Week of November 16, 2008

Met Council Water Supply Plan: The Metropolitan Council has prepared a draft of its Master Water Supply Plan. Since I work on drinking water issues, I have been plowing through the draft, which is available on the web. There are public meetings coming up before the end of the year, and you can see when these meetings will be held on the link above. You can also read the plan.

Airport follow-up: The Metropolitan Airports Commission has a web page on the Blaine Airport (aka Janes Field), as does Anoka County. I also found a list of noise abatement procedures for the airport. ABC Newspapers did a pretty complete article on the recent situation. The operator of the airport is Key Air. Finally, legislation would be required to expand the airport runway to 6,000 feet, since it would move from a minor airport to an intermediate airport. (Look at subdivision 4 for details in Minnesota Statutes 473.641.) The MAC also has a noise complaint website where you can report airport noise issues.

Schedule: Monday, November 17th included meetings with the Citizens League on their water governance initiative, Senator Rummel on drinking water issues, and a former intern who is working on an instant runoff voting initiative. Tuesday, November 18th included attendance at the Anoka County Airport Committee (see next post), a meeting with St. Paul-Ramsey County Environmental Health Division staff about solid waste issues; and a visit to a Lutheran Social Services intermediate care facility in Shoreview where eight developmentally disabled adults live. The latter included an in-depth discussion of state funding issues that affect this facility. It was an eye-opener! In the evening, I attended a meeting of the full House DFL Caucus. On Wednesday, November 19th I met with a North Oaks resident about a health care legislative proposal and met with canvassers at Clean Water Action to discuss my work on drinking water. (I also turned 41 on the 19th.) On Thursday, November 20th, I attended a meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society, whose state funds are allocated by a committee I serve on. On Friday, November 21st, I met with two St. Thomas students working on a class project on scrap tire recycling and met with different house researchers about potential legislation. In the afternoon, I attended a meeting of the Working Group on Ethnic Heritage & New Americans. We participated in a video conference with the Iowa Workforce Development agency and a similar Illinois agency about their efforts to integrate immigrants into their workforce.

Constituent contacts: Approximately two dozen constituents e-mailed me about the proposed Blaine airport expansion. One was neutral on the issue and two were in favor, and the rest were against it. Shoreview resident seeking an interview for a college paper; North Oaks resident and high school student seeking meeting about class project; Lino Lakes resident seeking information about how to start a recall petition for Anoka County Commissioners; district resident asking about stipulations for contractors on Twins stadium; Lino Lakes resident supporting get-tough policy on immigration; North Oaks resident about special education

Early August 2008

Energy interview: About two weeks ago I was interviewed by Senate Media Services for their weekly Capitol Report show. It appears on Saturday nights at 9:00 p.m. so I know you all watched it! (Ha, ha.) My segment was eight minutes and it was part of a 30 minute show about the energy situation generally. You can watch it on-line.

Test your citizenship knowledge: As an amateur genealogist, I got a newsletter from the Ellis Island Foundation. They have a Citizenship Knowledge Test on-line. I thought you might want to try it out! There are five quizzes of 20 questions each. (I got 98 out of 100.)

Per diem: The recent letter to the editor dialogue that I am having with one of my opponents, John Kappler, has raised the issue of per diem for legislators. A 2007 blog post discusses this in detail and you'll see that I have one of the lowest per diems in the state legislature.

Vanishing Graduates & Minnesota's Future: I received a DVD from the President of the Chamber of Commerce and the head of Growth & Justice about how we are going to be short of college graduates as the baby boomers retire. It was a 30-minute video produced with Twin Cities Public Television that you can watch on-line. There is a companion web site that has lots of background information. Currently only 25 percent of ninth graders in Minnesota will end up completing a college degree, and even that is one of the highest rates in the country.

Rice Creek Chain of Lakes: One of the hidden gems in the north metro (and my district) is the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park Reserve in Lino Lakes. My family just went camping for two nights there, and what a deal! We almost had the run of the place because there were very few people there. Anoka County does a great job maintaining the facility.

Schedule: On Tuesday, August 5th, I attended a National Night Out "lunch" at Scandia Shores, a senior apartment building in Shoreview. (I don't think that they stay up late enough to have an evening event!) I had the chance to meet quite a few of the residents, but I'm afraid I was not as popular as the fire department when their truck pulled up. Oh, well! I also met with a group of about five constituents from the Centennial School District to hear their thoughts about education policy and finance, and met with about half a dozen constituents about environmental issues.

On Friday, August 8th, I attended the second meeting of the Legislative Coordinating Commission Working Group on Ethnic Heritage & New Americans. I'm the House DFL Caucus member on the group and Rep. Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake) is the Republican House Caucus member. The purpose of this group is to propose ways to fully integrate new Americans into Minnesota, including into the work force. All the data show that we will be desperately short of labor within a decade. Members of the business community, academia, and nonprofit organizations are members. We had a productive discussion about how to accomplish our mission, and I will be heading up a subcommittee dealing with ethnic heritage along with Senator Patricia Torres-Ray (originally from Columbia) and John Poupart of the American Indian Affairs Council. Immigration will be a major issue in this group. Dr. Bruce Corrie of Concordia University, a member of the working group, has his own blog on the issue of "ethnic trends" that I am reviewing now.

Constituent contacts: Shoreview constituent concerned about drunk drivers; two Shoreview constituents and Circle Pines resident asking for investigation of out-of-state welfare spending; Shoreview resident supporting commitment to education to help Minnesota compete globally; Shoreview resident asking that the federal government re-open the 9/11 Commission report; Lino Lakes about transferability of college credits from one MnSCU campus to another; Shoreview resident pleased with my per diem rate; Shoreview resident about veterans' benefits

Week of March 9, 2008

Fertilizer bill: Some regional papers published by ECM carried this article this week about a bill I am carrying in the House. A Republican Senator asked me if I would carry this bill on the House side. Several years ago the legislature passed a law that banned the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizer to improve water quality in our lakes, rivers, and streams. There were several reasonable exceptions to the law, so retailers can still sell the stuff. Senator Robling and I have a bill that would require wholesalers and retailers to post a sign (which the Department of Agriculture is making into a pdf file that stores can download and print) that simply lists the law along with the exceptions, so that conscientious consumers can be sure to purchase the non-phosphorus alternative if applicable. However, some legislators from both parties on the Agriculture Committee felt that the sign should just be posted in the metro area and not the rest of the state. This stance highlights the divisions that often occur on regional lines at the Capitol. Some legislators suspect that the bill could become a vehicle for amendments on the floor that would ban phosphorus on agricultural fertilizer. Another wanted to change the original law that made the ban statewide and just limit it to the metro area.

So just when you think that something is really simple--putting up a sign--it gets really complicated! The committee ended up amending the bill so that the sign applies only to the metro area. (Apparently people in Greater MN don't need to know what the law is?)

Drinking water bill: My drinking water bill, HF3238, has now passed three committees as of Thursday and is going to the floor. This bill would require public water suppliers to use a conservation rate structure for water prices if you are on city water. Residents of Blaine, Shoreview, and Lino Lakes currently have such a rate structure where the rate goes up if you are using an excessive amount of water at home. Cities would have the flexibility to use either an increasing rate structure OR a price structure that discourages "peak use" during certain times of day or times of the year. Senator Rummel is an author in the Senate she is awaiting a hearing before committee deadlines on the 19th.

Immigration: There is a very good article in Minnpost called "Minnesota's Foreign Born Population: Then and Now" that puts the immigration debate into a different context. As one of the two House members on the Ethnic Heritage & New Americans working group mentioned in the article, I found this presentation by the state demographer to be very compelling.

Schedule: On Monday morning, I presented HF3755 to the Labor & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee that would require bags claiming to be compostable, degradable, or biodegradable to meet a certain ASTM standard. (Some bags are sold saying they are biodegradable but they are not.) It passed unanimously on a voice vote. Later that morning I attended a caucus meeting and a short floor session. Well, it was supposed to be short but we had a few Republican amendments to some simple bills that took a long time. In the afternoon, my solid waste bill HF3540 was heard in the Energy Policy & Finance Committee because it would allow some new recycling activities to be financed by the conservation improvement program (CIP) by utilities. However, I chose to delete that section of the bill because the committee chair would like to review all of the CIP laws after session this year to see what is actually working to conserve energy and what is not. There was some opposition by one member on the construction waste recycling portion of the bill and the Yellow Pages Association testified against one section of the bill that would allow consumers to opt out of receiving a phone book if they choose. The bill now goes to Environmental Finance next week.

On Tuesday, the Environmental Finance committee heard how the DNR is proposing to balance their budget. They propose to cut maintenance for state walking and biking trails but increase funding for trails for ATVs. After that I attended a committee caucus meeting and the Environment & Natural Resources Committee later in the afternoon. We spent a lot of time--probably 90 minutes--hearing a bill where septic system designers were squaring off against professional engineers as to who was allowed to design septic systems up to 10,000 gallons in capacity. We end up having to figure out a lot of "market share" issues in the legislature and it gets kind of frustrating when opposing sides cannot settle these issues and then they ask us to sort it out. We had a short session at 5:30 p.m. and then returned to the Environment Committee for more bills.

On Wednesday, my bill HF3789 on fertilizer signage was before the Agriculture, Rural Economies, and Veterans Affairs Committee. See the blurb at the top of this entry for details. I attended a committee caucus meeting, a meeting of the Energy Policy & Finance Committee, and then a meeting of the House DFL Caucus.

Thursday brought a bill hearing on HF3238, my drinking water bill, in Government Operations. We had a snag because the committee did not have the latest draft (or engrossment) of the bill. So I ran up to the Revisor's Office (the people who draft and process all the bills) to get the right engrossment and make copies. When I presented the bill the page had not passed out the amendment and we couldn't find him so there was a lot of confusion! Finally everyone got the right version and it passed in about two minutes. Now it's off to the floor. Just after that I made it to the Environmental Finance Committee for several bill hearings. We had a short floor session in the morning. In the afternoon, the Environment Committee met to hear about 15 bills in time for policy committee deadlines. We went right up to 10:00 p.m. Bleah. We spent a lot of time debating the merits of the proposed Lake Vermillion State Park.

On Friday, I attended a committee caucus meeting and the Energy Policy & Finance Committee. Spent a lot of time making sure that my bills have been processed correctly and checked on their status in the Senate.

On Saturday, my son's cub scout den visited the Capitol. The MN Historical Society has a great tour. When asked of an example of a law by the guide, the first graders said, "No running a stop sign or red light" and "no shooting bald eagles." My son said, "No smoking in local bars." Can you tell he listens to me when I tell him what I do at the capitol?

Visitors: Senator Rummel on bill coordination; lobbyist for Yellow Pages Association on HF3540; lobbyist for MN Grocers Association on Rep. Lesch's plastic bag recycling bill; SEIU members from the district on their legislative agenda; New Prague high school student about rules for extracurricular activities for charter school students; IBEW members from the district on their legislative agenda; two constituent students from Hamline University about private college grant program; several constituents with developmental disabilities for disability day at the capitol; Olmsted County Commissioner and staff for Rochester Day at the Hill; three constituent members of the MN Beer Wholesalers; Shoreview resident for U of M Extension day at the capitol; Shoreview resident about the legislative process; Lino Lakes resident about stadium issue

Constituent contacts: About a dozen district dentists contacted me this week against a proposal to permit advanced hygienist practitioners to perform certain types of dental work; one dentist was in favor of the proposal; Blaine resident supporting state incentives to draw film companies to MN; Lino Lakes resident against removing state law prohibiting car sales on Sunday; Shoreview resident about "photo-cop" and cell phones while driving; Circle Pines resident and two North Oaks residents supporting legislation combatting puppy mills; Shoreview resident against state cuts to pharmacy reimbursement rates; Shoreview resident supporting bonding bill funds for Camp Ojiketa in Chisago County; Shoreview resident against proposal to collect DNA samples for newborns; Shoreview resident and two Circle Pines residents against consumer protection bill for wireless customers; Shoreview resident against HF3828 that would create a board of residential construction; Lino Lakes doctor and North Oaks doctor against Governor's proposal to use Health Care Access Fund dollars to balance the budget; North Oaks resident against Governor's proposal to cut the budget of the judiciary; Lino Lakes resident against HF3833 that would change regulations on household goods movers (aka moving companies); Shoreview resident against possible funding of an Asian-Pacific Heritage Center in St. Paul and for "kick[ing] you morons out of Legislature"; Circle Pines resident supporting free market approaches to health care; Shoreview resident against liberal private foundations supporting climate change research; Shoreview resident supporting compromise legislation on physical therapy access bill; Shoreview resident supporting creation of citizen oversight board on dedicated funding for the outdoors (SF3488); Shoreview resident supporting presidential primary; Lino Lakes resident and nurse supporting HF3042 requiring minimum staffing for nurses; Lino Lakes resident supporting emergency school funding in HF2978/SF2815

Week of February 10, 2008

Schedule: On Monday, I attended the Environmental Finance Committee where the topic was about chemical contamination that is showing up in umbilical cord blood of newborn babies. The same group that presented, the Environmental Working Group, also has an on-database of people who receive farm subsidies. Another presenter from the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy presented on green chemistry. In the afternoon, I attended a House DFL Caucus fundraiser at Pipefitters local 455. (I have a lot of pipefitters in my district!) In the evening, Senator Rummel, Rep. McFarlane, and I attended a meeting sponsored by ARC Twin Cities at someone's home with parents of children with disabilities.

On Tuesday, I attended two committee caucus meetings; and had a conference call with telephone directory publishers about my solid waste bill; attended a House DFL Caucus meeting; and attended the floor session that was mostly procedural in nature.

On Wednesday, I met with representatives of the MPCA and the Environmental Finance Chair about upcoming MPCA bonding requests before my drinking water subcommittee. In the afternoon, I attended the Energy Policy & Finance Committee where we considered bonding requests for three energy-related projects and attended a House DFL Caucus meeting.

On Thursday morning, I heard DNR bonding requests in the Environmental Finance Committee. Later in the morning on the floor, we passed the bill to put a question on the ballot about raising the sales tax by 3/8 of a percent for the outdoors, clean water, and the arts. In the afternoon I met with the Sergeant at Arms about a security matter and attended the Environment & Natural Resources Committee. We passed Rep. Hortman's Clean Cars bill. I also presented my bill (HF1665) to the Commerce Committee that would allow consumers to use any method of payment to pay for their $5 credit freeze report. A constituent brought this issue to my attention when he tried to pay for his mother's report and one of the credit bureaus would only accept a credit card. If you are trying to freeze your credit report on a credit card because maybe your card was compromised or stolen, it's kind of hard to use it to pay for the credit report! The bill passed quickly and will go to the floor. Now I need the Senate author to proceed with the companion bill.

On Friday, I worked with DFL media staff on a video project outside (more next week on this). It was cold! Later I attended the first meeting of the Ethnic Heritage & New Americans Working Group. I was one of two House members appointed to the working group by the Speaker. (The other is Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake.) The group has ten total members, with several appointments made by the Governor. According to statute, the working group "must undertake activities it determines are necessary to assist state government to foster an understanding and appreciation of ethnic and cultural diversity in Minnesota, identify underutilized resources within the immigrant community, and to facilitate the full participation of immigrants in social, cultural, and political life in this state." It looks like I will be on a subcommittee on the ethnic heritage part of the group's responsibility. I have already received an e-mail deriding the goals of the working group and suggesting we make sure we celebrate Irish, German, and Norwegian heritage. (In case anyone is interested, my ethnic heritage is English, Scottish, and Scots-Irish.) Around noon, I attended a press conference outlining several of our proposals for meeting climate change objectives for the 2008 session. After that, I was in the Environmental Finance Committee for the rest of the afternoon hearing bonding requests, mostly for local park projects around the state as well as wastewater treatment requests.

State of the state address: Because I couldn't make the bus in time to go (I get the kids off to school in the morning), I was unable to attend the Governor's State of the State address in St. Cloud, but I listened in on the radio. Obviously there will be conflicts with the Governor this year in the Legislature, but I think there will be some things where we will be in general agreement or at least not gridlocked. Transportation will be the major impediment, but we will likely agree on some major health care reform, environmental initiatives, and energy legislation. There were other ideas he mentioned that most people would agree on--address property taxes, attract good people to be new teachers, create a business-friendly environment, and so on. But how he would address them and the way that I might address them would be different. One thing that I wish the Governor and newer legislators like me could do is sit down for more "out-of-the-box" ideas on the future of the state. The Governor has been pretty good at talking about the use of technology and thinking globally, and I would love to get going on those ideas. He talked about downloadable curriculum for Minnesota students, for example. Great! Let's go! But I was also surprised that he did not talk about education reform in the areas that legislators are working on, like testing, accountability measures, and high schools. There was also no discussion about how to tackle the deficit.

Biomonitoring: The Health Department is working on an initiative that might apply to residents of North Oaks concerned about the health effects of vinyl chloride from the leaking Highway 96 landfill.

My colleagues in the east metro who are dealing with perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in drinking water passed legislation last year for biomonitoring of residents in those areas. The purpose of the resulting biomonitoring pilot program was to see what the long-term health effects were of these chemicals. The Health Department is carrying out the program along with an advisory panel. The program is to look at the effects of four chemicals in different parts of the state--PFCs, arsenic, mercury, and a chemical yet to be named.

They have not decided on the fourth chemical, so I have asked the Health Department if they have considered vinyl chloride. The staff member heading up the effort will pass on this idea to the 13 member advisory panel in March. If there is interest, they will make a decision at a future meeting.

The fourth project would have to be at a smaller scale than with PFCs because of budget constraints, so I thought we might have a chance with North Oaks. The PFC project includes taking blood serum from selected residents and testing it for contaminants.

Visitors: Senator on solid waste issues; lobbyist for the MN Builders Association about construction and demolition debris recycling components of my draft bill; lobbyist for MN Sheriffs Association and the County Sheriffs of Wright, Sherburne, and Anoka Counties supporting the proposed regional forensic lab in Anoka County that would handle evidence collected in those counties (there is a proposal for the bonding bill for this lab since the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has a lab that has a huge backlog); four county solid waste officers giving comments on solid waste legislation; lobbyist and staff for Hennepin County with comments on my solid waste bill regarding composting promotion; lobbyist for the Department of Administration on my solid waste bill; lobbyist for the Met Council about my bill to allow wastewater effluent to be a renewable energy source; lobbyist for a wind and solar energy company about pending legislation; lobbyists for Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board on my solid waste bill; Circle Pines resident and U of M-Morris student who lobbied in favor of that campus's bonding requests

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident supporting Clean Car emission standards bill; two Shoreview residents supporting early childhood education; Shoreview resident supporting an increase in the minimum wage (she was accompanying the Archbishop of the Twin Cities--who testified in support of the bill) at the Commerce Committee hearing I attended on Thursday; two Circle Pines residents thanking me for vote on the dedicated funding bill; Circle Pines resident about recycling; Circle Pines resident, Shoreview resident against Rep. Kahn's stem cell research bill; Shoreview resident with suggestions for administering elections; three Circle Pines residents, five Lino Lakes residents, four Shoreview residents supporting "rule of 90" retirement benefit for teachers; Lino Lakes resident promoting single-payer health care; Shoreview resident promoting taxes on gas and alcohol; two Shoreview residents supporting Castle Doctrine ("stand your ground") bill; North Oaks resident against excessive health care premium increases; North Oaks resident about proposed payment reform in health care; Shoreview resident against ethanol subsidies; Shoreview resident supporting a citizen stakeholder council for the proposed dedicated outdoor funding bill; North Oaks resident commenting on biomonitoring ideas for Highway 96 landfill contamination issue; Shoreview resident against transportation, outdoor, and arts taxes; Lino Lakes resident supporting early passage of a public employee contract; Circle Pines resident against transportation taxes; North Oaks business owner against minimum wage increase; Shoreview resident against taxes; Shoreview resident supporting legislation banning use of cell phones while driving; Shoreview resident supporting more competition for cable service; Blaine resident against taxes; Shoreview resident supporting legislation on homeowner warranty enforcement; Shoreview resident about animal viruses in hog feedlots; Shoreview resident about employment issue