MFL Commissioner's Blog: May 12, 2008 Archive

This afternoon, the House should be taking up HF3796, the constitutional amendment that would create a council to set lawmaker pay, and the Commish is interested in hearing what your lawmakers have to say about it. So let's do a floor-a-palooza. The session should come back from recess any minute now, and you can watch it here.

It's been a pretty quiet morning so far, but the Senate Business, Industry and Jobs Committee chaired by Sen. Jim Metzen (DFL-South St. Paul) did hear the California emissions bill, SF481/HF863 sponsored by Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville) and Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park). Sen. Metzen said that he'd hear it when it reached the floor in the House, which it has, and so he did. But apparently the proponents that Sen. Marty had asked to come in and testify couldn't make it on such short notice, so only the opponents were there.

One representative from the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers, Laura Dooley, said that if Minnesota adopts the California rules, it will have to accede to any changes California decides to make in the future. 12 states, including California, have adopted the tougher emissions standards.

There was concern about what it would do to the state's ethanol industry too, with Dooley and a representative of the Minnesota Farm Bureau saying it could harm it. They said the California emissions standards would require documented proof that a vehicle was filling up with E85, and that the California standards don't account for the kind of vehicles Minnesotans use.

For some reason, that argument seems like it would be less effective today that it might have been a couple years ago, with criticism of the ethanol industry rising, and even some intra-DFL skirmishes have broken out during this session over the issue.

Sen. Metzen said they'd wait to hear from the other side before taking a vote.

We have yet to see a breakthrough on the budget, but the governor sent a letter to lawmakers last night saying that without a property tax cap, there won't be a budget deal, and if there's no budget deal, he won't allow the Central Corridor to proceed. Take a look at his letter below, and check back to see how your lawmakers are doing on this afternoon's floor-a-palooza.

05 11 08 Response letter to DFL leaders.pdf

Let's see what your lawmakers say about their own pay.

1:45 - Rep. Hosch has offered an amendment that would add the per diem pay of lawmakers to the jurisdiction of these citizen councils. Rep. Eken, the sponsor of the bill, said he'd support that and urged members to support it, but its drawing fire from both sides of the aisle.

1:50 - Rep. Emmer is making the point that per diem is has been basically treated as a salary increase by lawmakers in everything but name. He says he knows that lawmakers work harder than anybody realizes, but that the whole bill is wrong because if they want to increase their pay, they should just vote to do it outright, not doll it up as "per diem" or ask a council to do it for them.

1:57 - Rep. Kohls has offered an oral amendment to add housing costs to the council's duties too.

2:06 - Rep. Juhnke says that both per diem and housing are inappropriate and they were specifically rejected in the Rules Committee. He said adding things like per diem pay and housing expenses to the state constitution is overkill.

2:08 - The Kohls housing amendment failed.

2:12 - Rep. Carlson said that back in the day, the Legislature gave higher per diem pay to lawmakers from outside of 50 miles, and that it took a long time to bring fairness to that. He's concerned that this could change back again.

2:15 - The per diem amendment was adopted, so if the bill is adopted, that will be in the council's purview.

2:18 - Rep. Kohls is saying that allowing an unelected committee to decide lawmaker pay is irresponsible.

2:20 - Rep. Eken, the author of the bill said "I don't think the people of Minnesota sent us down here to debate our own pay," and that "there's a direct conflict of interest here that needs to be removed."

2:28 - Rep. Kohls has sponsored an amendment that would require the legislature to approve whatever plan the citizen's council comes up with, but it's shot down too.

2:37 - Check this out, Rep. Mark Buesgens has offered an amendment to do this:

Page 1, lines 2, 3, and 4, delete "per diem" and insert "walking around money."

Amendments as jokes are always appreciated.

2:40 - Rep. Buesgens amendment was shouted down on a voice vote, and they just gave the bill third reading, the last step before final statements and the vote.

2:45 - Rep. Liebeling is saying that lawmakers don't actually vote for their own salaries, they vote for next bienniums lawmakers salaries. She said they ought to be accountable, so she won't vote for it.

2:50 - Rep. Dennis Ozment asked how many blue collar workers are in the Legislature. He said "For years, I've watched as the Legislature cut the legs out from under it." He said he thinks that its important for a citizen-legislature to be made up of citizens, and that in recent years the low lawmaker pay has meant more full-time public servants have joined.

2:55 - Rep. Kathy Tingelstad, who said she'd be retiring after her district decided to delay her nomination, said they should pass the bill. One of the reasons that she gave for her retirement was that she needed to work on putting her kids through college.

2:58 - It passes, 90 to 43. Sen. Pogemiller said at the end of last week they'd probably be taking it up, so the bill is on its way over there.

Rep. Kathy Tingelstad (R-Andover) gets the medal for most productive lawmaker today. Two of her bills, HF3371 which would open up access to adoption records, and HF3448, that would regulate gestation carrier arrangements, or surrogate mothers, were approved off the floor.

As you might expect, whenever lawmakers bring up issues of pregnancy, there are a flurry of abortion-related amendments, but none went through.

The Senate has adopted both already, and unless there are some differences the Commish has missed, it looks like next stop is the governor's desk. Its nice to see Rep. Tingelstad, who is retiring, ride off into the sunset with a couple of big pieces of legislation she's sponsored making it through.

The Senate's been in recess for most of the day, but there are rumblings that they may try to pass the some of the budget bills, with or with the blessing of the governor. The House is set to take up the Health Care reform bill that as they recessed a few moments ago, Minority Seifert ominously noted that they didn't need to caucus because they knew how they felt about it. It could be a bruising night here at the Legislature, so check back for the skinny.