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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL)

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Legislative Update - February 20th, 2017

Monday, February 20, 2017

Greetings friends and neighbors,

It was another busy week at the Capitol, with much to do and learn. Here are some of the issues and bills that the legislature and I focused on:

Wage Theft Prevention Protections
On Wednesday, I stood with Lt. Governor Tina Smith, Minnesota workers and fellow legislators at the State Capitol to rally against employers who commit wage theft by failing to pay for work already performed. “Wage theft is stealing. It’s not how we do business in Minnesota. Yet, it’s all too common – costing Minnesota workers nearly $12 million a year,” said Lt. Governor Tina Smith at the rally.

 

Wage theft occurs when employers do not pay workers what is owed to them for work performed. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) estimates that over 39,000 workers experience wage theft in Minnesota each year, averaging $11.9 million dollars of wages that are owed, but not paid to Minnesota workers. Currently, there are no state laws that prohibits or penalizes employers for not pay their employees for work performed.


As your legislator, I support efforts to protect all Minnesotans, strengthen workers’ rights and crack down on non-abiding employers by putting in place policies that crack down on wage theft.

Cigarette Tax Cuts
Wednesday's Tax Committee heard HF 906. Representative Davids (R) submitted a bill that would repeal the annual indexing section of statute and permanently set the excise tax at the current rate of $3.04/pack. Opponents of the bill cite research that more expensive cigarettes deter smoking and encourages people to quit.

Business Property Tax Cuts
Representative Drazkowski’s bill, (R) HF 726, was heard in the Property Taxes committee on Wednesday. The bill would phase out the statewide business property tax over the next six years, at a cost of more than $250 million over the next biennium and would continue to grow.

Israel Discrimination Bill
HF 400, Representative Kresha (R) introduced a bill in State Government Finance which is one of the committees I sit on. The bill would prohibit the state, including colleges, from entering into contracts or doing business with entities that are “discriminating” against Israel, essentially those who are part of the BDS Movement. (The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.) The Minnesota branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, however, said in a letter that, “this violates both the U.S. and Minnesota constitutions.”

Private Scholarship Tax Credit in Committee
The House Tax Committee heard HF 386. The bill would provide a K-12 scholarship donation credit and expand the K-12 Education Credit to private tuition. Republicans included a similar proposal in their plan last year to decrease racial and economic disparities. Extending the credit to cover private school tuition has a similar effect to a voucher program, puts state resources into private schools without oversight, and could - in the long run - take resources away from public schools. The bill was laid over with more testimony to continue next week in the Tax Committee.

MSFA Bill
Michele Kelm-Helgen and Ted Mondale resigned from the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, and both positions are currently set to be filled by Governor’s appointment. Also on Thursday, Representative Sarah Anderson (R) presented bill HF 778, which would change the number of members on the MSFA, who appoints them, and negotiate the MSFA suites back to the Vikings, was heard in State Government Finance. The bill was sent to the Ways and Means Committee.

House Rules Debate
Thursday evening’s session had a lively debate focusing on Permanent Rules in the House. Every amendment offered by the DFL was either defeated or withdrawn. The most heated debate occurred during Representative Lesch’s (D) amendment to clarify that members cannot accept gifts that are not available to the general public, even if they pay for them. The other contentious debate surrounded Representative Applebaum’s amendment to take away the use of Speaker Daudt’s (R) mute button. This mute button was installed in 2015 by the Speaker without the knowledge of the House to “control debate.” I was seriously taken aback when I learned about this effort to control what should be public and democratic discussion. I’d like to hear your opinion on the Speaker’s Mute button. I value your thoughts and opinions.

Please call my office or send me an email if you have any other thoughts, concerns or ideas. I am here to represent you at the Capitol.

Best,

Mary