Week of May 11, 2008

Session wrapping up: We experienced long days and nights on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The final loose ends are being tied up on most bills on the floor of the House and Senate. As of the evening of Sunday, May 18th, we have now passed the last four big bills remaining: the big budget-balancing bill (HF1812), the omnibus tax bill, the health care reform bill (vetoed once already), and a bonding bill that deals with Central Corridor, a veterans facility, and the Lake Vermillion Park. All four of these bills are linked together as part of the budget negotiations among the Governor, House, and Senate. I will do a separate blog entry in a day or two summing up the session.

K-12 education funding bill: On Tuesday, the House and Senate passed HF6 that would provide an additional $51 per pupil to our school districts in the next year. This would not be added to the traditional funding formula that distributes dollars according a complex set of variables--it's $51 per pupil no matter what district you're in. Rep. Garafalo (see photo) asked me a question on the floor about how this bill would affect Centennial School District, implying that the bill would hurt the district because of bill language about debt levy equalization. Since this is a common "gotcha" technique by the House Republicans, I kind of told him to stick it in a nice way, indicating that my constituents heard for 16 years why their previous representative offered excuses for why he couldn't support education funding bills, and that this argument sounded like one more excuse. In addition, the Governor already threatened to veto previous legislation that we had in 2007 would have "fixed" the debt levy equalization issue. Centennial advocates also e-mailed me indicating their support for the bill. Apparently my words hit home with some folks on our side of the aisle, and about 20-30 people thanked me for my comments!

Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed HF6 at 11:45 p.m. on Friday night. However, after day and night negotiations, this funding was restored in HF1812 as part of the deal among the Governor, House, and Senate on Sunday.

We grill the DNR over use of state resource on a conference: Readers may be familiar with the recent story about how the DNR used state resources to raise money for a game warden conference. The MN Conservation Officers Association was the host organization for the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association in July 2007, and 304 employees from the DNR were required to attend the conference. On Friday (May 9), I was on the House Environmental Finance Committee that held an informational hearing on just what the DNR was doing on this conference. The Star Tribune had a follow-up article on Saturday in which I was quoted. Having hosted a national recycling conference in 2005, I know what is involved to organize these things, so I was outraged to see that the DNR was soliciting sponsorship on state time. This is illegal. But the DNR is going to hire an outside firm to investigate the situation, even though the Legislative Auditor is doing one anyway. The head of the enforcement division and his wife, who is also a DNR employee, have been put on paid administrative leave.

Legislature gets rid of major subsidies in Mall of America proposal: Due to major pressure from legislators in the House (including me), House leadership put together a new proposal to help finance a parking ramp for the Mall of America II project. Instead of filching money from taxpayers like us in the northern suburbs by tapping the "fiscal disparities" pool, the House and Senate have proposed having mall patrons pay an additional sales tax at the mall complex (since a parking fee was not acceptable to the mall) and a tax on lodging for hotels around the mall complex. The proposal also includes a requirement that employees at the new mall be paid a "living wage." This kind of puts the onus on the City of Bloomington, which has been seeking state funding for the mall and now would be the responsible party for raising these taxes. I'm not a big fan of subsidies for private businesses, but this is about the best result because it gets better wages for workers and avoids having the rest of us subsidize this business.

Bonding bill supports Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Campground/Visitor Center: Readers will know that the Governor used a line-item veto for completing the Rice Creek North Regional Trail in Lino Lakes in the bonding bill. However, one item that stayed in the bonding bill was funding for the Metropolitan Council for parks. This funding will result in the construction of a new visitor center at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes that will combine with the campground building, which some will know is kind of shack. A short trail will connect the campground with Centerville Beach on Centerville Lake.

Rice Creek Trail funding options: Anoka County is working hard to find additional funds to complete the Rice Creek Trail after the Governor's veto. One source is about $525,000 that it has available from the Legislative Citizens' Commission on MN Resources (LCCMR--or money provided from lottery proceeds) that it has not expended yet. That provision is in SF2492, which passed both houses on Saturday.

Hill Family Papers go to MHS: The most recent newsletter of the MN Historical Society reports that the MHS is taking possession of Hill family papers. Readers may know that North Oaks was a community that was originally owned as the experimental farm of James J. Hill, the founder of the Great Northern Railroad. (A picture from 1900 from the James J. Hill Reference Library web site--#569--to the right shows the barn on the farm that is still standing.) Some of his descendants live there today. In March 2008, "the Society accepted transfer of the James J. Hill, Louis W. Hill and Maud Van Cortlandt Taylor Hill Papers, 1200 cubic feet of records, from the James J. Hill Reference Library in St. Paul." Hill family foundations are supporting the digitization of the records among other tasks.

Article on manufactured home bill: The Quad Press printed a good article about HF3477, a bill to assist owners of manufactured homes (aka mobile homes). They interviewed the folks at Legal Aid who worked with me on the bill.

Semi-Sesquicentennial: Minnesota turned 150 on Sunday, May 11th, and therefore we are celebrating the state's sesquicentennial. My dad's birthday was the same day and he turned 75. Since he is half as old as the state, that means that we celebrated his semi-sesquicentennial!

Schedule: Say, I forgot to mention last week that on Friday night (the 9th) my kids and I went to visit the original copy of the Declaration of Independence at the MN History Center. I wanted my nine-year old at least to be able to remember that she saw it. The turnout, unfortunately, for this "showing" to public officials and those policy wonk-types was pretty low. I think I was the only legislator there. (There was a reception earlier in the week for legislators and some others.)

On Sunday, my wife and two children walked in the 5K Race for the Cure at the Mall of America. My seven-year old walked the whole way without even whining! There were 50,000 people who participated. They need to work on their event recycling though. :) I wished that those 50,000 people could have written a letter to the Governor asking him to sign the bill that will ban the use in Minnesota of toxic flame retardants like decabromodiphenylether (DBPE), which is present in breast milk worldwide. (The Governor vetoed it this week.)

On Monday the 12th, we started a lengthy floor session on a variety of issues. We got through a bunch of conference committee reports, including bills on regulating dangerous dogs, an omnibus pensions bill, a bill for a constitutional amendment asking voters to allow the creation of a citizen council that would determine legislative pay and per diem, the gestational carrier bill (aka surrogate mother legal issues), adoption records, and some others. The final bill was our major health reform bill--HF3391.

On Tuesday we had a lengthy floor session with lots of stops and starts. We came back Thursday for the same kind of stop-and-start procedure. On Friday, I spoke to a volunteer recognition breakfast at Island Lake Elementary in Shoreview. Then it was off to the floor for a series of bills and caucus meetings until about 10:30 p.m. On Saturday morning we returned at 10:00 a.m. for a session expected to go late into the night and early morning. We ended up recessing at about 11:30 a.m. and I went home to sleep for a few hours, then got called back about 3:30 a.m. on Sunday. We voted on two things and I turned around and went home, got some more sleep, and was back on the floor Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. A deal was struck early Sunday afternoon and we spent the remainder of the day processing the final bills.

Visitors: lobbyist for Waste Management and National Solid Waste Management Association about conference committee report for HF3506; lobbyist for MN Retailers Association about HF3789 and compact fluorescent bulb education legislation

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident and Lexington resident supporting medical marijuana legislation; Blaine resident against increase in the minimum wage; Shoreview resident supporting local government health bill; Shoreview resident against gay marriage; Lexington resident against levy limits; three Shoreview residents and Circle Pines resident for HF1875-the statewide health insurance plan for teachers; two district residents and Shoreview resident against newborn DNA testing bill; Circle Pines resident against the Welcoming Schools curriculum that "is indoctrination on gay rights"; Shoreview resident supporting naturopathic doctor registration bill; three Lino Lakes residents supporting HF6, the education finance bill; Lino Lakes resident against using the health care access fund to balance the budget, against state subsidies for the Mall of America, and against public subsidies for a Vikings stadium; two Shoreview residents, Lino Lakes resident, three Circle Pines residents, and Blaine resident supporting health care reform bill; Shoreview resident against income-based property tax relief; district resident supporting tough enforcement of immigration laws

Week of April 20, 2008

Lobbyist Spending Data Published: You can see how much lobbyists spent in 2007 at the State Capitol on the Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board website. Associations that hire lobbyists have to report how much they spent to the nearest increment of $20,000. You can also link to my 2006 and 2007 campaign finance reports (on the link on the right of the screen) to confirm what lobbyists and PACs contributed to my campaign--which was ZERO.

Property Tax Unveiled (with my bill in it): The Property Tax Division of the House Tax Committee unveiled its bill on Monday night. I haven't talked about some legislation in it that I authored yet because I didn't know if it would get put in the bigger bill. My bill (HF4188) is designed to increase the maximum property tax refund (PTR) you can get from the state, and it would take the worst "bite" out of property taxes for those on the bottom of the income scale like retirees, the disabled, and those on fixed incomes. It would also help most people with a refund on their property taxes. My suburban co-authors signed on to the bill with me since the Senate was only considering increasing local government aid (LGA) to cities as its property tax cut proposal this year. Since a lot of suburban cities don't receive LGA, I was looking for a way to help with property taxes in our district. The bigger bill (HF1222) includes some LGA and the property tax refund program. It is funded mostly by taking the market value homestead credit (MVC) and putting it into the PTR program. More later!

Kerry Lake Constituents Speak Out Against New DNR Rules: This month I've heard from quite a few Shoreview residents about Kerry Lake. This is actually a small stormwater runoff pond in a residential development that has evolved into a recreational lake of sorts. There are new DNR rules going into effect that would restrict what lakeshore homeowners would be able to do to the shoreline and the water directly adjacent to it. You can find the rule proposals at the DNR web site. The homeowners would like to continue treating the water for aquatic plants but the DNR rules would likely preclude this options.

On Tuesday morning the Environment & Natural Resources Committee in the House had an informational hearing on a bill that would legislatively change the new rules. I'm on the committee and did pose a question about how the proposed bill or the DNR rules would affect man-made bodies of water like Kerry Lake. (No one had an answer at the time.) Although I had to leave early to chair a conference committee, I did speak to the DNR's deputy commissioner later and he will see how the proposed DNR rules would affect Kerry Lake specifically.

The committee meeting was taped and is available on-line. At the moment it is at top of the page, but if you view this later look for April 22, House Environment & Natural Resources Committee, Informational Hearing on HF1457. An Arden Hills resident testified about the rules and how it would affect Lake Johanna. The meeting lasted 1 hour and 42 minutes.

Governor Outlines Differences on Budget Fix: A lot of tension seems to have lifted at the Capitol after leadership from both parties from the House and Senate met with the Governor last week. Everyone wants to find an acceptable fix to the $900+ million budget deficit by May 19th. Our leadership asked for, and received, a written list of concerns that the Governor has with both the House and Senate versions of our budget balancing bills. (The House version is HF1812.) These bills are now in conference committee. This is a good thing. Last year we proceeded in sending bills to the Governor that some said he would veto because the Governor was not specific about what he objected to in the bills. This time the Governor has given us a clear idea of issues he has with the bills, and they fill eight pages. It looks like he has a bigger problem with the Senate than the House at this point. I agree with a few of his points, including the forgiveness of $35 million in debt for RiverCentre that St. Paul owes the state. He also did not take issue with any of the legislation I have authored that is now in HF1812 on a conservation rate structure for public water suppliers and three solid waste and recycling reports.

Governor Signs Credit Freeze Report Bill: On Monday I received notification that the Governor signed my bill (HF1665). For more information on this bill see last week's entry.

Conference Committee on HF3477: My bill on predatory lending protections for owners of manufactured housing (aka mobile homes) went to conference committee on Tuesday. Senator Marty is the Senate author and there are three conferees from each body that met to work out the differences between the two bills. Since it is a House file, I wielded the gavel for the meeting. We got everything worked out just fine in about 30 minutes and we took testimony from All Parks Alliance for Change and the Manufactured Home Park Owners Association. Not that it is the most fascinating viewing, but you can watch it on-line at the Senate media's web page. Look for April 22nd, Conference Committee on HF3477, and the file will use Real Player.

Minnesota's incarceration rate more like Sweden than Texas: Right across the street from my district is the Lino Lakes Correctional Facility. I've had the chance to visit the facility last year, and quite a few employees live in my district. That's why I found interesting a recent New York Times article that shows how low our incarceration rate is. The United States incarcerates 751 people for every 100,000 people in the country; Minnesota is at about 300 while Texas is at about 1,000 and Sweden is at 80.

So it was a little bit more discouraging to see that we also have one of the highest levels of drunken driving in the U.S. We also have the highest number of teen driver crashes in the U.S.

"Burn Barrel" bill gets a hearing. One of my bills this year is HF2802 that would effectively ban the open burning of household garbage. This practice is the single biggest source of dioxin pollution in the United States. The MPCA has been working hard to educate counties, law enforcement, and rural residents about the public health hazards of burning household garbage outdoors. It was identified as a major priority by a group of stakeholders in the MPCA's 2007 Solid Waste Policy Report. I knew that the Agriculture, Rural Economies & Veterans Affairs Committee would not likely pass the bill, but the chair did commit to have an informational hearing on Wednesday of this week. The hearing was of great help, since this committee has members that represent rural communities around the state that would have to comply with any law on burning. Having an informational hearing is a great way to see where resistance and support might come from on a bill. What I heard was support for banning the burning of household garbage but resistance to banning the burning of true "farm waste" such as feed bags and twine because of concern over the cost of garbage collection in many rural areas. Later I did an interview with Agri News on the issue.

Schedule: On Monday morning, I met with Senator Marty and staff about the conference committee on HF3477. Afterwards I met with Senator Rummel on district issues. Then there was a caucus meeting and a floor session. On Tuesday morning, I attended part of an informational hearing on HF1457 mentioned above. Afterwards I convened the conference committee on HF3477, also mentioned above. In the afternoon I filmed a cable TV interview. On Wednesday morning, I presented my bill on garbage burning, mentioned above. From about 9:00 a.m. to about 5:00 p.m. we had a floor session with a focus on energy legislation including the cap-and-trade bill. Afterwards I was in a caucus meeting. On Thursday we had an all-day floor session with a focus on the agriculture and veterans' affairs policy bill and the 2008 transportation policy bill.

Visitors: two North Oaks residents visiting the Capitol; two Shoreview residents visiting the Capitol; lobbyist and staff from Best Buy about a recycling issue; lobbyist and staff from Eureka Recycling about a composting amendment; North Metro 15 camera crew interviewing me on legislative issues; Circle Pines resident for Parkinson's Disease day on the hill

Constituent contacts: Lino Lakes resident, Lexington resident, and three Shoreview resident s supporting clear car emissions bill; Shoreview resident supporting Green Solutions Act; Lino Lakes resident favoring lower business taxes; Shoreview resident supporting health care reform (but not single-payer) and against tax increases to balance the budget; Blaine resident promoting rebate for filmmakers to come to Minnesota; Shoreview resident supporting minimum wage increase; Lino Lakes pharmacist against continued cuts to pharmacy reimbursement rates; Shoreview resident against subsidies for biofuels; Shoreview resident supporting legalization of medical marijuana; Lino Lakes resident against comprehensive sex education; North Oaks resident against subsidy for Mall of America; Lino Lakes resident and Shoreview resident against the "left-wing" global warming agenda; Shoreview resident, Lexington resident, Lino Lakes resident supporting bill against animal fighting gear; Shoreview? resident against storage of newborn DNA samples; Lino Lakes resident against relaxing graduation testing standards for K-12 education; Shoreview resident supporting bonding for Central Corridor and Asian-Pacific Cultural Center; Shoreview resident supporting mercury-free option for vaccines; North Oaks resident and Lino Lakes resident against illegal immigration; Shoreview resident against clean cars bill