Monthly Archives: March 2012

Pre-Easter legislative adjournment looks less likely

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Many people under the Capitol dome say it feels like the Legislature is in its final days, but more and more it looks like lawmakers will take a break and return April 16 to wrap up work.

Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said lawmakers are working quickly, but it looks difficult to quit on Thursday, the last day before a long-planned Easter-Passover break begins. In the last week or so, the feeling of a Thursday adjournment appeared to be a goal but few observers see how that can happen.

If nothing else, passing a high-priority public works funding bill looks like it needs more than a week to negotiate widely differing proposals.

The governor wants to spend $776 million, plus he supports another $241 million for Capitol building renovations. The House is prepared to debate a bill to spend $280 million, with a separate bill to spend $221 million for the Capitol.

Senators had planned to debate on Friday a bill of just less than $500 million, including $25 million for the Capitol, but Senjem delayed debate a few days.

Such big differences seldom melt away in less than a week. That is especially true since House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said only a few Democrats may vote for it, and some Republicans likely will oppose it in the House, making its passage uncertain.

Thissen said Republicans have not worked with Democrats on the public works bill.

“We have a goal of adjournment in the very near future,” Senjem said. “We just can’t put a date on it yet.”

Senjem said committee chairmen have their marching orders, or maybe running orders: “We are pushing our chairs pretty hard, do it right, do it quickly.”

Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, who has urged early adjournment, said that so far he has not seen lawmakers make good use of taxpayers’ money this session. Few significant bills have passed so far.

Legislative notebook: House rejects hemp farming amendment

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Minnesota farmers still will not be able to grow hemp, the House decided Friday on a 74-52 vote.

When considering what otherwise was a noncontroversial farm bill, Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, offered an amendment to allow hemp farming once the federal government approves it.

Kahn said Minnesota farmers should have the same ability as those in North Dakota to grow the product that can be used for paper, fuel and other products.

“One of the favorite lotions that I have is made out of hemp,” Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, said, holding up a bottle of the product.

Northwestern Minnesota is a good place to grow hemp, added Rep. Kent Eken, DFL-Twin Valley, saying it would give farmers in his area another commodity they could grow to make money.

However, bill sponsor Rep. Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, said the proposal should have been considered by the Agriculture Committee, not by the full House.

Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, said law enforcement agencies oppose the hemp proposal because of its close relationship with marijuana.

Representatives also turned down attempts to allow a wider sale of raw milk and to urge the federal government to drop Cuba trade sanctions.

Stadium hearing near

Supporters of a Vikings stadium expect a House commerce committee hearing early next week.

Chairman Joe Hoppe, R-Chaska, said that he will not schedule a meeting until stadium supporters work out a back-up financing plan in case electronic pulltabs and bingo revenues fall short of expectations.

Hoppe said the Dayton administration, key legislators and charities that sponsor pulltab and bingo games are near agreement on the preferred funding mechanism, state revenues from charitable gambling. But the back-up plan is not ready.

House Speaker Kurt Zellers, not a stadium supporter, said he is disappointed with Gov. Mark Dayton comments that took charities to task.

Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said charities are just trying to make more money for things like ice rinks.

Sunday sales loses

Efforts to allow liquor stores to open on Sundays failed Friday in the Minnesota House.

A proposed amendment by Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, to an otherwise routine liquor-related bill failed 97-25. An attempt by Rep. John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove, to allow border county stores to sell liquor on Sundays failed 99-21.

“You will go across the river and see them piling up … on Sundays,” Drazkowski said.

Not everyone agreed.

“There is nobody crying for Sunday liquor sales,” Rep. Kerry Gauthier, DFL-Duluth, said.

Gauthier’s community is next to Wisconsin, which does allow Sunday sales. Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, said he is in a similar situation next to North Dakota, but his stores have not asked for Sunday sales.

“They believe their costs would go up,” Lanning said, because stores would be forced to be open another day.

Drazkowski, however, said the state is losing $145 million to other states.

Kriesel said he only has heard one argument against Sunday sales: “It has been that way forever.”

Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, said he does not drink, but supports Sunday sales. “You don’t have to go down, just because the liquor store is open, and buy a beer.”

The overall bill, which easily passed, included a provision like in a Senate bill to allow beer sales at the University of Minnesota football stadium.

Regent vote Wednesday

The House and Senate are to pick a replacement University of Minnesota regent Wednesday after Steve Sviggum resigned.

The two bodies will meet together at 6 p.m. to make the selection.

Sviggum, a former House speaker, resigned after being accused of having a conflict of interest for being Senate Republican spokesman while sitting on the non-partisan Board of Regents.

Earlier fishing opening?

Two northeastern Minnesota lawmakers want to amend outdoors bills making their way through the Legislature to open the fishing season a week earlier.

The fishing opener usually falls on Mother’s Day weekend, so Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, and David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, suggested advancing it a week.

“In what is shaping up to be a do-nothing legislative session, today we are offering a proposal that we hope will give citizens of Minnesota something to feel good about,” the two said in a joint statement.

They call the suggestion the “mom’s amendment.”

Trust land change

Senators voted 54-8 Friday to require the state to better manage land it hold to fund schools.

School trust lands, mostly in northern Minnesota, do not produce as much income as some legislators want. The bill senators passed requires the Department of Natural Resources to give “undivided loyalty” to making money from the land, Sen. Benjamin Kruse, R-Brooklyn Park, said.

A commission and a governor-appointed advisor would oversee school land profits, which would come from areas such as lumbering or selling mineral rights.

The House is to consider a more drastic change, to remove school trust land supervision from the DNR and giving the job to a newly created entity.

Senate uses budget reserve to fund business tax cuts

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Sieben

Minnesota’s Republican-controlled Senate approved business tax cuts Friday that Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton all but promises to veto.

The highlight of the GOP tax proposal senators passed 34-26 along party lines Friday night after two and a half hours of debate is a reduction in a statewide business property tax and its eventual elimination.

The bill by Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, would reduce the taxes $102 million next year. To fund the tax cut, the bill reduces state budget reserves.

“We should not have a honey pot,” Ortman said. “We do not need to keep $1.2 billion in reserve.”

She said that drawing down the state reserves via tax cuts is a good way to return tax money to Minnesotans.

Also in her bill, the state income tax law dealing with married couples would change to conform to federal law. She said that would save married couples $62 million in the next year.

The bill also would provide refunds to property taxpayers whose taxes rose more than $100 or 12 percent.

The longest debate of night was over a Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Cottage Grove, amendment proposal to eliminate what she called “loopholes” that allow some companies with foreign operations to pay lower taxes. The amendment failed 36-26.

Ortman said taxes would have risen $180 million.

Sieben called current tax breaks a “misguided policy” that could be eliminated, with money gained used to pay schools for money the state has borrowed from them.

The governor wrote to Ortman Friday that he wants property tax relief like she does. “However, I want it distributed fairly among all property taxpayers, including families, senior citizens, farmers and renters, as well as businesses.”

Dayton said he cannot support the bill because it would shoot holes in the state budget by an “ever-increasing amount.”

The governor gave Ortman a chart showing that in the past decade residential property taxes increased 295 percent, while business taxes rose just 57 percent.

Dayton thanked Ortman for not including a provision that is in the House bill to reduce state property tax refunds for renters.

Dayton suggested waiting to make major tax changes until Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans completes his tax system review.

Republicans said business tax cuts would help Minnesotans.

“Tax relief for businesses and job creators makes more capital available for investment, equipment, expansion and additional employees,” Sen. Joe Gimse, R-Willmar, said. “This is the type of legislation, a true jobs bill, which will help to grow the private sector economy.”

But Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbook, said that draining the budget reserve is not the way to fund tax cuts.

“You have to pay for what you want to do…” Skoe said. “No more deficit spending.”

A bill the House has passed also phases out the statewide business property tax, but there are several differences in the bills.

Sens. Joe Gimse, Roger Chamberlain

Racino proposal heads to full Senate

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What started out as a minor education-related bill Friday morphed into a measure allowing casinos at Minnesota’s two horse-racing tracks.

The so-called racino proposal now could receive a full Senate vote after it stalled earlier.

The Senate Finance Committee debated the issue more than two hours, causing a lengthy delay in a planned Senate tax debate, before approving the measure amid confusion and arguments.

Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, repeatedly tried to water down the racino provision, eventually failing amid disputes among Republicans. Hann and Sen. Richard Cohen, DFL-South St. Paul, unsuccessfully tried a variety of parliamentary maneuvers to stop the issue.

Hann is an outspoken opponent of expanding gambling.

However, Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said the state builds roads and otherwise helps tribal casinos, but gets no money in return.

Racino supporters say allowing slot machines at the two race tracks would provide the state millions of dollars a year. Opponents say racinos would hurt tribal casinos and gambling is not the way to support state programs.

The racino issue has been discussed for years, but Gov. Mark Dayton says he is leery of it because tribes would keep the issue tied up in court for years.

Gay-marriage debate expands around state

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Red Wing residents at Capitol rally

By Danielle Nordine

Advocates on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate say they are making progress and will continue to reach out to Minnesotan voters before they cast ballots on the issue this fall.

A proposed constitutional amendment voters will decide Nov. 6 would define marriage as between a man and a woman, outlawing same-sex marriage. It already is illegal in Minnesota, but putting the provision in the Constitution would make that more difficult to change.

As the election approaches, both sides are ramping up efforts and focusing on communities.

Gov. Mark Dayton told hundreds who oppose the amendment gathered at state Capitol Thursday he thinks the proponents’ campaign will be “destructive,” but said he hoped Minnesotans could come together to be the first state faced with the amendment to defeat it.

“I think Minnesota is better than that,” he said.

Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, encouraged those at the rally to spread their message through conversations and discussions within their communities.

Dibble, who is gay, said those in favor of the amendment are “not interested in civil discussion,” but such efforts would be more likely to sway voters.

Amendment supporters have been taking a similar approach.

Chuck Darrell, spokesman for Minnesota for Marriage, said outreach efforts have been going well so far and the group has been “especially pleased with the enthusiastic response.”

Minnesotans across the spectrum of race, age and religion have joined the group’s efforts, he said.

“In fact, we’re particularly proud of the diverse support we’re receiving,” he said. “A number of Minnesotans are standing up to say marriage needs to be preserved in our Constitution where activist judges and politicians can’t meddle with it.”

The group has been conducting pledge drives, running a call center and traveling around the state to speak in different communities. It also has been producing short videos answering key questions on why supporters back the amendment.

Efforts will only increase as the election approaches, both sides promised.

Sue Anderson of Duluth said she attended Thursday’s rally to “stand in solidarity with young people.”

She said as she gets older, she has noticed the difficulties couples who are not married face and wants to change that. She said those hurdles include owning real estate together, visiting rights in hospitals and handling inheritances.

“It could cost us thousands to deal with those issues and it still wouldn’t guarantee anything,” Anderson said.

Anderson and her partner will celebrate 28 years together on Sunday.

Members of the group Duluth United for All Families have been running phone banks and talking with community members, especially in faith communities, Anderson said. As the election approaches those efforts will increase, she said.

Bruce Ause of the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays group in Red Wing said he and his wife Kathy joined the group when his daughter came out and have since been “fighting for fairness and equality for all families.”

Speaking before the crowd on the Capitol lawn, he said members of the Red Wing community have been pitching in to fight the amendment, and PFLAG has been recruiting volunteers and holding informational events.

Ause thanked Republican Reps. Tim Kelly of Red Wing and John Kriesel of Cottage Grove for deviating from their party and voting against the amendment when it was before the Legislature last year.

“We are confident Minnesota can make history by being the first state in the country to defeat this attempt to enshrine discrimination in our Constitution,” Ause told a cheering crowd.

—-

More information on the gay-marriage issue is available at:

– www.minnesotaformarriage.com

– mnunited.org

Anderson

Legislative notebook: Permitting bill speeds way to Dayton’s desk

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A bill to continue a process started last year to speed up business permits awaits Gov. Mark Dayton’s signature.

The House approved a measure 92-36 and the Senate 51-15 Thursday that sets a 150-day goal for state agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources and Pollution Control Agency to approve permits for business construction.

“This bill will again create jobs around our state,” Senate bill author Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said.

Thursday’s bill follows one passed a year ago that started to speed permitting. The problem backers see is that long permit delays kill business expansion or delay hiring new workers.

Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, complained that the bill starts the 150-day clock even if a business’ permit application is not complete. He also did not like a provision that he said will allow experts businesses hire to basically write the permits for businesses.

“The bill we passed today provides more options and different ways for project proposers to efficiently and effectively move applications through the permit process,” House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said.

DFL bonding fails

House Republicans easily turned back a Democratic-Farmer-Laborite effort Thursday to pass a public works funding bill the size Gov. Mark Dayton wants.

The House rejected 71-59 a DFL plan to spend $775 million, financed by the state selling bonds. The House Republican plan would spend $280 million.

Democrats and Twin Cities lawmakers complain that the GOP plan has little to offer their districts.

The House probably will not vote on the bonding plan until next week, although it may consider a $221 million proposal to renovate the state Capitol building on Friday.

Senators are expected to debate their nearly $500 million bonding proposal Friday.

Contract needed

A bill Rep. Steve Drazkowski says limits “out-of-control, auto-pilot” state union contracts passed the House 68-63 Thursday.

It forbids the state from providing any pay or benefit increases after a contract expires and before a new contract is signed.

Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, said the state too often allows raises even after a contract expires.

A similar bill awaits Senate action.

Teacher bill a no-go

A Republican bill to allow school districts to base layoffs on factors other than seniority is a non-starter for Gov. Mark Dayton.

Dayton made the remarks Thursday as negotiators worked out slight differences between what the House and Senate already have passed.

Controlling crossings

Gov. Mark Dayton signed into a law Thursday a bill that requires all new school buses to have an arm that can extend from the front bumper.

The crossing control arm would extend when a bus is stopped. It is designed to prevent children from crossing in front of a school bus, a place where drivers often cannot see.

Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, authored the bill and as the Legislature neared adjournment last year he was upset that lawmakers were not taking up the bill. He said the delay could have killed children.

Most school buses in cities have the arms, but few in rural areas.

Howes said he knew of at least two deaths caused by bus drivers not seeing the children. A crossing control arm, he said, could have prevented the deaths.

Dayton also signed a bill that allows retired principals to temporarily fill in as a principal without the need to complete continuing education requirements.

Anglers fear warm weather kills Minnesota fish

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Minnesotans expect temperatures in the 70s, maybe reaching the 80s in places, when April debuts Sunday, but the continued warm weather worries anglers.

The record-breaking 2012 warmth is hurting their sport and businesses that support it after a series of warmer-than-normal winters. They fear it will kill game fish.

“We are very concerned about keeping our rural communities healthy,” said John Lenczewski, executive director of Minnesota Trout Unlimited.

About 2 million Minnesota anglers provide for a $4.8 million in economic activity and 43,000 jobs.

Outdoors and conservation groups Thursday said the warm weather is hurting fish that need cold weather. They fear some fish may die off as water temperatures rise, providing an opening for invasive species such as Asian carp to move in.

“Trout, steelhead and salmon are cold water species,” Lenczewski said, and warm weather threatens them.

Early snowmelts with less snow force fish to live in shallower water, he added, which reduces fish numbers.

In most of Minnesota, especially the north, ice fishing is important to the economy, said Keith Blomstrom, president of the Minnesota Conservation Federation.

“There are icehouses for sale all over in north Minnesota,” Blomstrom said. “Snowmobiling is a thing of the past.”

Restaurants, bars and other businesses that depend on outdoors-related business “are hurting all over northern Minnesotan,” he said.

State officials tracking recreation businesses have no reports of any permanently closing because of the warming climate, but some ski resorts have dealt with shorter seasons.

Blomstrom, who has a cabin near Breezy Point, said that “the ice is unsafe. I told my family we are not doing this anymore.”

Eelpout and other cold-weather fish are disappearing, Blomstrom said.

The state Department of Natural Resources is studying how the warming trend affects fish.

Cisco fish, related to the salmon, are one of the keys, according to the DNR’s Andy Carlson. They live in cold water, and even in the summer need cool water in the bottom of lakes.

The species has been on the decline for 20 years, which affects food for larger game fish anglers want.

“It is something that we are starting to look at the implications,” Carlson said.

Minnesota’s marquee fish, the walleye, may be affected by a warmer climate, but Minnesota “will likely always be a very good for growing walleye,” Carlson said.

As temperatures climb, he added, walleye may grow faster in warmer waters and there may be more in central Minnesota waters.

The outdoors groups said moose, ducks and even robins also are adversely affected by warm weather. Blomstrom said that he is worried that birds will lay eggs early this year, but be threatened by frost later this spring.

Senate bonding bill sets up three-way talks

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Tomassoni, Magnus

One of the 2012 Minnesota Legislature’s prime tasks is to approve public facility repair and construction funds, but the three proposals vary widely as lawmakers look to wrap up their work for the year.

The final of the three public works funding plans, from Senate Republicans, overwhelmingly earned its initial committee passage Wednesday. It would spend $496 million, between House Republicans’ $280 million and Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s $756 million.

The public works bills, funded by the state selling bonds, are more complex than raw numbers show.

For instance, the three sides deal differently with how to renovate the state Capitol building: The Senate would pay $25 million to fix the Capitol’s exterior, the House is looking at a $221 million bill separate from its main bonding proposal for an extensive repair job and Dayton supports a $241 million project but included none of that in his bonding proposal.

Senators probably will vote on their measure Friday and the House also could vote this week, with some lawmakers hoping to adjourn for the year by the end of next week.

Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, also public works financing chairman, repeatedly resisted efforts Wednesday to significantly change his bill, indicating several times that the bonding bill “is a very tender, gentle” process and any change could affect its support.

Republicans who control the House and Senate generally want smaller bonding bills, leaving Senjem and House bonding Chairman Larry Howes, R-Walker, walking a tightrope to get support from both parties.

Several Democrats on Senjem’s committee complained his bill spends too little. Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, hoped and predicted spending would grow by the time the bill reaches Democrat Dayton’s desk.

Senjem rejected that idea. When added to last year’s bonding bill, this one would mean the state would spend $1 billion in the two-year legislative session. He said that is the most the GOP can stomach.

Sen. LeRoy Stumpf, DFL-Plummer, was worried about the vast differences with the House plan.

“There obviously are significant differences,” Senjem said. “It is going to be an effort.”

Senators of both parties encouraged Senjem to increase spending in several areas.

Sen. Doug Magnus, R-Slayton, said $20 million for local bridge replacement and $14.5 million for local road work is too little.

“I would like to see more money in there,” he said.

Senjem responded: “There is an awful lot of competition for money in this bill.”

Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, did not like the lack of funding for northern Minnesota projects: “People can’t accuse this bill of money flowing north.”

Kent Lokkesmoe of the Department of Natural Resources said he is concerned that the Senate bill includes no money for dam repair and removal. Dayton’s plan would spend $7 million, while the House bill lists $3 million.

Byllesby Dam on the border of Dakota and Goodhue counties and upstream of Cannon Falls needs to be fixed, Lokkesmoe said, to prevent a breach.

Langseth ran for one last term in the Senate to funding flood-control projects along the Red River and elsewhere in the state. The Senate bill would provide $30 million out of $40 million the Department of Natural Resources says is needed, a figure Langseth said he can live with.

The House bill includes $4.4 million in flood money and Dayton suggests $20 million.

There are differences like that throughout the three proposals.

For instance, Dayton wants $78 million for University of Minnesota repairs and construction while the House and Senate each set the amount at $39 million. For Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses, however, the Senate suggests spending $127 million, Dayton $112 million and the House $56 million.

University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler said the school wants $170 million.

“I am deeply concerned that the Legislature’s poor funding for the University of Minnesota will have grave impacts on our students and the university’s contributions to the state,” Kaler said. “The House and Senate funding levels are woefully inadequate to meet critical needs. They harm our ability to modernize our aging infrastructure and reduce our cost of operations.”

Legislative notebook: House OKs tougher synthetic drugs penalties

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Minnesota representatives heard about problems from Duluth to Moorhead before overwhelmingly voting to crack down on synthetic drugs.

On a 120-11 Wednesday vote, the House decided to make 250 more chemicals illegal, slap more severe penalties on those who sell the drugs and make it possible for the state Pharmacy Board to quickly act to add new drugs to the illegal list.

“While they may seem something like marijuana, they are nothing like marijuana,” Rep. Bob Barrett, R-Shafer, said substances often known as synthetic marijuana.

Lawmakers passed a bill a year ago to limit synthetic drugs, but some business owners would rather pay a fine than stop selling the profitable substances, Barrett said.

“They feel that paying a small fine is a good business decision,” Barrett said, talking about a Duluth store. “We want to change this concept from a business decision to whether they want to spend five years in prison.”

From the other side of the state, Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, said his area has seen an influx of North Dakotans, whose state already outlaws synthetic drugs.

One of the problems with previous laws is that drug makers change formulas enough so the new chemical is legal.

“Every time you turn around, someone comes up with a new concoction,” Lanning said.

Businesses are “making huge profits at the expense of those people using these drugs,” Lanning said.

An advantage to passing the bill is that it would aid law enforcement officers in charging those under the influence of synthetic drugs while driving, Rep. Kerry Gauthier, DFL-Duluth, said.

Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, worried that so many people would be imprisoned under the proposal that it would cause the state “a huge fiscal impact.”

A similar bill awaits Senate action.

Health plan OK’d

The Senate approved a Republican proposal that would create a health insurance purchasing plan 37-27 Wednesday.

The proposal would allow those without insurance to set up trust accounts managed by administrators to purchase health insurance. A number of different sources could contribute to the account, from employers to family members.

The plan is in reaction to part of a new federal health-care law.

It would create a mainly online exchange for people and small businesses to compare and purchase insurance.

“We need to find a way to make insurance work for us,” bill author Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said “This is a step in the direction of empowering the marketplace and making it possible for more people to participate in that marketplace.”

Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton has said he opposes the approach taken by Republicans to address the health insurance changes.

Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, said the proposal did not go through the Health and Human Services Committee.

“The denial of the voices of so many people across this state to come and speak to the health effects of this bill and effects on consumers is just wrong,” Lourey said. “Had we brought this bill through the proper committees we might actually have learned a little something and been able to work together.”

He also said the proposal would provide no support or protection for consumers.

An amendment approved on the floor eliminated the creation of a task force meant to evaluate existing health insurance purchasing tools and develop recommendations for improving them.

Belly up to bar

University of Minnesota football fans could buy alcoholic beverages at home games under a provision senators approved Wednesday.

“I think it is a very good compromise,” Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, said of the plan to allow liquor sales during the first half of games at TCF Bank Stadium.

Sales could be in a beer garden.

The plan was approved on a voice vote as an amendment to a larger liquor-related bill that easily passed.

The university would need to work out alcohol sales details.

A bill awaiting a House vote has a similar provision.

School speech limited

House Republicans won a battle 73-60 Wednesday to stop school workers’ use of publically funded equipment to advocate political views while on school time.

Democrats blasted the bill by Rep. Kurt Bills, R-Rosemount, as violating the constitutional freedom of speech right.

Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, said teachers are supposed to encourage students to express themselves, but the Bills bill says that doesn’t apply to teachers. He called it “very damaging to the profession and very damaging to the democracy.”

Bills and other Republicans said teachers and other school employees should not be allowed to advocate about elections and candidates or solicit political funds on school time.

A similar bill awaits Senate action.

Senate falls between Dayton, House bonding proposals

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Sens. James Metzen, Keith Langseth

A Senate committee vote this morning sets up complex three-way negotiations about funding public works projects.

The Senate Capital Investment Committee overwhelmingly approved selling $496 million in bonds to fund public works projects such as fixing state facilities and helping communities pay for sewer systems.

It is the third proposal and falls in the middle of the other two. A House bill would spend $280 million, and Gov. Mark Dayton proposes $761 million.

To further complicate things, the three sides vary widely on how to renovate the Capitol: The Senate would pay $25 million to fix the Capitol’s exterior, the House is looking at a $221 million bill separate from its main bonding proposal for an extensive repair job and Dayton supports a $241 million project but included none of that in his bonding proposal.

Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, also public works financing chairman, resisted efforts to significantly change his bill, indicating several times during a two-hour meeting that the bonding bill “is a very tender, gentle” process and any change could affect its support.

“I just don’t want to raise the temperature,” he said.

Republicans who control the House and Senate generally support smaller bonding bills, leaving Senjem and House bonding Chairman Larry Howes, R-Walker, walking a tightrope to get support.

Several Democrats on Senjem’s committee complained his bill spends too little, the Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, predicted spending would grow by the time the bill reaches Democrat Dayton’s desk.

Senjem threw cold water on that idea. When added to last year’s bonding bill, this one would mean the state would spend $1 billion in the two-year legislative session. He said that is the most the GOP can stomach.

The Senate bill is expected to pass out of the Finance Committee Thursday and receive a full Senate vote Friday. The final committee vote on Howe’s House bill is expected later today.

Once the House and Senate pass their bonding bills, they will go to a conference committee to work out the major differences between them. Dayton aides also may be involved in the committee discussion.

Often, a bonding bill gets tied up with other issues as a legislative session ends, but Langseth said he hopes politics do not derail bonding this year.

Langseth ran for one last term in the Senate to funding flood-control projects along the Red River and elsewhere in the state. The Senate bill would provide $30 million out of $40 million the Department of Natural Resources says is needed, a figure Langseth said he can live with.

The House bill includes $4.4 million in flood money and Dayton suggests $20 million.

There are differences like that throughout the three proposals.

For instance, Dayton wants $78 million for University of Minnesota repairs and construction while the House and Senate each set the amount at $39 million. For Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses, however, the Senate suggests spending $127 million, Dayton $112 million and the House $56 million.

Lawmakers want to keep Facebook passwords private

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Franson

Conservative and liberal Minnesota legislators are combining efforts to stop a business practice they say invades job applicants’ privacy.

National reports in recent days have told of employers, both private and public, demanding passwords for social Internet sites potential employees use. The employers then have access to personal information of the job applicant.

“We want to protect the privacy of those job seekers,” Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, said about her bill.

“It’s a huge invasion of privacy,” added Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing.

The issue brings together some of the most conservative lawmakers, like Franson, and those among the most liberal, such as Melin and other Democrats who co-sponsor the newly introduced bill.

They join the American Civil Liberties Union and Google in opposing the practice.

“In recent months, we’ve seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information,” Google privacy officer Erin Egan wrote in a Friday blog. “This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends.”

Facebook and other social networking sites make some information available to the general public, but more personal is available with people who have an account’s password.

Often, information available on such sites includes some that it is illegal for potential employers to ask, such as marital status and if the person has children.

“What right do they have?” Franson asked.

The outspoken conservative said information that could be obtained includes political affiliation or whether an applicant parties a lot.

“Our personal life is our personal life,” Franson said.

Young people often publish personal information to public Internet sites, Franson said. The media often reports about posts from years earlier that came back to haunt people.

“This is a great thing to teach your kids,” Franson said. “It’s going to hurt you the rest of your life.”

With jobs hard to find in Minnesota, Melin said, this is not the time to hamper people from getting jobs. However, she added, she has not heard about people in her area being asked to share passwords with potential employers.

“Employers are using this to weed people out,” Melin said.

While most legislative deadlines have passed, Franson said that she hopes her bill can be amended onto another bill and pass this legislative session. Melin said at least the bill opens discussion on the topic so next year’s Legislature could take action.

Melin

Legislative notebook: Bill allows licenses to be sold in shutdown

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Senators voted 41-24 to keep hunting and fishing license sales going if state government shuts down like last summer.

“I saw firsthand how people were hurt by not allowing them to buy a fishing license,” Sen. Paul Gazelka, R-Brainerd, said Tuesday about why he brought the bill.

The state lost $3 million in revenue during the 2011 shutdown, Gazelka said, but “the tourism industry lost far, far, far more than that.”

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said some people plan hunting and fishing trips more than a half-year in advance. “To lose that kind of revenue is totally irresponsible.”

Democrats who blame Republicans for last year’s budget impasse that led to the shutdown said bills like Gazelka’s send the wrong message.

“This is another one of those bills where we expect the Legislature to not gets its work done,” Sen. Mary Jo McGuire, DFL-Falcon Heights, said.

The bill would require on-line license sales only.

A similar bill by Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, awaits a House vote.

Several bills making their way through the Legislature exempt a variety of programs from being affected by shutdowns.

Panel OKs Capitol fix

The full House is the next stop for a $221 million state Capitol building repair plan.

The House Ways and Means Committee overwhelmingly approved the project Tuesday after bill sponsor Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, said he talked to Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton Monday night.

“The governor is on record of fully supporting this plan,” Howes said.

The plan is to renovate the building’s exterior, heating and air conditioning system, lighting and other parts of the domed facility.

Much of the work in the next year would be planning and most construction work would be wrapped up in 2016. Capitol occupants would be forced out of the building during construction, although state leaders hope to keep the House and Senate chambers available during legislative sessions.

Rep. Lyndon Carlson, DFL-Crystal, said he is reluctant to tie up state money for that long when other public works projects also need money. He suggested the Legislature approve renovation spending over a period of years.

“It crowds out other needed projects across the state of Minnesota,” Carlson said.

However, Wayne Waslaski of the Administration Department said that phasing in the project could drive up costs because companies would be less willing to give their best prices without the assurance of on-going funding.

Bonding bill coming

Senate Republicans plan to release their public works funding proposal Wednesday morning.

Senate spokesman Steve Sviggum said final touches were being put on the bill Tuesday, and the Senate Capital Investment Committee planned to discuss it first thing Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, also capital investment chairman, has said he expects the bill to propose spending about $500 million.

The Senate is expected to fold projects such as fixing college buildings in with funds to restore the state Capitol Building. The House proposes funding those projects, financed by the state selling bonds, in separate bills that total about $500 million.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton proposes $776 million in public works projects, a level Republicans say is too high. Dayton does not include Capitol work in his plan.

No end set

Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem says rumors about the Legislature adjourning before Easter are not true, yet.

“There is no plan for adjournment at this point,” the Rochester Republican said. “We are on a glide path. We are not sure when the wheels will touch the ground.”

However, he added, the Senate “is working on a more accelerated basis right now.”

Talk about adjourning on April 5 has accelerated in recent days. Otherwise, that will be the last day before the traditional Easter-Passover recess that would last until April 16.

“There is no specific commitment to an April 5 adjournment date,” Senjem said.

Earlier, lawmakers were working toward an April 30 adjournment for the year.

House Tax Chairman Greg Davids, R-Preston, said it is “practically impossible” to adjourn by Easter, citing the need to vote on jobs, Capitol restoration, public works, stadium and school funding bills.

Ethics meeting delayed

No meeting date has been set to resume an ethics inquiry into Sen. Geoff Michel, R-Edina.

Chairwoman Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville, said on Tuesday that a Senate attorney suggests that the ethics committee may be dealing with issues that could hurt in a probable lawsuit.

Fischbach said: “The situation is unprecedented.”

Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, brought ethics charges against Michel, claiming he did not properly handle the fallout of an affair between then-Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, and Senate aide Michael Brodkorb.

A lawsuit is threatened by Brodkorb, and an attorney the Senate has hired fears ethics committee testimony could affect the court case.

“We have a situation before us that needs to be handled gently and fairly,” Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said.

Ticket transfer OK’d

The House Tuesday approved a bill 83-50 allowing Minnesotans to transfer electronic tickets.

As it is, some ticket sellers restrict whether buyers may resell or transfer electronic tickets. Many sports, concert and other ticket sellers oppose the bill.