Capitol Notepad: March 25, 2009

Another busy day on the Senate side. Session at noon, and likely to be brief.

The Property Tax Division with Sen. Rod Skoe (DFL-Clearbrook) is hearing about property tax policy affecting veterans, recreational land, training facilities, school districts, bovine TB management zones and various other areas.

Education is hearing about charter schools, regional libraries, mandates and children with disabilities.

The Health and Human Services Budget Division warns of "uncertainty around the arrival of fiscal notes," which may cause bills to get "pulled from the agenda with little notice." On the agenda: foster care, loan forgiveness, food shelves, colorectal cancer prevention, MinnesotaCare for farmers, hearing aids and federal funds applications for human services.

Business, Industry and Jobs is hearing about unemployment, shared work plans, medical gas systems, unlicensed contractors, neighborhood revitalization, MinnesotaCare for the unemployed, MFIP assistance, the pharma and medical device gift ban and other unemployment benefit policies.

Environment and Natural Resources is hearing about reorganizing natural resource agencies, the University of Minnesota’s comprehensive statewide water management program, recycled water, state park and state land sales and noxious and invasive plant species.

The State Government Budget Division is hearing Sen. Larry Pogemiller’s (SF 182) redistricting proposal, Sen. Ann Rest’s (SF 1354) State Capitol construction proposal and part of Sen. Don Betzold’s (DFL-Fridley) SF 1395, handling a lot of state government finance appropriations.

Health, Housing and Family Security is hearing about social work licensing, long-term care volunteers, preventing prescription fraud, off-label drug use information, plasma protein therapies, nutritionist licensure, a "state-county chemical health care home pilot project," nurse staffing rules and metro human services payment rate changes.

The conference committee on HF 392 with Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL-Bloomington) and Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) will, among other things, deal with resolving federal tax conformity and corporate franchise tax refunds, including Green Acres reform.

The Economic Development and Housing Budget Division is hearing about grants for a Minnesota humanities center, commercialization of science and technology, Youthbuild programs and U of M campus neighborhood improvements.

State and Local Government Operations and Oversight is hearing about state budget recommendations, construction codes, primary election dates, criminal history in legal actions against private employers, greenhouse gas reduction, electing the president via popular vote, accessibility standards for government operations, state employee fitness and wellness and a task force for fire and EMS personnel.

The Transportation Budget and Policy Division is hearing about railroad safety grants, metro area transit planning and metro livable community funds. Transportation (set at the same time) will hear about a design-build contracting pilot program, GPS on windshields, highway construction mitigation grants, preventing intersection gridlock, renumbering highways, commuter rail corridor coordinating committees (say that five times fast) and a trunk highway bridge improvement program which includes bike, pedestrian and disabled access accommodations.

The Judiciary Subcommittee on Data Practices says only the data practices parts of bills on the docket will be considered for inclusion in the data practices omnibus. The comprehensive incident-based reporting system (CIBRS), health care informed consent for insurance, MnSCU voter registration, no-fault auto insurance, forensic labs advisory board, health care records access, U of M private equity investment data, temporary data classification (SF 1207), agricultural research data, business screening, natural resources licensing, firearms data access for parole and probation and tax data disclosure to authorities are all on the docket.

The Senate’s Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications Committee, the Legislative Energy Commission and the House Energy Finance and Policy Division are meeting jointly to discuss nuclear power at 6 p.m.

House side: No bills for the floor session at 12:30, though there are likely to be some bills taken up tomorrow. Rules and Legislative Administration deals with proposed permanent joint rules and a resolution on Finance.

K-12 Education Policy and Oversight is walking through the omnibus K-12 policy bill.

Civil Justice is hearing about uniform disclaimers of property interests, the uniform probate code, powers of attorney and estate taxes, insolvent life and health insurance company policies and modifications to marriage terms and procedures.

The Cultural and Outdoor Resources Finance Division is building the committee’s agencies bill.

State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections is hearing about authorizing notices by e-mail, Hennepin County personnel rules, "communities for a lifetime" criteria and policy and creating a geospatial information office (HF 1981).

The Agricultural, Rural Economies and Veterans Affairs Finance Division is hearing about the Board of Animal Health, agricultural pollution monitoring, green jobs in food production, the Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and agricultural nutrient research funding. A second hearing will look at peace officer eligibility, natural resources designations for veterans’ use, ensuring state job interviews for veterans and industrial hemp development and regulation (HF 608).

The Housing Finance and Policy and Public Health Finance Division is hearing about HIV education and rural pharmacy planning grants.

The Bioscience and Workforce Development Policy and Oversight Division is hearing about construction codes and combining plumbing and boiler operator bills.

Taxes is reviewing income and sales tax expenditures from House research and fiscal staff, St. Paul Port Authority bonding, other local bonds, tax preparation services and taxes for printers.

The Property and Local Sales Tax Division is hearing about mandate relief, Minneapolis downtown taxing areas, counties using proceeds of tax-forfeited land and Coon Rapids and Rochester items.

The Transportation and Transit Policy and Oversight Division is hearing about the commuter rail corridor coordinating committee, design-build, loans for highway rights of way, JOBZ signage, driver’s license suspensions and design-build authorization for a highway intersection in Anoka.

The Labor and Consumer Protection Division is hearing about grain elevators, plumbing and banning bisphenol-A additives.

Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight is hearing a lot of bills. MinnesotaCare, human service authority, the licensing policy omnibus bill, a health care equal access reform steering committee, medical assistance eliminated for certain ineffective services, birthing center licensure and other medical care policies.

The K-12 Education Finance Division is hearing about rural education, establishing a best practices center, equalizing factors for debt service and local special education services.

The Energy Finance and Policy Division is hearing about federal stimulus funding for energy programs (HF 680).

The State Government Finance Division is hearing about Department of Administration proposals for the Environmental Quality Board and resource recovery.

Public Safety Policy and Oversight is hearing a lot of bills about sex offenders, probation, performance reporting for public safety and corrections, controlled substance fines, merging boards handling private detectives, protective agents and peace officers, judicial sanctions, earned compliance credit for people on supervised release and quarantine regulations.

No Responses to “Capitol Notepad: March 25, 2009”

1. Anonymous Says:
   April 24th, 2009 at 9:29 am

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