Dear Neighbors,
The legislative session is now in its fourth week. Tomorrowmarks what’s referred to as the “First Committee Deadline.” This means that unless a bill passes all necessary committees in either the House or the Senate by close of businesstomorrow, with a few exceptions, it’s dead for the session. A week from Friday is the “Second Committee Deadline,” when bills meeting the first deadline in one body need to pass out of committee in the other body.
These deadlines mean that the number of bills eligible to become law this year will be winnowed significantly from the 3,725 that have been introduced this biennium. Major finance bills are subject to the “Third Committee Deadline” which isn’t until April 21. The Capital Investment, Ways and Means, Taxes, and Rules Committees aren’t subject to these deadlines. We’re still waiting for significant progress in the “big ticket” areas like taxes, transportation, and bonding, so stay tuned.
REAL ID
By a vote of 125-2, on Tuesday night the House passed a bill enabling us to – finally – move toward implementation of federal REAL ID requirements. As many of you know – because I’ve heard from many of you about it – the federal government has imposed a deadline of January 22, 2018 for Minnesota driver’s licenses to be given the necessary security enhancements to comply with this act, passed by Congress in 2005, so there will be no question whether Minnesotans can board commercial aircraft and enter some federal facilities. This follows an extended grace period of two years we were given by the feds back in January.
Tuesday’s bill removes a prohibition on state officials taking steps to plan for REAL ID implementation. Another bill will be coming forward later in the session to fully implement this, and will ideally address any costs that may be incurred by citizens, the Department of Public Safety, MnDOT, and our deputy registrars to get this program running. I must say that after many working group meetings in the interim, it’s discouraging that it took us over three weeks to enact this small, simple step toward passing something vitally important to so many Minnesotans.
Alzheimer’s Day
Many folks visited the Capitol on Tuesday for the Minnesota Alzheimer’s Association Rally Day. Currently, there are over 89,000 Minnesotans with Alzheimer's disease and 248,000 caregivers for these individuals. By 2025, estimates show that 120,000 Minnesotans will be living with the disease. One in three seniors die as a result of Alzheimer’s or other dementias.Simply, this is one of the most crucial public health issues facing us.
ACT on Alzheimer’s of Mankato and North Mankato provides countless resources to those in the community including friends, family members, and care providers of those struck by these conditions. I invite you to check out their website here.
Family Farm Breakfast
This morning I had the privilege of attending the Land Stewardship Project’s annual Family Farm Breakfast. It’s dubbed “the Best Breakfast in Town,” and after a tasty helping of locally grown eggs, sausage, and steel cut oats, you will find no argument from me. We got to hear from Dean Brian Buhr of the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences Department (CFANS) about their “Forever Green” initiative to make Minnesota’s cropland more productive, more efficient and more environmentally sustainable. Family farmers are doing great work in this area, and I hope the Legislature can continue to support these efforts.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, feedback, or other input on issues important to me.
Sincerely,
Jack Considine
State Representative