House passes combined health and transportation omnibus bills

Like the mythical centaurs, a House omnibus bill passed Tuesday is part one thing, part another.

After more than seven hours of debate, the House voted 82-43 to pass HF3138, the omnibus health and human services and omnibus transportation finance bill.

The health and human services portion of the bill contains provisions to combat the opioid crisis, funding to prevent a pay cut to disability services providers, and measures to help prevent elder abuse. Rep. Matt Dean (R-Dellwood), chair of the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, also highlighted his provision that would audit the rolls of government programs like Medicaid to ensure people are eligible to receive benefits.

Transportation-related measures in the bill include a proposed $101 million in supplemental road and bridge funding in Fiscal Year 2019, $250 million in trunk highway bonding, and assistance for deputy registrars across the state hit hard by the disastrous rollout of MNLARS.

Some 40 amendments were considered. A few drew extended debate, including one from Rep. Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) that would mandate health insurance to cover contraception. Murphy pointed out the provision already existed in federal law, and nine out of 10 women use contraception at some point in their lives.

WATCH Walk-through of the HHS portion of the bill 

Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover) successfully put forward an amendment to Murphy’s amendment that would allow employers and any employee who had sincerely held beliefs to opt out of giving or receiving the coverage.

Murphy then encouraged members to vote against her own amendment, saying it had been “gutted.” The amendment failed 123-0.

Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester) offered an amendment she said would restore a recently repealed law that prohibits nonprofit HMOs from giving out dividends to shareholders.

DFLers said the measure would help prevent companies from profiting off peoples’ illnesses. Republicans countered that having for-profit HMOs in the state increases competition for consumers. The amendment passed, but only after a Republican measure was added that would make some of the changes subject to approval by the Office of the Legislative Auditor.

Similarly, an amendment by Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul) to ban prescription drug price-gouging passed after it, too, was altered by Republicans. The secondary amendment said that if the underlying amendment is found unconstitutional in courts, the state attorney general must pay the legal fees for the case.

An amendment from Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) that would eliminate the authority of the Department of Human Services to create rules related to child care centers without the specific agreement of the Legislature was also adopted.

Disability Waiver Rate System

The bill would draw money from the Department of Human Services’ IT funding in order to help avert a drastic cut to the amount of money paid to providers of disability services in the state under the Disability Waiver Rate System.

Dean said “repurposing” the money was “entirely appropriate to take care of the people who have great needs.”

Murphy pointed out the bill added no new money for disabled care, and warned taking the money from DHS might threaten its ability to meet the needs of the state.

Elder care

The elder care portions of the bill were based on legislation from Rep. Deb Kiel (R-Crookston), which focuses on reforming state practice rather than putting rules in place for the elder care facilities themselves.

“If you want to punish the bad actors without making it harder and more expensive to get care, this is the bill you’ve been waiting for,” she said.

However, an amendment from Rep. Liz Olson (DFL-Duluth) took the opposite approach; instituting licensure for assisted living facilities and dementia care.  It was ruled out of order.

The omnibus bill dos “nothing substantive” to address the elder care crisis, Olson said near the end of debate.

Murphy gave an emotional appeal to her fellow legislators to do more on the topic. Her own father, 84, recently suffered a stroke and resides in an assisted living facility. He – and likely the family members of many of her colleagues – is vulnerable to abuse and neglect, Murphy said.

Dean had a harsh retort for critics of the elder care provisions, or lack thereof.

“You obviously didn’t read what’s in the bill,” Dean said.

Dean said the bill responds comprehensively to a report by the legislative auditor on the state’s elder abuse reporting system.

Opioids

Language on opioid drugs largely escaped the multi-hour debate.

Although the bill has a number of provisions to curb opioid abuse, it lacks anything from a bill sponsored by Rep. Dave Baker (R-Willmar) that, in its original form, would levy a fee against drug companies for every opioid pill they sell in the state, and put the money toward anti-opioid efforts. Baker later changed the bill to instead draw money from the General Fund, but the bill is still held in committee.

Baker said Tuesday that the opioid provisions that made it into the bill were “a nice little warmup” for what was coming in the future.

The Senate bill covering opioid stewardship includes a flat registration fee that opioid manufacturers would pay.

More friction points

Prior to the House Floor debate, DFLers had mounted strident opposition to particular parts of the bill including one that would cut the percentage MNsure can charge on health insurance premiums. Another that would force the Department of Human Services to track down unpaid bills from enrollees in MinnesotaCare, and ban the implementation of the MinnesotaCare buy-in until the bills were collected.

Rep. Clark Johnson (DFL- North Mankato) unsuccessfully offered an amendment to strip out that requirement.

Transportation

The transportation articles originated in HF4160, sponsored by Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska). It contains measures aimed largely at providing additional funds to counties, cities and towns to aid ailing roads and bridges.

It would provide $101 million in supplemental road and bridge funding in Fiscal Year 2019 and $40 million for the 2020-21 biennium.

The proposed legislation also includes $250 million in trunk highway bonding for road construction projects across the state, and a laundry list of policy measures.

Torkelson said the legislation builds on last year’s transportation finance law that was the largest in a decade and also focuses heavily on funding road construction across the state.

WATCH Walk-through of the transportation portion of the bill 

“More funding for roads and bridges — that’s what the citizens of Minnesota want, that’s what they need,” he said.

DFLers echoed earlier criticisms over what isn’t in the supplemental finance bill — namely, a lack of additional funding for work on MNLARS, the state’s troubled vehicle registration system, and no new transit funding.

The lack of transit dollars will hurt Minnesotans who rely on bus systems across the state, said Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Mpls).

“We have tremendous transit needs throughout the state of Minnesota,” he said. “Whether you’re in St. Cloud, or Rochester, or Duluth, they’re not getting a thin dime out of this bill to help with all of their needs.”

Here is what’s in the bill:

Supplemental funding

The proposed $101 million in 2018-19 supplemental appropriations would provide funds for projects that include:

• $25.2 million for county state-aid highway projects;
• $11.1 million for highway operations and maintenance;
• $10 million for MnDOT’s Corridors of Commerce program that provides funds for stretches of roadway critical to the movement of commerce that aren’t already included in the state’s highway improvement program;
• $9 million in ongoing funding for a deputy registrar reimbursement aid program that is proposed to be established to aid businesses impacted by the botched rollout of the state’s new vehicle registration and licensing system, known as MNLARS;
• $7 million for the Small Cities Assistance Program;
• $6.6 million for municipal state-aid road projects;
• $5 million for a new Freight Rail Economic Development Program proposed in a policy section of the bill to assist freight rail lines and shippers; and
• $2 million to the city of Rochester to purchase a new approach system for the Rochester International Airport.

Trunk highway bonding

HF4160 also includes $250 million in proposed trunk highway bonding. It would appropriate those proceeds to three areas:

• $145 million to MnDOT for the Corridors of Commerce program;
• $75 million for highway-rail grade separation projects that involve trunk highways and were identified in a 2014 legislative report on at-grade rail crossings; and
• $30 million for a transportation facilities capital program proposed by Gov. Mark Dayton and included in the bill that would provide funds for projects that renovate, construct or extend the life of MnDOT facilities.

Policy proposals

A number of policy changes are also proposed in the bill. Among them are those that would:

• exempt sewage septic tank trucks from some weight limits on state roadways and allow for operation without a special permit;
• require the Department of Transportation to erect signs along Interstate 35 near Faribault directing motorists to the campuses of the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf and Minnesota State Academy for the Blind;
• make a number of changes to state statute regarding bicycles, including establishing that bicycle lanes are part of the roadway (and not a shoulder), requiring at least three feet or half a vehicle’s width of clearance when passing a bicycle (unless passing in a separate lane), and clarifying that bicycles operating on the shoulder have the same rights and duties as when operating in the roadway;
• authorize deputy registrars to accept mailed vehicle registration and titling work beginning next year;
• require the five counties that were formerly a part of the since-dissolved Counties Transit Improvement Board — Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington — that collected a sales tax as part of their joint powers agreement to submit a report on uses of funds to the House transportation committees;
• establish per-axle and gross vehicle weight limits for emergency vehicles operated on interstate highways, using limits established in federal law;
• direct MnDOT to contact BNSF Railway regarding negotiations on extending the Northstar commuter rail route to St. Cloud, while specifying no additional state funds could be used for operations; and
• clarify the definition of operating costs for light-rail transit in a provision specifying no state funds may be used for operating costs or ongoing maintenance of the proposed Southwest Light Rail route.

Amendments

A handful of amendments were adopted onto the transportation articles of the bill. Among them are measures that would:

• make it a crime for individuals or entities who recruit, train, aid or conspire to either trespass or damage critical infrastructure, and make them liable for subsequent damages
• allow school buses outfitted with an changeable electronic message sign to supplement traditional warning operations (flashing lights, stop arm, etc.) with warning messages;
• prevent governing bodies from establishing bikeways in a segment of public road right-of-way that would eliminate or force the relocation of disability parking; and
• prohibit motorists from using electronic mobile communication devices for any reason while driving through a construction zone when workers are present. 

Jonathan Avise contributed to this story.