Hello Friends,
Just a few updates as we near the end of legislative session:
Child Custody Dialogue Group legislations passes
Today, I was delighted to see the entire MN House of Representatives vote for legislation that will revise family law around the deeply contentious issue of child custody after parents separate. After more than a decade of polarized fighting on this subject, how did we achieve consensus?
A group of us has been meeting for over 2 ½ years as the Child Custody Dialogue Group, bringing together legislators, attorneys, advocacy groups, and members of the judicial branch. With the skilled help of mediator Miki Kashtan, we developed shared principles, built the trust needed to hear one another, and dug deeply into the obstacles to fairness in the legal processes.
And we built it all around the best interests of the child.
These changes have the potential to make the difficult agreements for child custody and parenting time a bit less contentious, providing better outcomes for Minnesota’s children and their families.
It is amazing what can happen in a truly collaborative process. I trust this work. But even I never dreamed we would accomplish what we did today. It is a real testament to the value of working together beyond politics and polarized views.
In 2012, I created the Office of Collaboration and Dispute Resolution to deal with major public policy issues. This office provided financial and mediation support to our custody group, as part of its work. Although the Republican House Majority did not include funding for this office in its budget, I firmly believe it is important and will fight for it.
Legislative session update
We are nearing the end of the Legislative Session, with May 18 as the constitutionally last day for session work. Although our work as legislators continues year-round, this is when bills for this year must be passed. If the major budget bills are not completed by that time, it would require a Special Session to finish.
Conference Committees are meeting, to reconcile House and Senate bills. I sit on the conference committee for State Government Finance. Because the Senate is majority Democratic and the House is majority Republican, the bills are unbelievably far apart. And the Governor is the third part of the discussions; he certainly has the final say with his veto pen.
The Republicans in the House will need to rethink many of the proposals they have touted. MNcare must not be eliminated. Tax cuts cannot devastate the overall health of Minnesota’s budget. As reality sets in, the Republicans will have to make the hard choices between pie-in-the-sky promises that force a Special Session or reality and good-faith negotiation.
Turkey in Minnesota
Minnesota is a huge producer of turkey. But the avian flu has devastated over two dozen large turkey farms. Even though five million birds have been destroyed, either because they were sick or as a precaution, it is only about 10% of the total turkey production in Minnesota.
This is happening in the poultry of the states around us also. The theory is that it may be spread by the droppings of migratory birds passing overhead as they return home in the spring. These migratory birds don’t get sick themselves but can be carriers.
I want you to know that turkey is perfectly safe to eat. First, all turkey farms are tested continually. Second, the avian H5N2 has no effect on us; it does not make humans sick. And third, it simply does not spread by eating (it spreads by breathing, by getting into the lungs).
Governor Dayton has declared a state emergency regarding the avian flu, and the State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating the state’s ongoing response to it. Several state agencies, including the Board of Animal Health and the Department of Agriculture are at work on it. The legislature is passing the funding to assist the farmers and the departments in this.
It’ll be busy these last 10 days or so but please contact me by email at rep.carolyn.laine@house.mn or by phone at 651-296-4331.
Thank you,
Carolyn