MFL Commissioner's Blog: May 1, 2008 Archive

Today is May Day, and Rep. Neil Peterson (R-Bloomington) is helping lawmakers get in the spirit by handing out his trademark bow ties for everyone to wear. I'm seeing more Republicans wearing them than DFLers. Is this a partisan divide on neckwear?

Lawmakers decided to take up a lot of labor-oriented legislation too. One bill, SF543, sponsored by Rep. Michael Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park), is a resolution supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. That bill, before Congress, would make it easier for people to form union by only requiring a majority of workers to sign cards indicating they want to form one, instead of the current secret ballot election. The bill hasn't been able to overcome a filibuster in Washington, and this being only a resolution, it won't actually do anything, but if there was ever a day to vote on something like this, today is it.

Another labor related bill was sponsored by Rep. Tom Rukavina. SF875 would raise the minimum wage from $6.15 to $6.90 this July 24, and $7.90 by July 24, 2009 for employers whose gross volume of sales is higher than $625,000 per year. For small employers, those doing less than $625,000, their minimum wage would rise from $5.25 to $5.75 this July and $6.75 next July.

Rep. Jeremy Kalin offered an amendment that would allow employers to pay $5.25 an hour to employees under 20 years old and it passed.

Rep. Melissa Hortman's HF3807, the whistleblower bill reached the floor, and Rep. Tom Emmer got into the May Day spirit and offered an amendment that would allow employees of the Attorney General's office to unionize. It was ruled not germane by the speaker, but you have to give Rep. Emmer credit for trying.

Rep. Kohls offered an amendment to the whistleblower bill that would apply it to not just the executive branch, but the legislative branch too. Probably to his surprise, Rep. Hortman agreed with him and said she'd support it. The amendment failed on a voice vote though, and her bill was approved 88-40.

Rep. Dennis Ozment (R-Rosemount) even had a few minutes in the Speaker's chair this morning, and he said that "It was exciting but I can only stand so much fun at my age." Rep. Ozment announced in January that he would be retiring, and was given a standing ovation on the floor for his service. Well done, Rep. Ozment.

Apparently so, according to Sen. Gen Olson (R-Minnetonka). She informed the body of this neat factoid when offering an amendment to the state government policy bill, SF3190, to the make hockey the official state sport. She also said Sen. Jim Metzen (DFL-South St. Paul) was a goalie, and holds a record for saves at South St. Paul high school. Her amendment was adopted, and while I don't know how the governor feels about the rest of the bill, but I'm sure he'll like her amendment.

The blog "Lets Go DU" a University of Minnesota Duluth hockey blog, actually picked up a story from the Mesabi Daily News about Sen. Tomassoni the Olympian.

Twenty-two years ago today, David Tomassoni of Chisholm scored a unique two-thirds of a hat trick at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

Tomassoni, now a DFL state senator, was a 31-year-old member of the Italian National Team in the locker room and ready to take the ice against the vaunted Russian squad when his stomach "did a back-flip. I turned to a teammate and said, 'Mike, I think my baby might have just been born over in Hibbing. And, you know what else, I might just score a goal today,'" Tomassoni said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

He was right on both counts.

That day at the Hibbing hospital, his wife, Charlotte, gave birth to their third child, Danny.

Meanwhile, the Italians would play well against a much stronger and heavily favored Russian team, losing 4-1.The lone Italian goal was scored by Tomassoni, who at the time only thought he was a father a third time.

There were no cell phones two decades ago, so Tomassoni had to seek out a land line after the game to call back home.

"I was trying to find a phone when I ran into Brent Musburger (longtime and well-known television sportscaster) who directed me to the press room. I called home and found out Danny had been born a couple hours earlier," Tomassoni said of his youngest child.

Tomassoni was one of three Americans playing as foreign nationals on the Italian hockey team, which finished in ninth place, with its lone win against Poland. "We finished one place lower than expected," he said.

Also included in that bill is Sen. Ann Rest's proposal that would allow state employees 3-hours paid leave to donate blood. No vote yet on the overall bill, I'll keep you posted on it.

Background checks for coaches seems like a bill that would pass pretty easily, but Rep. Karla Bigham (DFL-Cottage Grove) had to fight to get it through today. It had been approved earlier, but had to go to conference committee to smooth out the differences with the Senate. Hey, more points for her. There was a surprising amount of opposition, with Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) saying actions like requiring background checks is eliminating trust in society. Others were concerned whether the bill would hurt volunteering in rural Minnesota, because of the invasion of privacy and. The bill doesn't actually make any requirements on what schools do with the background checks, just that they conduct them. Then the schools themselves can judge for themselves if a person has a criminal history whether they want to employ them.

Rep. Neva Walker's sex ed provisions in the education policy bill have been deemed unacceptable by Gov. Pawlenty. Does that mean we've got a veto override on the way?

Tomorrow, we'll have a weekly recap for you, so check back.