revenue forecast presentation by the state economist), two committee caucus meetings, an HCHS Committee meeting (the big bill was on prescription issues as mentioned above), and an Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee (used paint product stewardship program, greenhouse gas registry, and oversight of new dedicated outdoor and arts funding). On Wednesday, I was part of a small group meeting about mental health budget issues, the House Taxes Committee meeting (the 2009 Tax Incidence Study), a committee caucus meeting, an HCHS Committee meeting (about eight different bills), and a House DFL Caucus meeting. Thursday included a short floor session, a committee caucus meeting, an HCHS Committee meeting (about "welfare reform"), the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee (mostly a DNR technical bill and I chaired part of the meeting), and a public meeting of the Ramsey Conservation District about their new groundwater study (mentioned above). I also presented my homeowner warranty bill (HF239) to the Commerce Committee, and it passed quickly. Friday included a short Telecommunications Division meeting on three bills, and a House DFL Suburban Caucus meeting. I was supposed to present a bill about veterans and fishing licenses (HF1286) but I offered to be bumped off the agenda until next week since one bill took up most of the meeting. The bill was about granting veterans benefits for Hmong veterans who fought with U.S. troops in Laos. It was a very interesting but tense discussion.

Visitors: lobbyist and staff from Minnehaha Creek Watershed District about HF500 on recycled water standards; staff from MN Department of Health about HF500; Shoreview resident for mental health day on the hill; staff from NAMI-MN about mental health issues; organizer for Corporate Accountability International about their anti-bottled water campaign; staff from Anoka Conservation District about their programs; Sierra Club staff about sulfide mining bill; lobbyist and staff from Science Care about HF457 on whole body and tissue donations; staff from Richardson, Richter about Green Jobs Task Force; new President of Century College; Education Minnesota and Teachers Retirement Association lobbyists about teacher pension and health insurance issues; lobbyists for Manufactured Homes Association about HF356; staff from All Parks Alliance for Change about HF356; staff from Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR--they administer the lottery money for the outdoors) about their programs and the 2009 bill for project funding; lobbyist for Mdewankanton Sioux Community about gaming issues

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident about workers compensation initiatives; four district residents against Senate idea to tax legal services; four district residents against HF417 dealing with an insurance issue; two Shoreview residents about charitable gambling tax rates; Shoreview resident supporting closing the gun-show loophole; two district residents against decriminalization of medical marijuana; Shoreview resident urging that K-12 education be the state's top priority; Lino Lakes resident concerned about Senate proposal to cut K-12 education; Shoreview resident inquiring about property tax issue; Shoreview resident supporting HF1396 on domestic violence issues; about six district residents against "welfare reform" bills proposed by the GOP; Shoreview resident concerned about SF10 on bidding for school services; Shoreview resident about a green technology; about 25 postcards from district residents generated by a payday lending company in opposition to regulation of the payday lending industry; Shoreview resident supporting tough regulations on sulfide mining; Lexington resident supporting racino legislation; district resident and social worker against harsh health & human services cuts; Lexington resident about scope of practice legislation for athletic trainers; Shoreview resident against taxpayer money for a Vikings stadium, casinos or racinos, and puppy mills; three district residents sending identical e-mails generated by MN Rural Electrical Co-ops opposed to climate change legislation; Blaine resident about math standards in K-12; Lino Lakes resident against moratorium on cancer radiation facilities

Week of March 1, 2009

2009-03-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Stimulus follow-up: Our fiscal analysts have posted a summary of stimulus money coming from the feds to Minnesota. The pdf document is a summary of the various programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the federal stimulus bill). The items in this summary were prepared by state agencies and assembled in Minnesota Management and Budget. This is sort of a first draft, more and better information will likely be added.

Budget: Contrary to the hype out there, we are all working furiously on budget options. Just can't divulge much yet! I'm working on several health and human services items as we speak to find efficiencies and savings.

Schedule: Monday included a two caucus meetings and a short floor session and a presentation to students from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs with other alumni who work at the capitol. Tuesday included a meeting of the Taxes Committee (Department of Revenue technical bill), two committee caucus meetings, a cable TV interview, a meeting of the Health Care & Human Services Policy Committe-HCHS (bills on blood lead monitoring and bisphenol-A), and a meeting of the Environmental Policy Committee (Minnesota Clean Cars Act), and a meeting at my Senate DFL district in the evening. Wednesday included a meeting of the Taxes Committee (five bills including one controversial bill that would likely allow collection of taxes from on-line vendors who currently are exempt from sales taxes), an HCHS meeting (presentations on effects of childhood trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, and an oversight hearing about improper use of restraints at an intermediate care facility in Cambridge), and a meeting of the House DFL Caucus. The testimony of the HCHS committee was particularly compelling when an Iraq vet working on PTSD issues told his story. We hung on every word! On Thursday morning, I attended a meeting of stakeholders and other legislators on our homeowner protection legislation and a floor session that considered two bills. In the afternoon, I attended an HCHS committee meeting where we considered two bills--one on access to acupuncture and one on preventative coverage for health savings accounts. I was excused from the Thursday afternoon Environmental Policy Committee meeting due to parent-teacher conferences. On Friday morning, Rep. Knuth, Sen. Marty, and I spoke to a rally in the Rotunda for All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC), an advocacy group for residents of manufactured homes--their slogan is "Mobile Justice." In the afternoon, my intern and I visited a business in Afton that uses sustainable onsite water recycling and wastewater treatment systems.

Visitors: lobbyist for Qwest on telecommunications issues; staff and lobbyist for Kennecott Exploration regarding non-ferrous mining in Minnesota; staff for All Parks Alliance for Change on HF356; three constituent members of MN Association of Public Employees (MAPE) with MAPE's legislative agenda; constituent and lobbyist for MN Insurance & Financial Services Council; staff and lobbyist for Western Lake Superior Sanitary District on wastewater and solid waste issues; representative of 1,000 Friends of Minnesota about HF898 that would link transportation and climate change policy; staff from North Oaks Golf Club with legislative agenda of MN Landscape and Nursery Association; staff and lobbyist for Metro Cities about local government aid and other tax issues; citizen lobbyist for container deposit legislation

Constituent contacts: Shoreview constituent concerned about health data privacy, DNA newborn screening, gun control legislation, and taxation in general; Blaine resident and two Shoreview residents against proposed cuts to rehabilitation services for adults; Shoreview resident against HF989 that would eliminate exemption on religious grounds for full head driver's license photo; Shoreview resident supporting HF1077 that would require licensing for respiratory therapists; Circle Pines resident supporting HF1071 that would require the issuing of only one license plate instead of two per vehicle; Lexington resident concerned about taxes on the middle class; Circle Pines resident supporting HF797 that would define horses as livestock; Lexington resident against sending prisoners from one state-run prison to a private prison in western MN; Shoreview resident supporting creation of an oral hygienist practitioner license and training; Shoreview resident against a provision of a bill that would prohibit the creation of a new charter school within one mile of an existing public school; Shoreview resident supporting progressive taxation; Circle Pines resident against new Obama administration; Shoreview resident supporting funds for family planning; Lino Lakes resident supporting get tough approach to illegal immigration; three Shoreview residents supporting platform of MN Association of Professional Employees; Shoreview resident against HF953, a bill to create gun registration; Shoreview resident against HF417 related to insurance; Shoreview resident supporting reform of taxation of charitable gambling operations; Shoreview resident supporting HF1249 that would license clinical laboratory technicians; Shoreview resident and North Oaks resident against proposed cuts to health care safety net; Shoreview resident against HF772 and HF803 that would limit medical examinations by physicans paid by insurance companies; Blaine resident inquiring about the purpose and cost of Governor Pawlenty's foreign trips; Blaine resident seeking changes to high school graduation tests for math; two Circle Pines residents supporting bill that would eliminate or change mandates for homeschooling; Shoreview resident against Governor's proposed cuts to housing; Circle Pines resident against HF797 about horses defined as livestock; Lino Lakes resident supporting inclusion of all possible therapies for autism in HF359; Circle Pines resident against gay marriage, expansion of gambling, medical marijuana, comprehensive sex education, and abortion; Shoreview resident sending me quotes from Thomas Jefferson, inferring that a conservative philosophy of today is in line with TJ's thinking; Blaine resident against expanding the sales tax to clothing and against public financing of a Vikings stadium

Week of February 22, 2009

2009-02-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

Budget listening session in White Bear Lake: About ten of us from the legislature attended a public meeting at White Bear Lake High School on Wednesday night. The purpose was to hear ideas from the public about balancing the budget. We heard from 72 different people. The most numerous comments came from advocates for the disabled, the judiciary, health care, and quite a few people who were against taxation generally. The press coverage of a similar meeting in Woodbury pretty much sums up what we heard in White Bear Lake.

Legislation: This week four of my bills received committee hearings:

HF239: This bill would allow homeowners to permit the recovery of damages incurred due to faulty construction. There are several of us from the suburbs who are carrying legislation to assist homeowners related to breaches of warranties by builders and remodelers. This bill would allow homeowners to recover the cost of lodging, meals, and incidental expenses if they have to leave their house due to repairs. You can see video of Friday's hearing. The bill passed with an amendment and the resulting 1st "engrossment" will be the second draft of the bill and it will be heard in the Commerce and Labor Committee soon.
HF403: This bill will help create jobs and add value to the economy in both the compost industries and the bioplastics industry. The compost industry has had problems with plastic bags in yard waste, leading to lower interest from buyers like landscapers because of the contamination. The bill would expand Dakota County's existing requirement that yard waste in plastic bags must use compostable bags to the entire seven-county metro area. At the same time, Minnesota is home to many bioplastics manufacturers like Cortec Corp. in White Bear Lake, Natur Tec in Circle Pines, and NatureWorks LLC in Minnetonka who make the compostable bags. The bill passed with amendments and now goes to the Commerce and Labor Committee. You can watch video of the hearing on-line.
HF663: This bill would require that truth in taxation notices for your property taxes get mailed before the November general election. You can see the video of the hearing. The bill was "laid over" by the Property Tax Division of the Taxes Committee so it might get included into an omnibus bill by that division. There were several lobbyists for the school board association and the Association of Minnesota Counties as well as the Department of Revenue who testified against the bill.
HF170: This bill would require publishers of telephone directories to allow consumers to opt out of delivery. I asked for an informational hearing only since I want to spend most of my legislative time helping to create jobs or address the deficit. The Yellow Pages Association and R.H. Donnelly testified about the bill and demonstrated Dex's opt out web site. You can hear audio of the hearing on-line. This hearing concluded my work on this issue for the year. KARE-11 did a web article on the bill on the KARE website.

Blaine Airport meeting: On Tuesday the Concerned Citizens of the North Metro had a meeting about the possible extension of the runway at the Anoka County-Blaine Airport. It was fiery in a few spots. You can view the meeting on the North Metro 15 web site-the video on-line is a .wmv file.

Stimulus tracking site: The official web site about the recently passed federal stimulus package is at http://www.recovery.gov. (This the site that Vice President Joe Biden forgot.)

Schedule: Monday included a meeting with Senator Jungbauer and some stakeholders about HF500 on recycled water standards, a meeting with compost stakeholders on HF403, a caucus meeting, and a floor session that went pretty long. (The floor session covered a bill regarding the fund for the 35W bridge survivors and a bill that would provide the structure necessary for the incoming federal stimulus money.) On Tuesday, I attended a bi-partisan meeting of legislators seeking to promote comprehensive immigration reform, a committee caucus meeting, a Health Care & Human Services (HCHS) Policy Committee meeting, an Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee meeting (a joint meeting with the Transportation Committee on reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector), and a meeting of the Concerned Citizens of the North Metro regarding the Blaine airport. Wednesday included presenting my bill HF663 in front of the Property Tax Division of the Taxes Committee, a meeting with the Speaker and Majority Leader, a meeting of House and Senate members from the fourth Congressional District regarding recommendations of a candidate for the U of M Board of Regents, a committee caucus meeting, an HCHS committee meeting on single-payer health care, a caucus meeting, and the town hall meeting at White Bear Lake South High School to hear from the public on the budget. On Thursday, I attended a pre-session caucus meeting, a short floor session, did short interviews for cable for North Metro 15 and CTV15, an HCHS committee meeting on a range of mental health legislation, and an Environment & Natural Resources Committee on the Green Acres program. On Friday, I presented my phone book bill (HF170) to the Telecommunications Division of the Commerce and Labor Committee and my homeowner warranty bill (HF239) and compost bill (HF403) to the Labor & Consumer Affairs Division of the Commerce and Labor Committee. In the afternoon I met with special education staff at Mounds View High School.

Visitors: Shoreview resident seeking reform of charitable gaming tax rates; Shoreview resident regarding funding for the developmentally disabled; lobbyists for waste haulers regarding HF403; several arts advocates from NE Metro; four constituent nurses for the MN Nurses Association day on the hill; high school student about recycling and composting issue; Lino Lakes college student about the private college grant program; three constituent dentist for the MN Dental Association day on the hill; Shoreview constituent about property tax cap legislation; St. Paul retailer about pharmaceutical product stewardship legislation; three constituent students for Support the U of M day

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident and North Oaks resident supporting voter ID; Lino Lakes resident against taxes and spending; Shoreview resident inquiring about federal stimulus package; Shoreview resident inquiring about how to become a vendor of a product to the state; two Shoreview residents and Lino Lakes resident supporting HF1037, a bill to reduce mandates for home schools; Lino Lakes resident supporting platform of MN Dental Association; three Shoreview residents supporting single-payer health care; Shoreview resident supporting HF359 that would require health plans to cover autism treatment; Shoreview resident against cuts to providers of services to the developmentally disabled; Shoreview resident and grouse hunter supporting aquisition of conservation easements in northern MN; Lino Lakes resident with a car payment problem; Shoreview resident supporting legalization of marijuana; three Lino Lakes residents and Shoreview resident seeking integrity in the use of new dedicated sales tax revenue for the outdoors; Lino Lakes resident against Governor's proposed cuts to rehabilitation services; two Lino Lakes residents supporting medical marijuana; Shoreview resident pining for Ronald Reagan; Shoreview resident against Governor's proposed cuts to the courts; Shoreview resident supporting cutting spending; Blaine resident with idea to keep businesses from going offshore; North Oaks resident against voter ID and against mileage-based gas tax; Shoreview resident supporting racino gambling

Week of February 15, 2009

2009-02-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

Lots of things happening this week.

Town Hall Meetings: Legislators (mostly the committee chairs and other leadership) are holding public meetings around the state to hear public testimony about the budget. Each of the meetings start with a presentation by non-partisan legislative staff showing how the deficit is addressed in the Governor's budget and where existing tax dollars go by program. The data here is pretty good and I would encourage you to see the presentation slides on the House web site. There has been much talk that the meetings would be a "beat up the Governor" exercise but from what I can tell from press reports my colleagues are not editorializing but are listening to the public, and the public is giving a variety of views.

Don't forget that on Wednesday the 25th there will be a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. at White Bear Lake South High School and Senator Rummel and I plan to be there. At the other meetings it has been standing room only and there is a 2-3 minute time limit for speakers. However, there will be cards where you can give your input in writing if you choose. You can sign up to speak at the House web site. Sen. Rummel and I plan to have "office hours" or other types of meetings with the public in the weeks to come.

Shared services: One of the ways that public agencies can cope with budget cuts this session is to consider sharing services. Many cities, counties, and school districts have done this already. For example, Shoreview and Arden Hills combine efforts for their semi-annual cleanup events. Lexington, Circle Pines, and Centerville use the Centennial Lakes Police Department instead of having their own police departments. But there are likely some other ways that we will need to think of before this budget session is over. Lately I've been meeting with the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce about their survey of east metro governments who have successfully shared services. The Governor has also proposed consolidating many back-room functions for county human services agencies into 15 offices instead of 87 by rewarding those counties that comply with less of a cut in county program aid. When the revenue commissioner described this to the Taxes Committee, I kind of rankled some of my DFL colleagues by saying that this was a good idea! If you have any ideas for how local governments can be more efficient, send them along!

MPR Budget Idea Generator: Minnesota Public Radio has set up an "idea generator" about the state's budget. You can make suggestions and also send an e-mail to your legislator showing how you balanced the budget. Check it out!

E-waste law working, creating jobs: One of the bright spots for employment in Minnesota has been the recycling of electronic waste. Because of the law we passed in 2007, consumers have been able to get rid of their old TVs, computers, etc.--usually without a fee--and have them recycled properly. Under the law, electronics manufacturers pay recyclers to have the material recycled, and in the first year, 33 million pounds (that's million) have been recycled. That exceeds the projected volume by 10 million pounds. We may be tweaking the law in the coming weeks to improve some technical details.

Tax Cuts: Part of the Governor's budget proposal that we've heard in Taxes Committee includes a reduction in the corporate income tax over the next six years by 50%. This is not a bad idea because the corporate tax is a regressive tax on employers who could hire more people. However, the proposal comes as we have a $5 billion deficit and the idea would cost tens to hundreds of millions in tax revenue in the next few years. In committee, Republican members asked the revenue commissioner if his department had done any projections to see how the tax cut would result in increased employment. Surprisingly he said it had not, and he then planned to talk to another agency that uses a software program (the "REMI model") to project the impacts of this policy. This is one reason that the legislature takes a long time to work on a budget--we have had six different hearings with this commissioner to get the details on the Governor's budget proposal and only by asking direct questions can we figure out how "real" an idea is based on data.

Stimulus Watch: Like all Americans I'd like to know that the federal economic stimulus money is going to be spent wisely. There is an independent web site called Stimulus Watch that lets you see what projects will be funded, and you can search by state. Among the projects listed are $40 million for the public infrastructure to upgrade the TCAAP arsenal property. (It would pretty much wipe the army's buildings off of the site and install the utilities to be ready for re-development, creating 7500 jobs according to the web site.) Utility projects are also listed in Hugo.

My bills: I have a bill (HF418) that would allow cities to pass an ordinance to control buckthorn on public and private property. A North Oaks resident brought the idea to me and it passed the Agriculture & Veterans Affairs Committee this week. (The Agriculture Committee hears anything related to "weed control" and pesticides.) It now goes to the Local Government Subcommittee of the Government Operations Committee.

White Bear Lake School District Annual Report: I received this report recently.

Q-Comp: The non-partisan Office of the Legislative Auditor recently issued this report about the Q-Comp teacher compensation system. Major findings report that a lot of people like Q-Comp but that most teachers get the Q-Comp pay and that there is no evidence yet that the system results in higher student achievement.

Transit costs moving off of property taxes: Anoka County copied me on a letter last week reporting that the 1/4% sales tax increase dedicated to transit has lowered the total county levy by $3,249,856.

U of M staff and alumni in 53A: The U of M has asked supporters to send us mail about funding for the university system. In the mail it reports that there are 566 faculty and staff from the U of M in my district, and 6,250 alumni who have 8,166 degrees. (That's a lot!)

Some helpful health reports: I've had a look at several helpful factoids and reports on the Health Care & Human Services Policy Committee including:

Transform 2010-Preparing for the Age Wave related to the rapid aging of MN's population
Financing long-term care for MN's baby boomers
Every one dollar spent on family planning saves a minimum of $4.02 in Medicaid birth costs (from MN SAFPLAN-Statewide Association for Family Planning)
The cost of sexual violence is $8 billion JUST IN MINNESOTA and in 2005 there were 61,000 people reported to have been assaulted in 77,000 cases
325,000 Minnesotans are enrolled in health savings accounts, or 9.2% of people under 65 with private coverage; these HSAs have higher deductibles, higher out of pocket expenses, and higher chances for inadequate coverage

Schedule: Monday included an impromptu meeting of the state Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, a caucus meeting, a short floor session, a meeting of the Taxes Committee, and a bill hearing on my buckthorn ordinance bill (HF418). On Tuesday, I spoke to a meeting of the Arden Hills/Shoreview Rotary Club about the budget and attended committee meetings for Taxes (on the Governor's tax proposals), Health Care & Human Services Policy/HCHS (bills on medical transportation), and Environment & Natural Resources Policy (presentations on household hazardous waste and product stewardship), plus two committee caucus meetings. On Wednesday, I met with some community leaders about the proposed Anoka County-Blaine Airport runway expansion and attended a joint Taxes-Health and Human Services committee on maintenance of effort (MOE) issues and the HCHS Committee (medical marijuana-I voted in favor of allowing it--and rural health cooperatives). Afterwards the DFL House Caucus met into the evening. On Thursday, we had a lengthy floor session to pass a tax conformity bill so that our tax law matches recent federal tax changes. (The minority offered amendments for tax cuts totalling $1.7 billion that would have increased the size of the budget deficit by 35%--this is why it is a bad idea to make policy on the floor and not in committee.) Friday has become clean-off-my-desk day.

Visitors: Senator about recycled waters bill; lobbyist and staff from Organic Technologies Inc. about HF403; lobbyist for Comcast about cable regulation; candidate for U of M regent; several constituent pharmacists with platform of MN Association of Pharmacists; constituent member of SEIU about health care legislation; lobbyist for Association of MN Counties about solid waste tax legislation; Century College Student Senate members about higher education; teachers from Mounds View School District with Education MN legislative platform; two constituent electricians with legislative platform for the IBEW; teachers from Forest Lake School District with Education MN legislative platform; another representative about single-payer health care; another representative about the Blaine airport and transit for the disabled; Centennial Legislative Action Committee with K-12 legislative platform; lobbyist for MN Electrical Association about HF239; staff from Natural Conservancy about conservation easements for Upper Mississippi Forest Project; delegation from St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce about shared services ideas; staff for All Parks Alliance for Change about HF356; two citizen activists supporting transit for the disabled; Senator Rummel on items of mutual interest; lobbyist for Key Aviation

Constituent contacts: North Oaks resident about abuse in home health care programs; Shoreview? resident against spending; Shoreview resident in favor of voter ID; Shoreview resident asking about legislative pay cut idea; Shoreview resident against Governor's proposed cuts to rehabilitative services; Shoreview resident against MN Faith in Action bill (HF0760); Lino Lakes resident about mileage-based gas tax idea; Blaine resident against legislation that would close "gun show loophole" for background checks; Shoreview resident against current single-payer health coverage bill; HR manager from City of Shoreview on HF612-paid sick leave bill; Shoreview resident and Lino Lakes resident supporting HF359 that would require that health plans cover autism therapy; Circle Pines resident who might lose health coverage under Governor's proposal; Circle Pines resident against mandatory vaccination, dental mercury and restrictions on free speech about nutrition; two Shoreview residents supporting puppy mill legislation; Shoreview resident about licensing issue; Lino Lakes resident against Governor's budget proposal for K-12 education; North Oaks resident supporting charter schools and the Perpich Center for the Arts; three Shoreview residents supporting the arts; North Oaks resident against illegal immigration, for tax cuts, and against "global warming madness"; North Oaks resident supporting comprehensive sex education

Week of February 8, 2009

2009-02-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

Shoreview library saving energy and money: The on-line news site Minnpost recently did an article about how local governments can save money through energy legislation in the federal stimulus package. They showed an example of how the Shoreview Library upgraded its lighting and will see a payback of the investment in 3 1/2 years. The word I have is that the money coming to Minnesota from the stimulus package will create 66,000 jobs in the state.

Lincoln Bicentennial: I've been serving on a committee with another legislator to help celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln. The Minnesota Historical Society has a GREAT site about Lincoln's connection to Minnesota.

Budget listening session: Don't forget that the legislature will be coming to White Bear Lake on Wednesday, February 25th at 6:30 p.m. to hear your thoughts about the state budget. You can find details at www.house.mn and sign up as a speaker. My hope is that we can give Minnesotans an idea of just how big the deficit is, and that neither just cuts nor just tax increases will completely solve the problem.

Getting rid of that old TV after upgrading to DTV? If you are getting rid of your old TV and upgrading to accept digital signals, don't forget to recycle your old unit. Information is available at www.rethinkrecycling.com.

New Rules: We spent quite a few hours debating new Permanent House Rules on the floor. That may not sound like much, but during the last two years, the legislature has wasted an incredible about of time on the floor--maybe hundreds of hours--in debate that had no limits. The minority Republicans were introducing dozens of amendments to bills in order to slow down the legislative process. In one case I think we voted on about 150 amendments to one bill taking 18 hours to debate it. That keeps us from doing our work in committees and actually have debate on the merits of the bill. So with the new rules we may choose to limit debate (how about six hours instead of 18?) on bills so that we can manage our time well in a part-time legislature. It would also allow us to do our work in plain view of the public instead of way past midnight!

Schedule: Monday included a caucus meeting and a short floor session, then a meeting of the Taxes Committee and a meeting with the Shoreview City Council. Tuesday brought a meeting of the Taxes Committee, a caucus meeting, a Health Care & Human Services Policy Committee meeting on the economic impact of the Governor's budget on MN's hospitals (16 hospitals testified), and an Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee meeting where I had a hearing on my compost bill (HF403). The bill passed and now goes to the Commerce & Labor Committee. Wednesday included the House Taxes Committee, the HCHS Committee (bills on sexual violence prevention and comprehensive sex education), a caucus meeting, and a training session for committee vice-chairs. Thursday included a caucus meeting, floor sessions on new House rules from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m., the HCHS Committee (death certificate modification bill, long-term care financing bill, and home health care tax credit bill), the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee (water and wetlands legislation related to drainage and cost-sharing by local governments), and a joint committee meeting with HCHS to get an overview of how the legislature manages and screens sex offenders. (The Lino Lakes prison houses 200 of them.) Thursday was a long day! Friday included a meeting of the Suburban DFL House Caucus. On Saturday, I met with some local AFSCME representatives about their legislative platform.

Visitors: MN Commission of the Procurement and Use of Anatomical Donations and the University of MN Medical School Anatomy Bequest Program about HF457; lobbyists for MN Chamber of Commerce and American Chemistry Council; Lutheran Social Services staff about intermediate care facility funding in Shoreview; candidate for U of M regent; staff for Seniors & Workers for Quality Care (coalition of organizations supporting workers in nursing homes); two constituent carpenters with legislative platform for union carpenters; teachers from White Bear Lake School district; two constituent engineers with the legislative platform for consulting engineers; lobbyist and staff for non-profit organization that works with organ and tissue donation about HF457; another member about metro parks and trails issues; students from Centennial alternative high school; lobbyist for MN Auto Dealers Association about clean cars legislation; lobbyist for several smaller health care organizations; Centennial School District teachers; several constituent dental hygienists supporting the creation of an oral health practitioner (OHP) program; staff from Friends of the Mississippi River with their legislative platform; another member about clean cars legislation; staff from Association of MN Counties about health care; lobbyist for MN Manufactured Housing Association about HF356

Constituent contacts: Lino Lakes constituent supporting puppy mill legislation; about 20 constituents with petitions for puppy mill legislation; Shoreview resident and North Oaks resident supporting comprehensive sex education; Lino Lakes resident about green initiatives; Lexington resident about veterans and property taxes; Shoreview resident inquiring about state long term care partnership program; two Shoreview residents and two Lino Lakes residents against pay freeze for public employees; Shoreview resident concerned about Governor's allocation of new dedicated sales tax for the outdoors; Shoreview resident with inquiry about gay marriage and the budget; Shoreview resident supporting HF297 with funds for dog parks from new dedicated sales tax; Shoreview resident against funding of dog parks; Shoreview resident about sustainable forestry; Shoreview resident supporting medical marijuana; Blaine resident in support of second amendment; Shoreview? resident supporting cutting education to balance the budget; Shoreview resident against Governor's proposal to cut health coverage and dental coverage to uninsured Minnesotans; Shoreview resident about a business matter with the state; Shoreview resident supporting higher taxes for wealthiest Americans and the federal stimulus package; Lino Lakes resident against proposal for school districts to share services (this was a very well-thought out e-mail); Shoreview resident asking me to drop the phone book issue and to balance the budget and fix 694; Shoreview resident against SF115-the Reproductive Privacy Act; Shoreview resident asking for repeal of new Green Acres law changes; Shoreview resident against the state keeping health data; Lino Lakes resident asking for support of the most vulnerable Minnesotans in the budget process; North Oaks resident promoting organic food to combat obesity; North Oaks resident against cuts to the arts; Shoreview resident supporting legislation requiring health care coverage for autistic children

Week of February 1, 2009

2009-02-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

Budget breakdown: I've had a chance to review the Governor's budget. The media is picking up on some of my colleagues who are saying, "So what is your plan?" or "This budget is terrible!" but most of us are looking through the details so that we can put something together that blunts the worst of the cuts and/or allows us to avoid future deficits. However, when you look at the big numbers, it is pretty overwhelming.

Here's how the Governor's budget breaks down. The deficit is $4.847 billion.

Proposed cuts: $2.521 billion
Federal stimulus funds: $920 million
Shifts/Deferring K-12 payments from June 2011 to July 2012 (to the new fiscal year): $1.294 billion
Borrowing against future tobacco settlement funds: $983 million
New spending: $323 million (adds to deficit)
Tax cuts: $287 million (adds to deficit)
New tax or fee revenue: $0
Budget reserve: $250 million

That adds up to $4.858 billion with $11 million left over. Roughly half of the deficit reduction comes from cuts and the rest is one-time money. If the state were to raise taxes in some way, it would likely not exceed $1 billion, which still leaves us with big cuts, more borrowing, and putting off about a billion dollars to the next budget, creating an automatic deficit for the next legislature.

Listening session in White Bear Lake: The leadership of the House and Senate are planning budget listening sessions around the state. Members of the GOP are also being invited. The one in our area will be on Wednesday, February 25th at 6:30 p.m. at White Bear Lake High School - South Campus, 3551 McKnight Rd N. I hope that you can join us to talk about what issues are important to you as we balance an unprecedented budget deficit.

Broadband links: At a recent committee meeting, Connect Minnesota presented a MN broadband service inventory map and some useful web links. At their web site, you can look at a map of the state to see who can get high speed internet service and also enter your address to see what service providers you can find in your area. You can also test your internet speed at a separate site to see how well you connect.

Funding for the disabled: On the health policy committee, we heard from parents who have been on a waiting list for services for developmentally disabled children. Many people assume that human services funding from the state goes to people in the inner cities or to people who don't want to work. In our suburban district, I have met many people who receive funding to keep their kids at home instead of having them institutionalized, where services are more expensive. Having a group house on my block, I have seen how residential living is really helpful for these disabled Minnesotans. Once those kids get to be adults and can't live on their own, the parents can no longer lift them if the kids can't walk. The funding program for things like chair lifts, personal care assistants, etc. is called the "DD waiver." There are 5,000 people on the waiting list statewide for this program. The average household cost for this is $66,138 and the cost for having that person at a nursing home is around $92,000.

Local government efficiency: Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth), chair of the Property Tax Division of the House Taxes Committee, has created three working groups to promote reform, accountability, value, and efficiency in local government. The three working groups include state property tax system benchmarks and critical indicators; local government performance measurement and improvement; and local government decision-making flexibility and mandate reduction. I'm hoping to work with the latter group to assist in some consolidation initiatives I am pursuing.

Schedule: On Monday, we held a short floor session and a caucus meeting. In the afternoon, I attended the Taxes Committee where we continued our briefing on sales and corporate taxes. Later, I spoke to a class of environmental policy students at the U of M about policy and the legislature. Tuesday brought three caucus meetings and a cable TV interview, along with meetings of the Taxes Committee (federal tax conformity bill), Health Care & Human Services (HCHS) Committee (Rep. Knuth's toxic children's products bill), and the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee (also Rep. Knuth's bill). In the evening, I attended my DFL Senate District meeting in Lino Lakes. On Wednesday, the Taxes Committee heard a presentation from the Revenue Commissioner on the Governor's proposed budget. I attended two caucus meetings as well as the HCHS committee (Rep. Norton's bill to require coverage of autism disorders by health plans). Thursday brought a floor session where we set policy committee deadlines at March 27th. (You have to get your policy bill through committee by that date for the legislation to proceed). In the afternoon, the HCHS Committee heard Rep. Emmer's bill to allow the courts to amend a death certificate in case of incorrect or mistaken cause of death, and the Environment & Natural Resources Committee we heard bills from Rep. Hansen on drainage regulation and dog parks. In the evening, several legislators and I spoke to about 30 students and local residents at Century College about climate change. On Friday, I attended the Telecommunications Division where we learned about the state's broadband mapping project and attended meetings with other legislators about better paratransit coordination and homeowner protection legislation. During the week I also worked with two interns from the district who are helping me on various projects.

Visitors: Senator about environmental legislation; Shoreview resident for physical therapist day on the hill; lobbyist for MN Multi Housing Association about phone books; North Oaks and Shoreview residents promoting healthy communities; YMCA staff and volunteers with their legislative agenda; lobbyists supporting medical marijuana bill; citizen lobbyists supporting continued funding for natural health practitioners; Senator about compost legislation; staff from MN Department of Health giving overview of department; House researcher on capital investment legislation; Shoreview resident with Education MN legislative agenda; staff from St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce about shared services proposal; Department of Administration staff on Capitol recycling issues; House member about shared services proposal; League of Women Voters about off-road vehicles issues; lobbyist for MN Builders' Association about HF239; Isaak Walton League staff about low carbon fuel standard; North Oaks residents with MN Medical Association legislative platform; MPCA staff on closed landfill cleanup program

Constituent contacts: district constituent asking for cuts to balance the budget; Shoreview resident against government intrusion into health care; Shoreview resident about a licensing bill for interior designers; Circle Pines resident about high cost of MS drugs; Lino Lakes resident supporting early childhood programs; North Oaks resident asking that education be the #1 state priority; Shoreview resident supporting HF359 to require health plans to cover autism treatment; Shoreview resident against state employee salary freeze; Shoreview resident inquiring about an insurance matter; Lino Lakes resident against phone book bill; North Oaks resident supporting the arts; district resident against state employee salary freeze; Lino Lakes resident supporting school counselors; North Oaks resident against dissolution of the Health Care Access Fund and supporting public health care programs; Lino Lakes resident against taxpayer-funded abortions; Shoreview resident against the state accepting federal stimulus funding and for large budget cuts; Shoreview resident supporting charter schools; Shoreview resident supporting allowing school districts to start classes before Labor Day; Shoreview resident supporting legislation that protects victims and children from domestic violence

Week of January 25, 2009

2009-01-27T11:20:00.000-08:00

Governor's Budget Recommendations: The Governor's office has released his proposed budget and you can see it on-line. I have to sift through the details before commenting further.

Recovery legislation: On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "American Recovery and Investment Act." This is the so-called "stimulus plan." You can read the details of the plan on-line.

Anoka County-Blaine Airport update: On Thursday night I attended a meeting of Concerned Citizens of the North Metro, recently formed to oppose any potential expansion of the Anoka County-Blaine Airport. I thought several of the organizers did a very good job of determining what the potential increased noise impacts would be if the airport runway was expanded to 6,000 feet.

Phone books: Several people have asked me why there is so much publicity about my proposal to allow consumers to opt out of getting phone books. This was to be a pretty minor piece of legislation that should take a back seat to solving the huge $4.8 billion state budget deficit, but for whatever reason, local reporters have been calling me up to ask about it. I wonder if the reporters are of an age where they grew up with the Internet and see the phone book as an outdated product. Anyway, readers should know that I am working on a bunch of other stuff that helps make specific state-funded programs more efficient but the legislation isn't ready yet. As one of my colleagues says, "Good legislation takes a while to draft properly."

Legislation: Here are two pieces of legislation that help reduce costs to taxpayers. HF298 is a bill that would make it easier for nonprofits that serve the disabled to use their vans and buses to pick up clients at other locations. These day training & habilitation (DT&H) providers have their own fleets but if they pick up other clients when their vans are idle, they are considered "for hire" and are subject to much higher insurance rates. My bill would seek to remedy the problem and would allow these fleets to be used more efficiently.

HF403 is a bill that would help boost the bio-based plastics industry in Minnesota by cleaning up our yard waste compost sites in the Twin Cities metro. Right now, taxpayers and ratepayers are paying much higher tip fees through their waste hauler to get rid of leaves and grass at the curb when they use plastic bags. If metro residents used a compostable plastic bag instead of the non-degradable plastic bag, the value of the finished compost would rise, waste haulers and counties would reduce tip fees, and Minnesota's compostable bag industry would see added business. The private sector would also be enticed to establish compost sites instead of government because high quality compost sells very well. Dakota County already has an ordinance that does this, but the legislation would require that one would have to use a compostable bag in the seven-country metro. It sounds a little weird at first, but when you get the facts you can see how the economics work.

Managing expectations: Our biggest task at the moment is to manage expectations for the budget. It is clear that not a lot of people realize how huge our deficit is and how limited our options are. Many groups are asking for new money or asking not to be cut. The groups that get our attention are ones that say, "I hope you don't cut us, but if you do, we have some ideas for how we can save money in the long term." These savings usually come in the form of streamlined or reduced state mandates or consolidation of certain functions. I have received a bunch of good ideas from the Anoka County attorney, the Association of Minnesota Counties, and MN School Business Officials so far.

Schedule: On Monday I stopped by a forum held by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts on the future of education funding, attended a short floor session, a caucus meeting, and a joint meeting of the K-12 Education Finance Committee and Taxes Committee (on the use of Other Post-Employment Benefits--or OPEB--bonds). OPEB bonds are used by school districts to borrow money to pay for retiree health care benefits. There is no referendum requirement for these bonds and some districts are using the short-term cash to pay for operations, which sounds like a disaster waiting to happen!

On Tuesday, I attended the Taxes Committee, two committee caucus meetings, a Health Care & Human Services Policy (HCHS) meeting, an Environment Committee meeting, and a meeting of the Mounds View School Board. I chaired the Environment Committee since the topic was on drinking water issues and I was going to end up asking most of the questions anyway!

On Wednesday, I attended two committee caucus meetings, the Taxes Committee, the HCHS committee, the Early Childhood Education Summit on the House floor, and a reception held by the Rochester delegation in the St. Paul Armory.

On Thursday, I attended a meeting held by Congresswoman McCollum about the federal stimulus package, a short floor session where we approved an extension of unemployment benefits, an HCHS committee meeting (about developmentally disabled waivers) an Environment Committee meeting (on fish and animal diseases), and a meeting of opponents to an expansion of the Anoka County-Blaine Airport.

On Friday, I attended a caucus meeting and a meeting of stakeholders working on a plan to change how we pay to recycle and safely dispose of used paint. Rep. Sailer and Sen. Doll had a bill last year that the Governor vetoed that would shift the $5 million that taxpayers pay statewide to handle the paint to those who actually buy paint using a small fee. They will bring this bill forward again in 2009.

Visitors: lobbyist for MN Oncology and Hematology (MOHPA) opposed to new moratorium on radiation facilities in the metro area; lobbyist for Xcel Energy; lobbyist and members of MN Beverage Association about solid waste and recycling issues; lobbyist for Medica introducing their organization; about ten staff of MN's credit unions, including three constituents; representative of MN Licensed Beverage Association; staff from Eureka Recycling about composting legislation; lobbyists for SEIU and TakeAction MN about universal health care legislation; lobbyist for Allina about ambulance issues; lobbyist and representatives of MN Works, a group that coordinates employment for disabled adults on recycling projects; staff and lobbyist for MN Credit Unions; staff from Environment MN about phone books; staff from Healthy Legacy about toxic products legislation; lobbyist on organ and tissue donation issues; lobbyist for MN building officials about building code and home construction legislation

Constituent contacts: Lino Lakes resident about domestic violence issues; Circle Pines resident against Q-Comp; Lino Lakes resident about data sharing between the state and insurance companies; Shoreview resident and Lino Lakes resident suggesting that phone books is not an important issue; Circle Pines small business owner asking that health coverage for MN Care not be cut; Blaine resident upset about recent actions of the Obama administration; Shoreview resident supporting tighter welfare requirements; Shoreview resident with an idea to promote green jobs; two Shoreview residents asking that education be the top priority in the state budget; Shoreview resident and Circle Pines resident supporting MN Health Security Act; Shoreview? resident leaving message disappointed about a recent education vote (we're not quite sure what vote that was since I haven't voted this year on education yet--no phone number left); Shoreview resident urging a spending freeze and that the state not accept any federal money from the stimulus package; Circle Pines resident against airport expansion; Shoreview resident asking "exactly" how I am going to balance the budget; Lino Lakes resident supporting early childhood education; Shoreview resident about a charitable gambling issue; Lino Lakes resident supporting phone book legislation; Circle Pines resident upset with my vote for the federal stimulus package (I mentioned that Congress voted on this bill not the state legislature); Shoreview resident supporting puppy mill legislation; Lino Lakes resident supporting phone book legislation; Shoreview? resident supporting marriage equality legislation; North Oaks resident against deep cuts to state health care programs; North Oaks resident supporting instant runoff voting; Shoreview? resident asking about long-term care legislation; Circle Pines MAPE member supporting agenda for public employees; Lino Lakes resident asking that cancer prevention and health care access be #1 on state agenda; two Lino Lakes residents, Shoreview resident, Circle Pines resident asking that K-12 education be the #1 state priority; Shoreview resident supporting findings of the Budget Trends Commission; Lino Lakes resident supporting repeal of changes to the Green Acres legislation from last year (she was REALLY mad!); Lino Lakes resident against airport expansion; Lino Lakes resident asking for a balanced budget; Shoreview? resident sharing views on "reverse" racism and sharing quotes from Thomas Jefferson