Oh how do I screw up your life--let me count the ways!

Top Ten Votes this past week:

The Minnesota House cast 65 roll call votes last week. Here are ten of those votes. You might rank them differently. [The date and page in the House Journal for the vote is provided.



1. NO TOWING OR IMPOUND FEES FOR WELFARE RECIPIENTS: Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-Lindstrom) offered an amendment to HF 1351 (Hornstein) (Transportation Policy Bill). The successful amendment will waive towing and impoundment fees on, and vacate judgments against, owners of towed cars if they are on one of Minnesota’s twelve major welfare programs.



The welfare programs include: the Minnesota Family Investment Program, The Diversionary

Work Program, Medical Assistance, General Assistance, General Assistance Medical Care,

Emergency General Assistance, Minnesota Supplemental Aid, Minnesota Supplemental

Aid/Emergency Assistance, Supplemental Security Income, the Low-Income Heating and

Energy Assistance Program, Emergency Assistance, or Food Stamps.



· Don’t focus on the fact that Minnesota has those twelve programs.

· Don’t focus on the fact that while the guy across the street in the subsidized apartment is sleeping in because the tow truck will pull his car out of the snow for free, you are digging and scraping in the cold.

· Don’t focus on the fact that your taxes will pay for his towing and impoundment costs.

· Focus on the fact that 85 Representatives thought this was a good idea.



The Kalin amendment passed by an 85-47 margin. [05/10; HJ page 6255]



2. SEX OFFENDERS AND ALEC BALDWIN CAN SMOKE, BUT YOU CAN’T: The House passed the conference report on SF 238 (Huntley) (Smoking Ban).



The bill bars smoking in virtually all public places, including bars and bowling alleys. But smoking is permitted for sex offenders who are civilly committed to the St. Hospital in St. Peter, and for actors who are appearing on stage in a Minnesota production.



The Conference Report passed by an 81-48 margin. [05/11; HJ page 6581]



3. A QUICK RAISE FOR LEGISLATORS: The House voted to eliminate the ceiling on fees which Notaries Public can charge for attesting that someone has signed a document in their presence. That language replaced the first language in SF 463 by Rep. Melissa Hortman (D-Brooklyn Park), which would have just raised the fee by 50%. Now, notaries can charge whatever they want.



Oh, and by the way, every Representative is automatically granted the right to be a Notary Public, so this was a potential pay raise that just slipped right through.



Rep. Hortman’s amendment to her own bill passed by an 85-47 margin. [05/10; HJ page 6297]



4. A 30% HIKE IN ELECTRICITY BILLS IN WESTERN MINNESOTA: Rep. Marty Seifert lost on an amendment to yet another “global warming” bill. His amendment would have deleted a provision in SF 145 (Hilty) (More restrictions on power utilities).



The provision is expected to raise electric bills in western Minnesota by 30%, because it bars the construction of a new electrical plant or the purchase of electricity from other regions unless high fees and regulatory costs are paid.



Rep. Seifert failed to get the provision taken out of the bill when his amendment failed by a 50-78 margin. [05/11; HJ page 6560]



5. THE PRACTICE FREEWAY: There is a stretch of Interstate 35E in St. Paul where the six-lane freeway has a speed limit of 45 miles per hour or less. Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) tried to raise that speed limit to 55 miles per hour.



His amendment to HF 1351 (Hornstein) (Transportation Policy Bill) lost by a 40-92 margin. [05/10; HJ page 6249]



6. PUTTING MORE COSTS AND LIABILITIES ON SMALL BUSINESS: The House passed to HF 1758 (Davnie) which imposes costs and expands liabilities on businesses which accept credit cards if someone hacks into their computers and steals the financial information of customers.



The House rejected an amendment by Rep. Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) that would have exempted small businesses which are too small to process their own credit card transactions, and have this work done by outside contractors. The Zellers amendment sought to protect these small businesses when security breaches were not on their computers or sites.



The amendment failed by a 48-83 margin. [05/08; HJ page 6138]



7. CAR RACES ON LEGAL TRACKS ARE NOISY? SO SUE ME: The House rejected an amendment by Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar) to SF 1131 (Dill) (Game and Fish Bill). The amendment would have exempted organizers of car races on legal tracks from lawsuits for noise pollution and public nuisance claims.



The Hackbarth amendment failed by a 47-84 margin. [05/07; HJ page 5699]



8. THE SWANSON COVER-UP CONTINUES: By a 129-0 margin, the House again referred a motion by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) to the Rules Committee. The motion asked that a House committee investigate allegations that Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson violated state and federal criminal and labor laws in reportedly oppressing workers and forcing out a staffer who tried to organize the lawyers and staff under the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”).



This was the second time that the House referred the investigation to the Rules Committee. This was the second time that Chairman Tony Sertich (D-Chisholm) has buried the request for an investigation. [05/07; HJ page 5710]



9. BONDING OVER-RIDE: Rep. Paul Kohls (R-Victoria) put the liberals on the spot when he asked the House to over-ride Governor Tim Pawlenty’s veto of HF 866 (Hausman), the Bonding Bill. The motion failed by an 82-46 margin. [05/08; HJ page 6114]



The bonding bill started out with $2 million of flood relief for Browns Valley, and $6 million of repairs for state prison facilities. The Governor argued that important projects should bring the bill up to $71 million. The House raised the ante to $255 million of projects in a non-emergency bill in a non-bonding year. The Senate raised the ante to $283 million. The House and Senate conferees raised the price tag to over a third of $1 billion. The Governor vetoed it.



Rep. Kohls requested the vote to show that the majority could not get the 90 votes (including

at least five Republican votes) to over-ride any of the bills which the Governor has already

vetoed. To this point, the DFL majority has not sought to over-ride any of the other vetoes,

because you never back up the car to check on a dead skunk.





10. INCOME TAX INCREASE: The House passed a bill to impose the third-highest income tax rate in the nation on 21,000 workers and small businesses, and to transfer that money to about 90% of property owners.



The bill would take $21,500 from each of the top earners, which would yield $452 million. That money would be sent to residential property owners to partially offset higher spending and taxes by local government.



Governor Pawlenty is expected to veto the bill.



HF 2294 Dill (Income Tax Increase) passed by a 73-58 margin. [05/11; HJ page 6556]