Snapshots – Week in Review ending March 6, 2009

The Snapshot is a weekly edition to the blog. It is intended to provide constituents with a glimpse of major pieces of legislation or legislative activity that was discussed in committee(s) during the previous week. For those of you that would like more in-depth coverage of information you can refer to the House website, or read the-pdf-file-for-week-in-review-ending-mar-6-2009

Commerce & Labor Committee:

The committee passed a bill this week (HF 813 – Johnson) to address the problem in the courier and trucking industry of employees being misclassified as independent contractors.  It also passed a bill (HF 819 – Atkins) that was inspired by reports of Ticketmaster taking advantage of individuals who tried to buy tickets on-line to the upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert. 

The Labor & Consumer Protection Division passed a bill (HF 250 – Knuth) designed to protect children from toxic chemicals. 

The Labor & Consumer Protection Division also passed a bill (HF 914 – Davnie) to crack down on abuses by payday lenders, which majorly came in the form of executives from companies like moorcroft debt recovery company. Payday loans are small, short-term loans that, with fees and interest, have an effective APR of 300% to 400%.

Education K-12-Policy and Oversight: 

The Committee passed two bills that may be of interest to members.  The first (HF 935-Slocum) represents an effort to reform charter school law, in response to a 2008 Legislative Auditor’s report. 

The second bill (HF 920-Tillberry) was the culmination of the efforts of the House Mandate Reductions Work Group, chaired by Rep. Tom Tillberry.

Education – K-12 Finance: 

The committee heard the Governor’s K-12 Finance Bill (HF 1172-Garofalo), and also heard several bills relating to transportation issues (HF 331-Nornes), HF 875 (Hortman), HF 896 (Hortman), and HF 1256 (Mullery).   In addition, the committee heard (HF 116-Ward, which modifies the Type III school bus driver qualifications), HF 314 (Mariani), which increases the compulsory dropout age from 16 to 18.

Environmental Policy and Oversight: 

The Minnesota Clean Car Act (HF 690) was heard, with testimony very similar to that previously heard by the Transportation & Transit Policy & Oversight Committee. 

Building Sensible Communities (HF 898).  The Committee heard Rep. Hornstein’s bill, which brings together a number of unanimous recommendations from the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group (MCCAG), all with the same goal of achieving the state’s policy of reducing greenhouse gasses by the deadlines the Legislature established in 2007.

Finance and Ways and Means:  

The two committees held a joint hearing to take testimony on the February forecast.  The new figures indicate the state will face a $4.6 billion shortfall for the upcoming FY 10-11 biennium.  Although the economy (both the state and national) has deteriorated since the November forecast of a $4.8 billion deficit, the infusion of federal stimulus dollars actually reduced the shortfall from that forecast.  However, the federal stimulus couldn’t save the FY 12-13 forecast that grew to a $5.1 billion deficit, not counting inflation (which is estimated at $1.4 billion).  The federal stimulus did help the forecast for the current 08-09 biennium, which went from a $426 million shortfall to a $236 million positive balance.  The 08-09 surplus also accounts for the Governor’s unallotment actions and will carry forward to the 10-11 budget.

Health and Human Services Policy and Oversight:

The Committee passed a bill (HF 419 – Davnie) to require follow-up testing for any child or another child in the residence who tests positive for elevated blood lead levels of five micrograms per deciliter or higher. It also passed another bill (HF 326 – Clark) to ban manufacturers from selling children’s products if they contain Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical known to have hormone-disrupting effects. The Committee passed a bill (HF 286 – Clark) that would require health insurers to reimburse licensed acupuncture practitioners if the insurance policy covers acupuncture services.

The Committee also passed a bill (HF 705 – Loeffler) to require that high deductible health plans cover all preventive care without a deductible, co-payment, or other patient cost-sharing if such a health plan is to be combined with a pre-tax health savings account.

Health Care and Human Services Finance:

The Committee heard testimony from non-partisan staff about the federal stimulus bill. Staff explained that 100 percent of the federal Medicaid dollars in the stimulus package would only come to Minnesota if we were to make zero cuts to the Medicaid program – a very difficult task during this deficit. This means we will likely not receive all $1.8 billion in new federal Medicaid dollars projected in the February forecast.

Housing and Public Health: 

The Committee heard a bill to appropriate $20M in nonprofit bonds to finance the rehabilitation of public housing for low-income households. It also heard a bill to appropriate $500,000 for FY 2010/11 to the heart disease and stroke prevention programs (H.F. 499, Murphy, E.).  The Legislature appropriated $200,000 for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention in 2007 (H.F. 678, Murphy, E.).   The funding was vetoed by the Governor, who explained in his veto message that he thought federal dollars might be available for this purpose.

Public Safety and Oversight: 

The Committee heard HF 818 (Hilstrom), a bill to make it easier to discover, investigate and prosecute financial exploitation of vulnerable adults.  It also heard HF 622 (Welti), a bill to create a Lifesaver Grant Program in Minnesota.  The Lifesaver Program is a search and rescue program that electronically tracks participants who have autism, Down Syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease or similar disabilities that may lead to wandering.

Taxes:

The committee heard the bill that clarifies the standards used for determining whether a non-profit is eligible for a property tax exemption (HF 872, Marquart).