Capitol Update #4 - March 12, 2013

Capitol Update – March 12

Things have been kicking into high gear! We are approaching first deadline, where every bill must be through their first policy committee in either the House or the Senate. Committee meetings have full agendas, and we are frequently meeting during evening hours to discuss bills before we reach the deadline.

Eagan’s State of the City: The 2013 State of the City address will begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 21, with a 30-minute meet-and-greet starting at 7:30 a.m. The public is welcome to attend the event at the Eagan Community Center, view it live on E-TV Channel 16 or via streaming video on the city's website.

City Council and Comcast: At a recent meeting, the Eagan City Council issued a letter to Senators Franken and Klobuchar, Representative John Kline, and the FCC, regarding local complaints about Comcast’s rate increases. The letter requested a restoration of local authority to regulate cable services, more transparency, and other standards related to consumer relations rights. Read more at the Pioneer Press and the Eagan Patch.

Dept. of Revenue offers free property tax filing: On March 25, 2013 the Minnesota Department of Revenue will begin offering free electronic filing for homeowners who qualify for a Property Tax Refund.  This is the first time the Department of Revenue has offered a free online filing solution for individual property taxes Click Here for an informational video on free filing.

Here’s what’s been happening in the committees that I serve on.

Transportation Committee

I presented two bills in Transportation Committee in the past two weeks. My first bill, SF 590, would provide pedestrian skyway accessibility and an elevator at a downtown St. Paul Light Rail station. Rick Cardenas of Advocating Change Together, a disability rights organization, testified for the bill. The bill passed through committee.

I also presented a bill, SF 851, that modifies disability parking restrictions to ensure that disability spaces are available to people that need them. It requires that space markers are affixed as to prevent theft and unauthorized relocation. This bill also passed and is headed to the Senate floor.

We also heard the Red Light Traffic Camera bill in Committee. The bill would have allowed cities to install cameras at high-traffic intersections to catch red-light runners. The bill failed on an eight to seven vote to move to Judiciary without recommendation.

Commerce Committee

In Commerce committee we discussed bills on fraud prevention, debt management and settlement, teacher insurance pools, a variety of liquor laws that will be combined into an omnibus liquor bill, and more.

Education Committee

In Education committee we heard the Safe and Supportive Schools Act. A 2011 study by the US Department of Education found that Minnesota had one of the weakest laws against bullying, harassment, and intimidation in the nation. Our “policy” was only 37 words long.  In 2012, Gov. Dayton established the Task Force on the Prevention of School Bullying to recommend changes and additions to current law related to student harassment and intimidation. The task force recommended a complete overhaul of the limited policy against bullying by repealing current law and implementing new definitions, reporting, training, and procedures on bullying.

This bill is much more comprehensive in detailing the definitions of bullying, harassment, and intimidation as prohibited conduct than current law. It emphasizes data collection on bullying and remediation as the preferred response to incidents of bullying.

Districts will be able to decide for themselves whether to adopt local policies against bullying that conform to the requirements under this bill or to adopt the state model policy.

The bill was heard in the Education Policy Committee, where it was recommended to pass and referred to the Judiciary Committee.

January DEED Report Shows Promising Job Recovery

Figures released this week by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) show that Minnesota gained 50,000 jobs since this time last year. In January alone, the state gained 12,100 jobs.  Along with this report, DEED released revised figures from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that we gained 16,700 more jobs over the past 21 months than previously reported. These numbers confirm we have recovered nearly 90% of the 160,000 jobs lost during the Great Recession.

Some highlights:

• All 11 industrial sectors show year-over-year growth rates for the first time in more than a decade.
• Of the industrial sectors, trade, transportation and utilities leads with 13,300 new jobs created over the past year.
• In 7 of the 11 industrial sectors, our state growth is outpacing the national growth.

State Economist Tom Stinson projects that we will return to pre-recession levels of employment by the fourth quarter of this year; nine months ahead of the nation as a whole. DEED’s report this week is good news for Minnesota. We hope that at this rate we will experience full job recovery very soon.

Governor Dayton Amends Budget Proposal

In light of the good news of a reduced deficit in the February forecast, as well as the input of constituents like yourself, and legislators sharing what they are hearing from their Districts, Governor Dayton announced on March 8 that the business to business tax included in his original budget proposal has been removed. As a result, the property tax $500 rebate will also likely be removed to maintain a structurally balanced proposal. The Governor also indicated that he is likely to retract the sales tax expansion and services tax, because he does not want the entire tax reform plan to be shouldered by consumers. More details on the amended budget proposal can be expected in the coming weeks.

We still face a deficit of $627 million, and we owe our schools $801 million. Since 2002, Minnesota has confronted significant budget deficits in eight out of 11 legislative sessions, totaling $21.1 billion. The books were balanced with $10.2 billion (48.4 percent of the total) in accounting shifts and gimmicks; $9 billion (43 percent) in spending reductions, and $1.8 billion (8.7 percent) in tax increases. Only Pawlenty's 2005 cigarette tax of 75 cents a pack presented new revenue for the budget.

Health Care Exchange Passes Senate

On Thursday in a marathon session (12 hours!) we heard SF 1, the Health Insurance Exchange. The Affordable Care Act directed states to create a health care exchange accessible by individuals, families and small businesses. Each state can create an exchange on their own or in partnership with other states. However, if our state fails to create an exchange then all Minnesotans wishing to purchase insurance through an exchange will have to use the Federal Exchange on January 1, 2014. We prefer doing it the Minnesota way.

Using the Health Impact Fee, instead of the 3.5% premium withhold that was proposed earlier, ensures that Minnesota will have a financing structure that will not result in increased premiums for our small businesses and consumers. Minnesota has a chance to continue as a national leader in delivering health care, so we should create an Exchange that best works for Minnesotans. The Legislature, the Commerce Department, the federal government and an independent external auditor are all charged with overseeing Exchange activities. Oversight for the board is expansive, which enables the public to observe the activities of the Exchange and will ensure that it is operating in a way that is best for Minnesotans.

The Active Purchaser model provides leverage for the Exchange to negotiate for the consumer, creating more competition and better products for purchasers. One of the main goals of smart purchasing is to use market leverage to achieve better value for consumers. 

The model will grant the board the authority that it needs to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars with premium tax credits and subsides. An Active Purchaser Exchange can ensure that insurance carriers meet quality and transparency standards to ensure responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

The Exchange is governed by a seven member board: three members from consumer groups, three health experts and the Commissioner of Human Services, all of whom are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The Exchange will be regulated by the Department of Commerce and is established as an agency under the Executive Branch.

The members of the board are subject to a financial conflict of interest provision in which no member can serve on the board within one year of being employed or having some other financial tie to an entity that is selling products on the Exchange. 

Why a Minnesota Exchange?

• A Minnesota exchange will cost less per person than participation in the federal exchange.
• Our insurance companies will pay less in the premium withholds, and our consumers will receive coverage delivered at a lower cost.
• Minnesota already has data on cost, quality, provider networks, etc. The federal government does not have this data and will not have it for their exchange.
• A Minnesota Exchange will contain provider network information (People want to know which doctors they are going to be able to see) and could include provider quality ratings (which doctors are best for diabetes, asthma, etc). 

Marriage Equality Legislation Introduced

At a Feb. 27 press conference, legislation was introduced to allow the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Minnesota. The bill includes robust exemptions for religious organizations from being required to recognize or host same-sex marriages.

Senate bills allow for only five  authors, so when legislators want to express strong support for a bill they author so-called “clone” legislation; an identical bill that is introduced for symbolic purposes. I signed on to SF 1015, which is a “clone” of Senator Dibble’s bill, SF 925. I am strongly supportive of expanding marriage rights to Minnesotans regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Early Voting Discussion

Laws in other states that allow early voting similar to the bills proposed in Minnesota have been upheld by federal courts.

• Federal courts have noted that the states have “discretion and flexibility in establishing the time, place and manner of electing its federal representatives as long as the state system does not directly conflict with federal election law.”
• When early voting proposals are not tabulated before federal Election Days, the system is not inconsistent with federal law.

When election systems are strict in requiring voting on Election Day, many citizens are disenfranchised, including members of the armed services stationed away from home, the elderly, the ill and people whose circumstances do not allow them to take time off of work.

Early Voting in the Midwest

• Of 12 Midwestern states, 9 have early voting available (IL, IN, IA, KS, NE, ND, OH, SD, and WI).
• Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota are the 3 that do not.
• 8 of these 12 states have no-excuse absentee voting (IL, IA, KS, NE, ND, OH, SD and WI).

Lawmakers Discuss Raising the Minimum Wage

The Senate Jobs committee this week discussed five proposals on raising Minnesota’s minimum wage. Currently, the state’s minimum wage is $6.15; allowing many businesses to fall under the Federal minimum wage of $7.25.

Minimum wage increases varied between proposals, with many phasing in wage increases each year for the first couple of years following passage of the bill. While the cost of everything has gone up, minimum wage has remained stagnant and does not reflect the true cost associated with goods and services. When people have more spending power, the whole economy improves.

Legislation to Protect Older Minnesotans from Wire Transfer Fraud

Legislation was heard in the Commerce Committee this week to protect older Minnesotans from wire transfer fraud. The bill was in response to the tens of thousands of older Minnesotans who have been scammed by making wire transfers.

Scam artists often target seniors and use wire transfers because fraudulent activity is hard to track and law enforcement agencies have few tools to stop the fraud.

Specifically, the legislation:

• Requires wire transfer companies to confirm the location provided by the sender is the location where the money ends up.  This is important because too often, the sender believes the money is going to help a grandchild or a friend in a particular state or country–but the money is actually being transferred to a fraud “hotspot” in a different location.
• Providing more authority to the Department of Commerce to protect consumers by increasing penalties and regulatory actions against this type of organized fraud.
• Requiring wire transfer companies to provide a confirmation of the money sent and who picked up the transaction.
• Allowing a sender to be put on a “do not send” list to prevent repeated transfers.

Since only 5% of these crimes are reported and law enforcement is limited in its ability to track and stop the fraud, this legislation will help prevent it from happening in the first place. The bill passed out of the Commerce Committee on March 6 and was re-referred to Judiciary Committee.

Thank you for your interest in our community and our state. I am thankful to be serving our district and Minnesota this session.  You can also keep up with me at my Senate website, click on the “In Touch with Senator Carlson” link at www.senate.mn/senatorcarlson.

Sincerely,

Jim Carlson