Dear friends,
We are approaching the final week of the legislative session and we must adjourn by May 20. Major budget bills have passed off the House floor and are now being debated in conference committees. Because of our bicameral system in Minnesota, the House and Senate each put forth their own versions of legislation. When the House and Senate pass bills, a conference committee is appointed to negotiate differences between the two versions of the bill and draft a final version that can be agreed upon by both bodies. Once conference committees are finished with their work, the bills, now identical, return to the House and Senate for final passage. Once passed, they await signature by Governor Dayton to become law. At this time of the session, we often spend many hours on the House floor passing bills and take many breaks to caucus legislation and to allow conference committees to meet.
Earlier this week, the House passed the Safe and Supportive Minnesota Schools Act. Minnesota has been working toward a clearer and more comprehensive anti-bullying bill for several years. The Safe and Supportive Schools Act provides a common framework to provide safe school environments for students statewide.
The bill requires that public school districts and charter schools implement policies to prevent bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, intimidation and promote remedial responses. Schools will create and implement these policies in consultation with students, parents and community members, and must annually review and update them. Private schools are excluded from this requirement, but are also encouraged to adopt anti-bullying policies.
Oftentimes, bullying occurs on the bus, on the playground or in the lunchroom—away from teacher supervision. To help address this issue, it is important that all school staff be trained to prevent and manage bullying. In addition, the bill creates a School Climate Center and Council to provide support to schools as they create, implement, and practice anti-bullying policies.
The anti-bullying measures in the bill will apply when bullying substantially affects a student in the classroom. Incidents that happen outside of school will not fall under the law unless they materialize as a problem at school or on school property. The bill attempts to strike an appropriate balance between providing a safe learning environment and respecting students’ rights to freedom of speech.
The bill is the product of recommendations put forth by Governor Dayton’s Task Force on the Prevention of School Bullying, and is the work of parents, teachers, students, education leaders and anti-bullying advocates. The goal of the bill is to provide a safe and supportive school environment for all of our students and to ensure that every student has the right to learn and grow academically and socially.
Thursday, the House passed the Marriage Equality Act, ensuring that same-sex couples have the freedom to marry in Minnesota. The measure passed on a bipartisan vote of 75 to 59. The bill would allow civil marriages for all Minnesotans. The bill also protects religious freedoms by allowing congregations or clergy to refuse to perform same-sex marriages in their churches. The religious protections provided in this bill are the strongest of any state that has legalized same-sex marriage thus far and I believe they strike a good balance between religious freedom and civil liberties. The Minnesota Senate is expected to vote on marriage equality on Monday, May 13th.
In these remaining days of the session the conference committee reports will be finalized and then brought to the respective floors of each body for a final vote and those that pass will go to the Governor's desk for his signature. I am serving as a member of the K-12 Education Conference Committee and we are working hard to put together a comprehensive package addressing voluntary all-day Kindergarten, early childhood scholarships and a redesigned assessment system supporting career and college readiness along with a range of other provisions. I hope to share the significant results of this work in my next update.
I appreciate your input the wide range of issues affecting Minnesota. Please continue to contact me with your comments and questions on any issues of concern. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-3248 or by email at rep.kathy.brynaert@house.mn. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Kathy Brynaert
State Representative
Mankato