Action on Eminent Domain Exemptions for Public Service Corps
My bill, HF. 1182 to remove exemptions for eminent domain proceedings for High Voltage Powerlines and Pipelines, passed on the MN House floor with a vote of 123 to 5 yesterday. This measure will protect property owners, making sure they are dealt with fairly in the taking of land through eminent domain. A summary of the bill can be found on the Legislature’s website. Today it was received by the Senate and referred to the Rules and Administration Committee.
State Economist praises the Federal Stimulus Money
Mar 5, 2010 Economy, Jobs, News
A thorough and informative article was published by Doug Grow from Minnpost.com titled “Budget forecast highlights the vastly different federal stimulus views of Pawlenty and state economist.”
As it states in the article, Gov. Pawlenty has been in “attack mode” regarding almost everything the Obama administration has been doing including the federal stimulus money. However, quietly praising his approval of what Washington has done is Minnesota’s own State Economist Tom Stinson. Even Pawlenty’s commissioner of the Office of Budget and Management, Tom Hanson, agrees that the feds’ stimulus money has had a positive impact on putting signs of life back into Minnesota’s economy.
Stinson noted that economic signs now are far better than those seen last summer and credits the Federal stimulus as a spending tool that has had a big impact on turning the economy around. He further stated that “without federal action we’d be losing jobs big time. The recession would have been extended for a year, at least.”
Also in the article Gov. Pawlenty is quoted as saying “My critique of stimulus spending is that it should have been focused differently.” A favorite plan promoted by Pawlenty is reducing taxes for corporations and small businesses in order to hire more workers. A video interview with business icon Warren Buffett contradicts this suggestion, when he says more money to people like him will not increase the spending he already does. More money to the middle class will promote spending, thus promoting demand, thus promoting jobs. A similar message is penned in today’s column by Paul Krugman in the New York Times. “.. the Congressional Budget Office says that aid to the unemployed is one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, as measured by jobs created per dollar of outlay.”
Why it’s Important to Fix GAMC
Mar 3, 2010 Health Care, News
The Star Tribune reported on the failure of the legislature to override a veto of a bill which would have stopped the transfer of 32,000 people from General Assistance Medicare to MinnesotaCare. Since many of those covered by GAMC are veterans, or homeless, or people who suffer from mental illness, MinnesotaCare may not adequately address their needs. The legislation would have addressed needed reforms to GAMC and these have also been vetoed. A chart is linked here to view the issues. As reported in the article, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers will continue to work on a better solution than the automatic transfer which is scheduled to take place on April 1.
Tags: Health Care
Interesting Briefs Filed on Unallotment
On Monday, March 15, at 9:00 AM the Minnesota Supreme Court will address the arguments for and against the unallotments made to the budget by Governor Pawlenty.
In a Friend of the Court Brief from the League of Minnesota Cities, an argument is made that the legislature, when passing the unallotment statute in 1939, does not intend a result that is absurd or unreasonable. Basically, courts shouldn’t allow an absurd interpretation of legislation when a reasonable one can be applied. Quoting from page 23 of the brief:
if unallotment authority can be triggered based on purely subjective standards, a governor could hypothetically choose to unallot an appropriation that he first rejected using his line-item veto even after the legislature has voted to override that veto. Or a governor could hypothetically choose to unallot and reorder appropriation priorities based on any type of report demonstrating a decline in receipts by as little as $ 1. Finally, it is truly absurd to think that the legislature would have ever intended to relinquish its constitutional power of appropriation to the executive branch at the beginning of the biennium when there has simply been a breakdown in budget negotiations.
In another Friend of the Court brief filed by the Minnesota House of Representatives, the argument is made that the Governor exceeded his constitutional authority. Page 18 quotes the Constitution:
Because the power to veto is located in article IV, the power “is an exception to the authority granted to the legislature” and “must be narrowly construed to prevent an unwarranted usurpation by the executive powers granted the legislature in the first instance.”
The brief filed on behalf of the Governor argues in turn that
At their core, these arguments attempt to impose requirements – such as the statute only applies to small, unanticipated deficits arising late in the biennium – found nowhere in section l6A.152. Respondents and amici rely on purported conditions in the statute that simply do not exist.
