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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Matt Dean

301 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3018

For more information contact: Amber Berhow 651-296-5520

Posted: 2006-04-28 00:00:00
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NEWS COLUMN

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM REPRESENTATIVE MATT DEAN April 28, 2006



This week the House passed two major - and controversial - pieces of legislation: a conservation bill and a Twins ballpark proposal. I also brought legislation to the House floor that would reform medical malpractice laws in Minnesota, a reform that until this year was kept bottled up in committee.

DEDICATED ENVIRONMENTAL FUNDING
The House passed legislation that would amend the Minnesota Constitution to devote 3/16 of 1 percent of existing state sales tax revenue to largely conservation projects. Many wanted to raise the tax, but we successfully voted down attempts to do so. Here is a breakdown of where the funding will go:
* Approximately $83 million will go to the Game & Fish Preservation Fund for wildlife habitats
* Approximately $41.5 million will go to the Clean Water Fund for restoring lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and groundwater
* Approximately $6.9 million will go to the Arts & Public Broadcasting Fund
* Approximately $6.9 million will go to the Parks & Trails Fund

AMENDING THE MINNESOTA CONSTITUTION
You may have noticed several bills under consideration this legislative session require amending the Minnesota state constitution. An amendment to the constitution requires (1) approval by a simple majority of both legislative bodies during one session, and (2) approval by the majority of those casting votes in an election. Minnesota officially became a state on May 11, 1858 when Congress ratified our state constitution.
Since that time, 211 amendments to the Minnesota Constitution have been proposed to voters. 118 of those amendments (56%) were adopted. The last time Minnesota voters considered a constitutional amendment was in
1998, when we extended the use of the lottery for an environmental trust fund, preserved a hunting and fishing heritage, and abolished the office of the state treasurer. For more information on the history of Minnesota's constitution, go to
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/mnconst.pdf.

TWINS BALLPARK APPROVED
After an extraordinary amount of debate, House members approved a proposal to build a new ballpark for the Twins. While everyone agrees the Twins are an asset to Minnesota, we differ on whether or not to enact a sales tax increase in Hennepin County without approval from voters. Current law states that any local option sales taxes must be approved by voters in a referendum, and I do not believe a stadium is deserving of an exception to that law. I supported an amendment to the bill that would require a voter referendum in Hennepin County, but unfortunately that amendment did not pass.

MEDICAL MALPRACTIVE REFORM
Legislation I authored aimed at improving access to emergency and obstetrical medical services was debated on the House floor for several hours this week. Medical malpractice lawsuits burden OB-GYN and emergency practitioners. These high-risk fields are essential to the public, and skyrocketing insurance costs are sending some doctors out of business, to the public's detriment. Rural areas are often the hardest-hit. Accessibility to these medical services is paramount in pursuing medical malpractice reform. Despite a narrow loss on the House floor, I will continue to push hard for this bill. We made significant progress and the unexpected success of the bill this year points toward reform in the near future.

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