MFL Commissioner's Blog: May 17, 2008 Archive

Sen. Ellen Anderson and Rep. Jim Davnie's mortgage foreclosure bill, SF3396, had an epic battle this afternoon on the Senate floor. It was the first piece of business taken up after the Senate came back from a recess they took to celebrate the state's 150th birthday. At first, it didn't look like it would have enough votes to pass, because some lawmakers were spending a little too much time with the mini-donut stand or something outside. As lawmakers piled in, the vote tallies went up and down until it finally settled 34-33 when the roll closed.

It's been the only bill we've seen any real action today, and the session is expected to go well into the night. We could have another minimum wage bill, constitutional amendments on who can call special session and who sets lawmaker pay, a mysterious bonding bill containing Central Corridor money and who knows what else, and maybe a couple veto overrides on Real ID and the education finance bill.

It's a beautiful day to be down at the Capitol. Visitors are milling about on the freshly cut mall grass, stages are set up for music and food vendors, and lawmakers bosses, the people, are venturing with curious looks into building that usually gets more attention from school field trips and lobbyists. Later tonight, we've been promised some fireworks, and maybe some rhetorical ones inside the building too, keep checking back, and watch the House and Senate online.

HF3090, the Department of Transportation provision bill, was just amended by Sen. Steve Murphy with a final farewell to former MnDOT head Lt. Governor Carol Molnau. It would require the commissioner or deputy commissioner of MnDOT to be a licensed engineer. That would have disqualified her, but not new head Tom Sorel.

He had another provision about speed limits that was adopted too. Under current law, if you're speeding more than five miles per hour above the speed limit in a 55 or 60 zone, the police officer must mark it in a special spot on your ticket. Murphy's amendment would raise that to 10 miles per hour over the limit to be require a marking.

Over in the House, they're having a fight over whether it's germane to repeal the smoking ban on a bill, SF2809, that would increase the penalty for smoking in nonsmoking hotel rooms. Rep. Buesgens offered the amendment, but it was snuffed out. Rep. Heidgerken is now offering one on the smoking shacks provision that was approved by the House in the wee morning hours debating HF1812, but removed by the conference committee. I'll update you when that one gets a ruling, but if you're looking for a smoking shack to make it through this session, I wouldn't hold your breath.

UPDATE: They appealed Speaker Juhnke's ruling that it was not germane, but didn't overrule him.

The House and Senate have been in recess since around 4:00, but, if you can believe it, the budget negotiations looks like they're entering their last stages. Health care reform has been agreed on, and it sounds like the length of the 3.9 percent property tax cap is the main issue now. The Senate is looking for a one-year deal, the governor three years, according to reports, and the governor is also looking to get an income tax exemption for military pensions.

Some other big questions we'll hopefully get answered in the next hours:

-Will the Mall of America tax deal make be included in the tax bill?
-What, if we get one, will be included on the new bonding bill? Central Corridor? Lake Vermilion State Park? a new veteran's home? All three?
-Will we get a chance to weigh in on Constitutional amendments this November? There are two potential amendments. One allows legislative leadership to call a special session, and the other that would set up a council to determine lawmaker pay. If I hadto make a wager, I'd guess that lawmaker salaries would be more likely to get taken up, but both chambers are going to be pressed for time, and I don't know if these will be that high a priority with all the other issues.
-Will lawmakers attempt to override the governor's veto on the K-12 school financing bill? There are probably a lot of anxious lawmakers who want to brag about that one
-Whatever happened to the medical marijuana bill? Did somebody get the munchies and forget where they left it?

Lawmakers are on the clock, and bills can only be passed today and Sunday, though they can meet on Monday to discuss Twins scores or whatever, just nothing that can be counted. There's a rule that lawmakers can't meet past midnight, but if the chambers approve, it can be suspended, so that's a near certainty tonight. The same legislative day can be extended until 6:59 a.m. and at 7:00 the next day begins. Back in the day, lawmakers used to throw a blanket over the clock and keep session going, because, hey, who knows what time it is with the clock covered.

The Commish has also heard exclusive word about a potential gubernatorial ticket for 2010. Keep checking back through the night, managers. We're in the home stretch.

Looks like your Commish was wrong about that time, but the good news is that the House is about to begin any minute now.

Did you know that Sen. Satveer Chaudhary has a TV show? One where he goes fishing and shoots stuff? It's actually pretty awesome, and you can watch episodes here. Everybody knows Sen. Chaudhary is an avid outdoorsman in addition to being chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, but the Star Tribune has a story on whether Sen. Chaudhary has ventured into the ethical wilderness because of his relationship with snowmobile manufacturer Arctic Cat. He apparently got a deal from the company on a snowmobile he used on his show, and offered a failed amendment to get the DNR to buy snowmobiles exclusively from Minnesota companies, of which Arctic Cat is one.

UPDATE: The House is back, everybody. Watch here.

SF2492 would create a Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. This group would decide where some of the money for the dedicated natural resources funding would go if the Constitutional amendment is adopted in November. It passed, easily.

Speaking of Constitutional amendments, Rep. Lyndon Carlson's one which would allow leadership and majority of members on the Rules Committee in each chamber to call special sessions without the governor's approval has just been brought up on the floor.

A big stack of amendments are starting to pile up for this one. I don't think the Republicans like it very much.

Rep. Carlson rose on a point of personal priviledge to point out that 268 amendments have been prepared for HF1812, the omnibus budget balancer. He said if they spend 10 minutes on each one (that's much quicker than they usually process amendments) it would mean 2,680 minutes, or 44 hours of debate on that bill alone. That's a long time to debate one bill.

Minority Leader Seifert pointed out that the Legislature didn't even meet on Wednesday, that they spent time talking about letting dogs into cafes, gorilla cages and all manner of other things during the session, and that if the Legislature is going to do something as serious as change the constitution, it deserves some debate.

They're recessing and Rep. Seifert says that it could be 3:00(!) a.m. before the Health Care reform bill is finished getting drafted.

Earlier tonight, I stopped by the food cart on the second floor in the Capitol. I noticed a sign on the cash register that said "ibuprofen is available," and told the cashier that's a smart thing to be selling on a night like this. He said something to the effect of "Selling? We're giving those things away." Lawmakers and MFL Commissioners will no doubt be grateful.