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State Representative Duane Quam
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-9236
For more information contact: Jason Wenisch 651-296-2317
NEWS COLUMN
CLARIFYING MISCONCEPTIONS ON SEVERAL BILLS
Those of you who wanted to make the decision on voter identification will get your chance this November. Both the House and Senate approved a compromise bill that asks voters whether or not they want to amend Minnesota’s Constitution to state that photo identification must be provided prior to casting a ballot. Because it is an amendment question, it does not need to be approved by Governor Dayton.
As co-author of this bill, I believe we will remove all future doubts as to whether or not voter fraud exists in our election system. If you do not have the proper identification, you will have two years to obtain one if the amendment is approved, and if you are an eligible voter, you will be able to vote. The scare tactics being spread that Minnesotans will be kept from the polls are beyond preposterous. An overwhelming majority of Minnesotans support this proposal according to the polls, and they will have the opportunity to make their voice heard on November 6.
Another bill that has had some misconceptions centers on local moratoriums, as people on both sides of this issue have concerns with the current language in state law.
Recently, the House passed a bill I’m co-authoring that’s designed to protect farmers and business people who may have been working on a development project for months or years only to have a local government stop them from completing their project with a moratorium.
This bill provides that cities cannot include projects in moratoriums if the applicants have already submitted their applications before the moratoriums are passed. It addresses a problem in some cities where the city doesn’t like a building project and rather than reject it, which would require a more specific finding, they simply declare a moratorium which puts an arbitrary hold on all projects.
The final version of this bill was not opposed by city, county, or township organizations. It was approved in the House by a close vote, and died in the Senate on a 31-33 vote. For those of us who supported the measure, we felt that if a government is going to issue a moratorium, it should do so in a timely fashion so large sums of money are not wasted on projects. Remember, it took a few years of debate before we came to a consensus on the feedlot issue, but the end result improved the process and helped all of the stakeholders. Because this is such a divisive issue, it’s possible that the moratorium bill could be following this same path.
Finally, Governor Dayton has said he will veto two other legislative proposals as soon as they reach his desk. The first would eliminate the school payment shift extension that was enacted to help balance our budget last session. The proposal would take $430 million out of budget reserves and return it to the schools and pay off the added shift.
The second bill eliminates the last in, first out provision when it comes to teacher layoffs. It removes statutory language requiring school districts to focus solely on employee’s seniority during layoffs, and allow teacher quality to be a part of the discussion if a district is forced to eliminate employees.
Governor Dayton calls these bills political games. We think they are common sense.
Instead of getting involved and taking an active role in crafting legislation and actively working with us to help improve Minnesota, Governor Dayton has preferred to veto and take continued potshots at legislative leadership.
It almost makes you wonder if the Governor’s goal this session is to simply stand in the way of legislative progress – at the expense of our state - in hopes that he can convince Minnesotans to usher in a DFL-led legislature next year.
News Items
- Legislative Update from Rep. Duane Quam - (Posted: Jan 11 2013 3:55PM)
- CLARIFYING MISCONCEPTIONS ON SEVERAL BILLS - (Posted: 2012-04-05 00:00:00)
- SIGNIFICANT BILLS BEING PASSED OFF HOUSE FLOOR - (Posted: 2012-03-30 00:00:00)
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