Dear Neighbors,
With less than 3 weeks left in the legislative session, we are spending a higher portion of our time on the House Floor. I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on what’s happening at the State Capitol. This update is much longer than usual, since we’ve taken up several large omnibus bills.
Budget Bills
The omnibus supplemental budget bills were heard on the House Floor last week. All areas of the state budget were rolled into three bills: one considering E-12 and Higher Education, another containing Agriculture, Jobs, Environment and Energy, and finally one with State Government, Public Safety, and Health and Human Services. We have not yet seen several big bills – Taxes, Transportation and Capital Investment (bonding).
Each of these is considered a supplemental budget bill, since our main budget work for the biennium was done last year. Because the economy in Minnesota recovered more quickly than predicted, we have a $900 million budget surplus (of which $300 million must go to the rainy day fund). This would offer an opportunity to accomplish some things that were put off in last year’s budget. However, both components of the education bill were given $0 in new money by the House Majority, as was the health and human services bill. Agriculture, state government, and public safety were actually given cuts. For example, we could be providing student debt relief and making a significant investment in expansion of broadband internet infrastructure throughout the state.
The omnibus bills also contain policy changes. The Education Bill contains a much-needed legislative task force to work on teacher licensure issues, and a restructuring of the oversight of the Perpich Academy for Arts Education. It also provides for more detailed disaggregation of student achievement data (breaking it down into finer categories than the current broad racial categories), to provide better information to help address existing achievement disparities. However, there are missed opportunities. For example, it “Requires the education commissioner in fiscal year 2017 and in fiscal year 2018 to use existing budgetary resources to remove 25 percent of the state-generated special education paperwork burden on special education teachers” – an unrealistic goal without providing the resources to do so. It also does not contain broad support for preschool learning. Currently, state law allows school districts to negotiate teacher layoff procedures, with a default policy relying on teacher tenure. The bill removes this fall-back position, while doing nothing to advance fair, objective measures to be used in its place. Additionally, it prohibits the Department of Education from administering the annual student survey, which in the past has provided valuable data used to assess the need for and progress toward addressing issues such as underage drinking and smoking.
The Agriculture, Jobs, Energy and Environment bill, if it becomes law as passed in the House, would seriously limit Minnesota’s future progress in clean energy by essentially prohibiting new large solar energy installations. In a very loosely worded provision, it would prohibit constructing solar “farms” anywhere there are trees – regardless of whether that is actual forest or a few small trees. It’s an example of a “gotcha” bill that probably won’t become law as written, but sounds good and allows for attack ads against anyone who opposes it. If it were to become law, it would prevent Ramsey County from building a planned solar energy facility in Arden Hills (on current AHATS property, northeast of the planned Rice Creek Commons development).
One positive provision in the bill is a requirement for carbon monoxide detectors on boats with enclosed cabins, called “Sophia’s Law” in memory of child who died due to carbon monoxide while on a family boat outing. The Jobs section of the bill has a small investment in statewide broadband - $15 million in fiscal year 2017, compared to $100 million in the Governor’s proposal. Limited broadband access is a serious factor in economic development outside of the metropolitan areas in Minnesota.
I had hoped that the Health and Human Services omnibus bill would include a much needed increase in the reimbursement rate for assisted living and home health care services. You may recall that last year’s bill restructured the reimbursement formula for nursing homes, allowing them to provide a pay increase for the people who care for our most infirm and disabled Minnesotans. However, a similar increase did not happen for other settings. Employee turnover and unfilled shifts continue to be a problem in assisted living, group home, and private home settings, jeopardizing the consistent care and comfort of the disabled people who need those services. Some positive provisions of the bill include extending the definition of hospice care to include care for those under age 21, and a grant program for screening for mood and anxiety disorders during and after pregnancy (for example, post-partum depression).
As these bills move toward conference committees with the Senate, I’m quite concerned about transparency in our process. As you may remember from last year, it took a special session to finish our work. Many of the bills were put together hastily in a backroom by legislative leaders, with very little input from legislators, and even less from members of the public. This caused a great deal of mistrust, since provisions were included that had not come through the committee process, and members were expected to vote on bills they had not seen. Certainly some negotiation is necessary for the House, Senate, and Governor to come to a compromise. However the results of those negotiations need to be made available to legislators and the public before we take a final vote on them.
Transportation
One thing that is still up in the air is a comprehensive transportation bill. Since last year’s stalemate over the issue, the bill remains in a House/Senate conference committee which has met just once this year. We need a bill that provides stable, dedicate, adequate funding for transportation, including for roads, bridges and transit. It must balance the needs of the entire state – urban, suburban, and rural. I’m sure you’ve heard people suggest that with a projected surplus, we don’t need any new funding. However, even if we spent every available penny of the surplus on transportation, it would cover only a tenth of thebacklog of transportation needs, doing nothing for the future. Others have suggested that we should solve our transportation funding deficit solely by redirecting funds that currently go into the general fund (namely a variety of sales taxes or fees that are somehow related to cars and other transportation). Speaker of the House Kurt Daudt has shown that this is part of a larger strategy of destroying government services, saying it would be a good idea because it would “starve out the general fund”. This is a dangerous course, since it would jeopardize funding for education, care for the sick and elderly, environmental protection, and business services.
Water Action Week
Governor Dayton proclaimed April 17-23 as Water Action Week in Minnesota. The effort aimed to engage Minnesotans in conversations about the challenges facing our lakes, rivers, and drinking water systems. I hope everyone can take actions in their own lives to be part of the solution. These include:
1. Learn About Your Water Quality – Learn about the challenges facing our lakes, rivers, and clean drinking water systems, and the actions Minnesotans can take to make a difference. This week, the Office of the Governor and Lt. Governor has launched a one-stop web page that provides a number of helpful links Minnesotans can use to learn more about water challenges in Minnesota.
2. Teach Your Children about Clean Water, and Let Them Teach You - Talk with children and students this week about the importance of water in our lives, and what Minnesotans can do – even as children – to leave a lasting legacy of clean water for this generation, and generations that follow. A great place to start is www.h2oforlifeschools.org where parents, teachers, and children can find simple lesson plans, watch short videos, and find new ways to make a positive impact on water quality in our communities, across our state, and around the world.
3. Set a Water Conservation Goal – Whether fixing leaky pipes in your house, turning off the water when brushing your teeth, taking a shorter shower, or using less fertilizer on your lawn, all Minnesotans can make small changes in their lives that will collectively have a significant and positive impact on Minnesota’s waters.
One of the major concerns about ground and surface water quality is the harmful effects of agricultural runoff. At the Legislature, we are working on enacting policy to help preserve our water resources. Last year, we passed a bill to expandrequirements for buffer strips along rivers and streams. Phosphorous and nitrate levels have risen to alarming levels and buffers are a proven method to mitigate the harmful effects of this runoff to ground and surface water. Unfortunately, the Ag/Jobs/Energy/Environment bill contained a section that weakens its implementation.
I’d also like to highlight a wonderful initiative at the University of Minnesota known as “Forever Green.” This program encourages the use of “cover crops,” an ancient practice in which farmers rotate different crops in different seasons, which protects against erosion, runoff, and loss of nutrients. In order to revive this practice, the University research focuses on how cover crops can be profitable, by introducing new crops or more profitable varieties of old crops. I recently had the opportunity to take a tour of these projects, and I hope we will be able to appropriate funding to this program this session so this innovative research can continue.
Capital Investment (bonding)
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot to report about the prospects for a significant bonding bill this session. The Governor made his list of requests public some time ago. The Senate’s proposal fell one vote short in their floor session on 5/5/16. The House leadership has not released any proposal yet, or even a target date for its release. It would be unfortunate to pass up the chance to make significant investments in our state’s infrastructure at this time, since I am hearing from our communities that bids on local projects are coming in at favorable costs while the economy is still ramping up after the recession.
As we head into the final weeks of the session, I encourage you to stay in touch with your input on the topics we are discussing at the Legislature. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-0141 or email at rep.barb.yarusso@house.mn.
Sincerely,
Barb Yarusso
State Representative