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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Duane Quam

323 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-9236

For more information contact: Jason Wenisch 651-296-2317

Posted: 2012-02-17 00:00:00
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NEWS COLUMN

STATE OF OUR STATE WILL IMPROVE WITH REFORM

On February 15, Governor Mark Dayton gave his annual State of the State Address in the Minnesota House chamber. For the most part, the governor tried to maintain a positive tone, which I appreciated. However over the past few weeks he has resorted to name calling and partisanship when it comes to dealing with the Legislature, so the congeniality was a nice change of pace.

While the Governor talked about working together and preparing Minnesota for the future, the speech lacked any new creative proposals, and many of the specifics were basically rehash.

Last session, Governor Dayton understood government reform was critical towards putting our economy on the right path. He deserves credit for this, as does the Legislature. This year, legislative leadership is trying to further reform government, but to date the Governor has chosen the path of resistance.

For instance, in his speech he said that he would sign bipartisan bills. Just last week the Legislature sent him four separate lawsuit reform bills. All of them received bipartisan support; one of them received near unanimous support in the Senate. Governor Dayton vetoed them all, and blasted Republicans (even though the bills had DFL support) for siding with mostly wrong-doers.

Research has shown that lawsuit abuse drives away potential economic activity and puts Minnesota at a disadvantage when competing with other states that have controls in place to prevent frivolous cases. These bills were approved by organizations representing 58,000 employers in Minnesota, so apparently those are the wrong-doers in the eyes of the Governor.

On Thursday, the House passed a reform to our education system. The bill removes statutory language requiring school districts to focus on employee’s seniority during layoffs, and elevates teacher performance when a district is forced to eliminate employees. In other words, the last one hired shouldn’t automatically be the first one fired.

I've had a lifelong passion for education. I'm frustrated that schools are not allowed to make retention decisions that take into account the quality of their teachers, instead of a process dictated only by seniority. Many younger teachers have a drive, spirit, and love for their profession, and should not automatically be dismissed simply because they were the last ones hired.

This bill is not perfection, but it at least allows school districts to make decisions that are best for the students - which should always be the priority. We will soon see if Governor Dayton agrees.

Unless you believe everything is perfect and can't be improved, or the State doesn't need to revitalize its business climate, education system, and economy, we have to look at improving government. For those lawmakers who dislike the reform options being put forward, they should present legislative counterproposals, not just complaints.

It’s much like federal government, when the President proposed what he believes is a grandiose, wonderful budget bill. When it comes down to it, the ideas of both executive branches are failing to get the support of their own party. In Minnesota, not one DFL’er stepped up to carry Governor Dayton’s bonding bill. If Governor Dayton can’t even convince his own side to support his proposals, how on earth can he blast Republicans for our opposition?

I truly hope Governor Dayton wants to work with the Legislature and move Minnesota forward. It would be one thing if the Legislature passed proposals with only Republican backing. We will continue to approve reforms that are supported by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, a sign that we are serious about continuing to improve Minnesota’s economy and government. Hopefully, as he did last year, the Governor will join us.

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