A St. Paul Capitol Update...

What our Legislature has been up to:

Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) and the House Republican Caucus carried
the budget battle to House Democrats in a 17-hour flight that stretched
from mid-day on Wednesday until 5:24 on Thursday morning.

The battle will continue this afternoon and evening, as Republicans
battle the tax-and-spend-and-regulate Democrats.

Here is a summary of yesterday's work on four large bills. More
detailed and focused reports will follow as the debate continues through
the next week.

A. MYSTERIOUS SAVINGS: The House approved a bill to "eliminate" an
entire state agency, without making any visible savings for taxpayers.
The bill is House File 1048 by Rep. Gene Pelowski (D-Winona). It would
"eliminate" the Minnesota Department of Employee Relations ("DOER").
Rep. Paul Kohls (R-Victoria) pointed out that there would be virtually
no savings from the bill. All but one of the DOER employees and their
jobs will be moved to other agencies. Only Commissioner Patricia
Anderson's job will be eliminated. Any savings from that cut will be
more than eaten up by new letterhead, business cards, and other expenses
of moving bureaucrats from one cubicle to another.

B. VETERANS AND FARMERS: After an hour of debate, the House approved
House File 2227 by Rep. Al Juhnke (D-Willmar). The bill was the House
proposal for the two-year budget for agriculture, rural, and veterans'
programs. House Republicans fought for three key amendments. The
amendments were all defeated by heavy Democrat majorities.

1. Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) sought to delete the bill's higher
fees on farmers for marketing programs.

2. Rep. Buesgens then sought to eliminate the bill's higher fees on
food producers and sellers.

3. Rep. Dan Severson (R-Sauk Rapids) sought to provide more funding
for veterans who are Campus Liaison Representatives who advise veterans
on services and networks that are available to them when the return to
Minnesota's colleges and technical schools.

C. ENVIRONMENT AND COMMERCE BUDGET: In a 10-hour fight, Republicans
battled for taxpayers and free enterprise in a major budget bill.
Senate File 2096 was offered by Rep. Jean Wagenius (D-Minneapolis).

4. Rep. Paul Kohls (R-Victoria) led off the fight with a motion to
send the bill back to the House Committee on Finance because the bill
violated two provisions in the state constitution. First, the bill was
a tax bill, and the constitution requires such bills to start in the
House, and not the Senate. The bill contained numerous fees, and since
last summer, fees have been defined as "taxes" under state law. [That
provision was created by former Rep. Phil Krinkie of Shoreview.]
Second, the bill was constitutionally flawed because it contained more
than one subject. Democrats defeated this motion

5. Republicans temporarily pushed by Democrat efforts to drive up
electricity costs when they beat an amendment by Rep. Aaron Peterson
(D-Appleton) to force Xcel Energy to jump through more regulatory hoops
before it could buy electricity from a Canadian supplier. The amendment
was defeated on a 66-66 tie.

6. But minutes later, a similar amendment from Rep. Phyllis Kahn
(D-Minneapolis) passed and placed rate-payers in line for high
electricity bills.

7. Consumers lost another battle when Rep. Bill Hilty (D-Finlayson)
pushed through another $10 million of collections for dry-cask storage
for spent fuel rods at nuclear power plants.

8. Rep. Ron Erhardt (R-Edina) tried to save consumers $14 million in
new fees charged to investors, but was beaten on a narrow vote.

9. Rep. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake) tried to kill a provision that
will increase fees by five time on mortgage origination workers. This
will drive up the cost of homes and government.

10. Rep. Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon) offered the Governor's original
budget proposal for these state agencies, which would have save
taxpayers over $23 million. He was defeated.

11. Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) tried to block the Democrats'
increased fees on deer hunters.

12. Rep. Kurt Zellers(R-Maple Grove) tried to block the Democrats'
increased fees for fishing licenses for state visitors, a crucial part
of the state's tourism industry.

13. Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover) tried to block the Democrats'
increased fees on fishing contests.

14. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) tried to delete authorization for
bureaucrats to study how they can charge citizens for air and water.
[This is not made up. Democrats want top charge people for air and
water.]

15. Rep. Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon) tried to improve water quality by
shifting the Democrats' big spending increase on Metro Parks to grants
to Soil and Water Conservation District grants, in areas where there are
more direct challenges to clean water.

16. Rep. Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon) tried to improve water quality by
shifting funds from a study on sex-change trends among certain fish to
grants for improving water quality near feedlots.

17. Rep. Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield) tried to improve water quality by
shifting new funds for Metro-area parks to improving water quality at
the large Lake Zumbro area in southern Minnesota.

18. To spark a larger expansion of fishing and hunting in Minnesota,
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) tried to switch funds to hunter-and-angler
recruiting and retention programs from a program that purchases pontoon
boats in a few communities to take nursing home residents for a fishing
excursion.

19. Rep. Joyce Peppin (R-Rogers) tried to lift the state's moratorium
on considering the addition of more nuclear power. Minnesota is still
the only state with such a moratorium.

20. Rep. Joe Hoppe (R-Chaska) tried to modify the state's program for
raising elk and other cervidae.

21. Rep. Mike Beard (R-Shakopee) tried to modify the Democrats' plan
for regulating wild rice production and harvesting.

22. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) tried to hold down insurance premiums by
modifying the Democrats' plans on health-related lawsuits.

23. Rep. Ron Shimanski (R-Silver Lake) tried to improve recreation and
tourism regulations along the Crow River.

24. Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar) offered several amendments relating
to preserving recreational and tourism opportunities regarding off-road
trails for various vehicles, allowing DNR funds to expand opportunities
for recreational use of private lands, and hold down county costs for
road construction.

25. Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) and Denny McNamara (R-Hastings)
worked to give the DNR more flexibility in assigning conservation
officers to pressing projects.

26. Rep. Bud Heidgerken (R-Freeport) offered proposals to assist the
DNR with flexibility on conservation officers, and to restore certain
school funds that had been raided by Democrats.

27. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Eden Prairie) attempted to save investors an
extra $14 million in fees that Democrats want collected from brokers.

28. Rep. Paul Kohls (R-Victoria) tried to save consumers from
Democrats' plans to raise insurance premiums through expanded benefit
requirements and "opt-out" premium structures for car insurance.

29. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) tried to save consumers on car insurance
by making Minnesota the 43rd state to turn its back on "no fault"
insurance. Insurance rates have fallen markedly in states that used and
then rejected "no fault" insurance systems.

30. Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth) was a strong freshman voice on
many topics through the 17-hour debates on the four major bills.

D. PUBLIC SAFETY BILL

31. Rep. Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) tried to require Minneapolis and St.
Paul to allow police officers to ask about the immigration status of
suspicious characters. Under local ordinances, police officers in those
two cities are subject to discipline for asking about immigration
status, even if they have to ask those questions through an
interpreter.

32. Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) tried to make it a state law that
immigrants who apply for drivers' licenses must have a "status check"
message on the license to alert police to check the last date which the
immigrants may be in this country legally. Currently, this provision is
being carried out by DMV under an administrative ruling that could be
reversed unless it is placed in law.

33. Rep. Joyce Peppin (R-Rogers) tried to make the potential penalty
higher for criminal negligence that leads to the death of a vulnerable
adult higher than the current criminal penalty for neglect of an animal.
The current penalty is lower for fatal criminal neglect of an adult
than for non-fatal criminal neglect of an animal.

34. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) tried to shift the Democrats' new
spending on criminals leaving prison. Rep. Emmer wanted the money to go
to returning veterans instead.

35. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) tried to block the Democrats' plan to
allow trial lawyers to file two lawsuits (against an alleged wrongdoer
and the insurance company) arising from the same incident.

36. Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) tried to block the Democrats' new
fees on telephones.

37. Rep. Paul Kohls (R-Victoria) tried to reduce the costs of the
Democrats' plan to require junkyards to monitor their customers for
potential criminal activity.

38. Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover) tried to make it only a petty
misdemeanor and fine for the failure of a junkyard owner or employee to
properly monitor customers for potential illegal activity. The
Democrats' plan will provide for the possibility of jail time if an
owner or employee fails to register sales or note check numbers on
payments to suppliers.

E. REPUBLICAN VICTORIES

39. Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City) succeeded with an amendment to bar
obese people from suing restaurants and food processors for making them
obese. That was in the Public Safety Bill.

40. Rep. Bud Heidgerken (R-Freeport) succeeded with an amendment that
will instruct the state's baseball leagues to allow returning veterans
to participate in play-off games, even if they could not attend enough
regular-season games to qualify for the post-season rosters.

41. Rep. Dennis Ozment (R-Rosemount) succeeded with an amendment to
provide counties with more information about biological data on their
areas as they prepare zoning and planning documents. That was in the
Environment Finance Bill.

42. Rep. Doug Magnus (R-Slayton) succeeded with an amendment to
correct an error in the Environment bill that will help farmers with
crop insurance.

43. Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City) succeeded with an amendment to
preserve the Green Leaf Lake State Recreation Area.

44. Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar) succeeded with an amendment to allow
trappers to apply for life-time licenses.

45. Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) succeeded with an amendment to make
it clear that the state was responsible for cleaning up state waters in
the event of a natural or environmental disaster. This cleared up some
ambiguities caused by recent court and agency holdings.

46. Rep. Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) succeeded with an amendment to
add lawyers to the Public Safety bill's ban on health professionals from
pursuing potential clients at accident scenes, hospitals, or
post-recovery settings.

47. Rep. Torrey Westrom (R-Maple Grove) succeeded with an amendment to
allow judges to consider trying 13-year-old defendants as adults for
serious crimes if the circumstances justify such a decision. "Emily's
Law" arises from the alleged murder of a young girl by a 13-year-old in
Fergus Falls last year.

48. Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) succeeded with an amendment to
stiffen potential sentences arising from criminal vehicular homicide.

49. Rep. Dean Simpson (R-Perham) succeeded with an amendment to
maintain criminal penalties for passing bad check worth at least $500.

50. Rep. Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton) succeeded with an amendment to
allow paramedics to wear communications headsets while driving on duty.

51. Rep. Steve Smith (R-Mound) succeeded with an amendment to adjust
assessments on child support payments.

Today, House Republicans are expected to defend taxpayers from
Democrats' tax-and-spend-and-regulate plans in the State Government
Finance Bill and the K-12 Education Bill.

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