We noted that only 10 DFL Senators had voted to the bill: Majority Leader Bakk, Kent Eken, Vicki Jensen, Lyle Koenen, Jim Metzen, Tom Saxhaug, Rod Skoe, Dan Sparks, Leroy Stumpf, and Dave Tomassoni (Page 4744 of the Journal of the Senate).
Only one Republican voted against the bill. Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen of Alexandria opposed the bill; a source in his district tell us that the inclusion of an industrial hemp measure tainted the bill in the former Douglas County sheriff's eyes. He's a staunch opponent of any cannabis-derived product.
Who voted "no" to the bill, but didn't sign the letter? Terri Bonoff, John Hoffman, Alice Johnson, Ann Rest, Matt Schmit, and Kathy Sheran.
Perhaps what's remarkable about those who did sign is the number of freshmen senators, including those in swing districts, who have raised their voices.
Correction: An earlier version of this post had headline featuring an incorrect number of senators signing the letter. We regret the error.
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It's worth a listen, and mentions "the White House plan to plant pollinator habitat along Interstate 35," a monarch and pollinator super-flyway.
There's other national news this week as well. CBS News reports that there's a proposed rule in the works to assist "working" beehives in EPA planning pesticide-free zones for bees:
. . .A federal rule to be proposed Thursday would create temporary pesticide-free zones when certain plants are in bloom around bees that are trucked from farm to farm by professional beekeepers, which are the majority of honeybees in the U.S. The pesticide halt would only happen during the time the flower is in bloom and the bees are there, and only on the property where the bees are working, not neighboring land.
The rule applies to virtually all insecticides, more than 1,000 products involving 76 different chemical compounds, said Jim Jones, EPA's assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention. It involves nearly all pesticides, including the much-debated class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, he said.
The idea is "to create greater space between chemicals that are toxic to bees and the bees," Jones told The Associated Press.
Scientists blame many factors for bee declines: pesticides, parasites, pathogens and poor bee nutrition because of a lack of wild plants that bees use as food. The new rule only deals with the pesticide part; last week, the federal government came up with a plan to create more and varied food for bees on federal land.
It's also just for honeybees, though we can imagine that other pollinators bumbling through the cropland might also gain some advantage by not being sprayed with insecticides.
According to a press release, comments for the proposal that is directed only toward "managed bees," must be received on or before June 29, 2015:
Submit your comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0818, by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Mail: OPP Docket, Environmental Protection Agency Docket Center (EPA/DC), (28221T), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.
Hand Delivery: To make special arrangements for hand delivery or delivery of boxed information, please follow the instructions at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/contacts.html.
Additional instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along with more information about dockets generally, is available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
Those who wish to comment online can go directly to this link.
Of course, this step alone won't save bees and other pollinators--but commenting about the proposal (please read the document!) is a way to help.
Photo: Bees.
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When the final version of HF846 was passed in the DFL-controlled Minnesota Senate, all but ten of the Democratic majority voted against the bill after articulating their objections during the floor debate.
Governor Dayton vetoed the bill a week ago, largely over a punchlist of radical rollbacks to decades of environmental policy, and negotiations continue over the weekend to craft a compromise that can pass both chambers.
Bluestem has obtained a draft of the letter that Senate Environment & Energy Chair John Marty has drafted for the DFL senators who voted against the bill to sign. The four main points echo sentiments that MinnPost political columnist Doug Grow reported mid-week in What to expect when you're expecting a special session:
. . . according to Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, chairman of the Senate’s Environment and Energy Committee, most of the objectionable language wasn’t in the original bill sent by the Senate to the conference committee. When the bill was re-worked there, it came back with a bunch of surprises, including the elimination of the Citizen’s Review Board, which has been an overseerer of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency since the 1960s. That conference committee bill did pass in the Senate, but it passed because 10 DFLers joined with Republicans.
Voting for the bill? Majority Leader Bakk, Kent Eken, Vicki Jensen, Lyle Koenen, Jim Metzen, Tom Saxhaug, Rod Skoe, Dan Sparks, Leroy Stumpf, and Dave Tomassoni (Page 4744 of the Journal of the Senate).
Given the urgent public purpose in providing for the state's poultry farmers, while funding agriculture, environment and natural resources agencies (including Minnesota's wildly popular state park system), Bluestem finds the focus in Senator Marty's draft to be spot on.
The House Republicans chose to put all their eggs in one basket (as far as avian flu relief went) when it came to passing a ginormous ag and environment budget bill, so it's time remove the dirty environment policy and keep the agencies running.
Rosen's "not real ag" remarks were made in an informal Rural Task Force hearing in mid-November 2014, which was not recorded. However, Politics in Minnesota reported the remark, and a number of Bluestem's sources who were in the meeting room heard it as well. Others heard a similar statement from Rosen at a later meeting in the Mankato area.
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By now, the last-minute passage of the vetoed Jobs and Energy omnibus bill (HF1437) is fodder for pearl-clutched and ruminations about What's Wrong With The Process.
A new issue with the bill emerged Friday; ""a substantial loss of revenue to the Highway User Tax Distribution Fund and to the Driver and Vehicle Services funds," according to a "Dear Colleague" email by Senator Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis). Bluestem obtain the email early Friday evening; a second source filled in the circumstances of the issue's discovery.
Did Minnesota representatives need a chance to read and debate the 93-page conference committee report on the Jobs and Energy Finance and Policy Omnibus Bill?
Apparently not in the eyes of Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-Crown), who refused to recognize any House members as he railroaded the bill through the end of the legislative session, which had to end at midnight on Monday, May 18.
Here's Daudt speed date legislative moment, all one minute and 33 seconds of it, via The Uptake . . .
Governor Dayton had more time to read the bill, prompting the state's chief executive to veto the bill for not funding or underfunding various agencies, as well as gutting the net metering provision in state law that has allowed solar and wind energy to flourish. Moreover, Dayton thought the bill woefully unfunded the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Fund. [PDF of letter here].
A source tells us that sharp-eyed deputy registrars spotted another flaw in the bill, and their concerns were made known to Senate Transportation Committee Chair Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis). Bluestem is not disclosing the identity of the deputy registrars in order to prevent potential retribution against them.
In the "Dear Colleague" email, Senator Dibble details how a last-minute provision in the bill would have created "a substantial loss of revenue to the Highway User Tax Distribution Fund and to the Driver and Vehicle Services funds."
Here's the email:
Dear colleagues,
In just the last day it has come to my attention that a provision in the Jobs and Energy omnibus bill (HF1437) as passed by the House and Senate in the final hour of session modifies a provision discussed at length in the Transportation and Public Safety Committee—both in the Senate Committee and in the subsequent Conference Committee, creating a substantial loss of revenue to the Highway User Tax Distribution Fund and to the Driver and Vehicle Services funds.
A proposal came before the Transportation Committee this year to allow for a three-year registration cycle option for towed recreational vehicles. It was suggested in the course of committee deliberations that the three-year registration cycle option be also extended to the trailers that normally tow these recreational vehicles. The Deputy Registrars Association testified with concerns that a three-year registration cycle would hurt their revenues—which can’t be compensated for in other ways since the State sets the filing fees that comprise their revenue. After careful and lengthy deliberation, the Senate Transportation Committee voted to triple the filing fee to prevent a loss of revenue to the Deputy Registrars of roughly $500,000 annually. They testified that this loss would put their businesses at risk of closure. We carried this measure in our SF1647 conference committee report as passed by the full House and Senate.
Contrary to those committee discussions and decision, a provision was inserted into the Jobs bill, HF1437 conference committee report that permits lifetime registration for trailers—not just a three-year option. The filing fee remains unchanged from the original $6. This will cause an annual loss of $1.3M to the Highway User Tax Distribution Fund starting in 2017—a loss the state cannot afford, given the constantly diminishing returns on our transportation dollars with this year’s lights-on bill. Further, the Driver and Vehicle Services account will also lose $88,000 annually in filing fees—dollars that are essential to their operations. This subsequent action by the legislature on HF1437 superseded and overturned our conference committee’s work.
Aside from the loss to the HUTDF and DVS, I am deeply troubled by the blatant disregard for the work of the Senate Transportation and Public Safety Committee, and utter lack of respect for an open, fair, transparent process that takes into account our own rules. I and my fellow committee members, take our responsibility for overseeing and being held accountable for transportation policy and funding very seriously—so to see a last minute maneuver create a hole in our budget area that puts businesses and road funding at risk is disturbing.
I am certain that had I simply slipped in measure that spends $1.388 million, or creates a $1.388 million hole in another Chair’s budget, with absolutely no discussion or communication of any kind, that would not be tolerated. I’m extremely bothered that some members of this caucus feel like they have some special powers reserved only to them and can do whatever they want -- that rules, fair play, transparency and accountability don’t apply to them. It is particularly galling to know that I voted for HF1437, having not been informed of the provision and being rushed to approve such the measure. It is important to recall that this bill passed by a vote of 34-29. Despite the other highly objectionable provisions in the bill and my desire to vote against it, I was taking my role as a team player seriously. I’m sorry that accord was not returned.
I request that this provision remains out of the special session legislation we will work on in the coming weeks. I would hope in the future that any matter pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Transportation and Public Safety policy and finance are brought to me and my committee members directly so we do not need to learn about losses to businesses, the HUTDF and the Driver and Vehicle Services fund accounts after the fact.
Yours, Scott Dibble
Let's hope that the re-do doesn't include this provision; the money may seem like a drop in the bucket, but it's clearly a hit to the services and offices that rely on the revenue.
Photo: House Jobs and Energy chair Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington). We know that face-palm feeling all too well.
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The one that was left out of the conference committee report that both chambers approved, sending the final product to Governor Dayton, who vetoed it?
Yeah, that one--it was back today as one of two chief demands on the part of the House Republicans.
Yes: the language that House leadership refused to grant a hearing in time for the committee deadline back in March is oh-so-suddenly one of the most important items related to public education in Minnesota. We'd ask what color the sky is in their world, were it not for the fact that most of the state was overcast and rainy today.
One cannot fairly ask that question under the circumstances.
Friday began with optimism: “Today’s the day!” House Speaker Kurt Daudt told reporters as he walked into Gov. Mark Dayton’s house, an offer in hand to try to resolve a weeks-long political standoff over the state’s education budget.
But things immediately went south. Far from resolving the standoff, Daudt’s offer infuriated Dayton by asking for two policy provisions the DFL governor opposes: repealing the state’s seniority rules for teacher layoffs, called “Last In, First Out” or LIFO, and a proposal requiring transgender students to use school bathrooms for their physical sex rather than gender preference.
Neither provision had been included in the final education budget Dayton vetoed earlier this month. The governor struck down that bill not because of anything in it, but because he said it didn’t include enough money for early childhood education.
Because of that veto and two others, 10,000 Minnesota state employees will get layoff notices next week, advance warning that their jobs will go away on July 1 if a budget isn’t passed on time.
When negotiations broke off for the day late Friday afternoon, Dayton went off on the Republicans, calling Friday’s talks “disappointing” and a “step backward.”
“It’s like we talk different languages,” Dayton said of Daudt and House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin. . . .
In the afternoon, after Dayton’s rejection of their earlier offer, Daudt came back with a revised proposal: $25 million in extra money, abandoning the transgender bill. . . .
Based on idle rumors friends have shared in the last couple of days, Bluestem suspects that Daudt and Peppin were up to a couple of tricks here. First, they were placating their caucus' extreme right flank--legislators like Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg, Minnesota's Most Conservative City) who authored the original go-nowhere bill, the conservative Christian grassroots who heed the call (and emails) of the Minnesota Family Council, and perhaps most importantly, wealthy conservative business people like Bob Cummins.
Second, they were hoping to troll the Governor--who is passionate about the equality of all people--into a repeat performance of what The Uptake called a "rant" about those who opposed the Minnesota High State High School League's adoption of transgender-inclusive policy guidelines back in December. However, Dayton was not responding to anyone serving in the House when he made his remarks last year, so the tactic seems a bit ripe.
Doesn't look like Dayton took the bait--and their timing couldn't be worse on a day in which social media was dominated by a 13-year-old's portrait of Dayton looking like the most kindly grandfather ever, via the Advocate.
Emma Meents' Op-ed: A 13-Year-Old, the Minnesota Governor, and LGBT Rights commentary is making the rounds, as is news of the upbeat Explore Minnesota ad featuring her two gay dads. Take this tweet by WCCO's Pat Kessler to his 24,000-plus followers:
As the Pioneer Press reported, by the end the day, Kurt Daudt threw in the towel on that one. How unfortunate that he and Peppin felt the need to play bush-league politics without regard for the dignity of transgendered children.
Photo: Representative Tim Miller (profile photo from his personal Facebook page), author of the anti-transgender language that briefly made an appearance in negotiations for a new K-12 education budget bill today. For a lively discussion of his bill, we recommend watching Miller and Scott Dibble on Pioneer Public Television's Your Legislators earlier this year via our post, VIDEO: Scott Dibble schools Tim Miller about MSHSL transgender policy, MN anti-bullying law.
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If there's one thing that illustrates the divided, if passive-aggressive, nature of the Minnesota character, it's highway construction season. We want good roads and bridges, but moan beneath the burden of paying for them as well as grouse about the constant detours created by construction.
We joke about there being two seasons: winter and highway construction.
Throw in a highly charged partisan climate along with this statewide character flaw, and it's no wonder that a transportation fix built on more than duct-tape failed miserably during the session.
Fortunately, legislative relief might finally be in the works that would actually pay for the roads, bridges and mass transit that the state needs.
Via his Facebook page, Minnesota Senate Transportation Committee chair posted this note along with an embedded news release:
It is vital that Minnesota's investments in transportation (another way of saying investments in our economic future...social and economic opportuity and justice for Minnesotans of every stripe, income and location) be take up in the upcoming special session. It was at the top of everyone's list of the most important work to be done going in to the 2015 session. When we ended on May 18 having not dealt with transportation, it remained the topmost item identified as remaining undone by everyone in leadership. To that end, DFL legislative transportation leaders, Rep. Frank Hornstein, Rep. Ron Erhardt and I, with the support of our colleagues, have fashioned a compromise plan that will get the job done. Here's to unyielding hope, determination and diligence. Counting on our partners in the Republican House to respond.
Here's the news release, posted to Scribd by Senator Dibble:
We're told that Representative Tim Kelly and Senator Dibble are cordial to each other; let's hope that friendship helps craft a compromise on this one. We're hearing rumors of some immoderate ultimatums some House Republicans are making to their leadership, but so far that's only scuttlebutt.
On the other hand, there's Senator Scott Newman and Representative Glenn Gruenhagen still playing the urban v. rural game of roads during a recent town hall in Glencoe, casting the Met Council as the ravenous White Walkers of transportation funds. The McLeod County Chronicle reports:
Newman said Highway 212 could receive funding from two sources — the transportation bill and the bonding bill.
But, said both legislators, there is a lot of competition throughout the state for those dollars.
In particular, the Met Council in the metropolitan area has been pushing to keep those dollars for the 494/694 beltway in the Twin Cities area.
Those fiends!
Photo: Highway 12 west of Willmar, the proposed Tim Miller Memorial Goat Trail.
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That being the case, it stretched belief when Representative Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) claimed that the Governor's veto "blindsided" him. However, information has emerged that may explain McNamara's hurt feelings.
Bakk said, in the waning hours of the regular session’s end on May 18, he warned Daudt that the environmental measure, which also contained language strengthening the state’s water protection zones and avian flu recovery provision for farmers, may be headed to a veto.
“I had told the speaker over those last few days that the environment bill especially that (those) poison pill provisions one on top of another is going to create a potential veto,” Bakk said. Daudt on Wednesday acknowledged that warning.
But the measure ended up including those provisions — so many that Bakk told Daudt that he would have to get Senate Republicans to vote for the bill because so many Democrats would not. In the end only 11 Senate Democrats voted for the measure. All the chamber’s 26 Republicans supported it.
It really was a terrible thing for Speaker Daudt to do to Representative McNamara. As leader of the House Republican Caucus, he really ought to have let the Hastings Republican know that his bill was heading for trouble.
Daudt shouldn't blindside his committee leaders like this.
Photo: Bakk and Daudt, whom Bakk so warned this veto was going to happen. At this point, we're not sure how nice a timeline of GOP statements about whether they were warned about the possibility of a veto might look. Or a close examination of the disgust within Bakk's own caucus at the Majority Leader's greenlighting the doomed deals. Perhaps avoiding special interest-favored sneak attacks on environmental might help when creating narratives in the future.
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When the ginormous ag and environment budget bill that the governor vetoed is scrutinized, inquiring minds discover the political games in this story are those played by politicians in both parties who fused the House ag bill and environment bill together. After doing so, they crammed a radical rollback of decades of environmental progress into the final document that landed on Dayton's desk.
Sign this, or the suffering in the state's poultry sector will be prolonged.
There's the gray lady of Southeastern Minnesota, the Rochester Post Bulletin. In Wednesday's editorial, readers are told Our View: Doing too much can leave much undone, and the plight of pandemic-stricken poultry people is part of the problem.
Post-Bulletin: End supersized, inefficient omnibus bills
The blame game is in full effect. After Minnesota's legislative session ended with unfinished business and Gov. Mark Dayton vetoing three major bills, there's plenty of opportunities for finger-pointing.
Amid the blaming, however, few fingers are pointing at the process, which appears to hare blame with political parties and individuals.
Rep. David Bly, the ranking DFLer on the House Agriculture Policy Committee, came close Monday, noting emergency funding for the state's avian influenza crisis was possible. "Today, I'm hearing House Republican Majority members express concerns that Gove. Dayton's veto puts farmers at risk," he stated in a press release days after the Environment and Agriculture Omnibus bill was rejected. "Gov. Dayton repeatedly directed the legislature to send him a standalone bill to provide the emergency funding. In the final days of the legislative session, I stood up five times and asked my colleagues to suspend the rules and send a clean bill to the governor."
He's right; the emergency funding could have been — and should have been — handled differently. But so should many measures that were derailed by inaction or vetoes. . . .
Now, it's time for our state leaders to realize that large, omnibus bills aren't saving time for taxpayers. They are delaying results and leaving work left undone.
It's a simple case of attempting to do too much and achieving too little.
In short, don't put one's eggs in one basket--and there were many, many eggs in that container.
It's also a consequence, Bluestem believes, of playing chicken on behalf of "reforms" dropped into conference committee reports or omnibus bill mark-up sessions without sufficient examination, in discussions where unfounded representation of a single case will go unchallenged. The number of unpermitted generators at a distribution center in Thief River Falls simply isn't common knowledge.
After reading a plaintive press release by Rep. Dave Baker (R-Willmar) about the plight of turkey growers in light the governor's veto, Bluestem contacted Rep. David Bly over the weekend concerning his numerous attempts to pass stand-alone bills to address the pressing needs of the state's poultry producers.
Our hope was to construct a timeline of the many points at which the legislature could have acted (obviously, the Post Bulletin was asking similar questions about process independently down in Rochester).
As it turned out, Bly had constructed such a timeline himself, intending to deliver the prepared statement below on the floor of the Minnesota House. As it was, he made an abbreviated set of remarks instead (we'll revise this post later tonight with more links to the incidents on the timleine); he arranged to have the document sent our way when offices opened again on Tuesday.
Here's the Bly timeline, which illustrates the PB editorial board's point about getting simple things done in excruciating detail:
I am bringing this motion to once more give you the opportunity to address this important Avian flu crisis and allow this funding to move forward today and get to the Governor’s desk before we adjourn this session.
I heard this morning from the member from Dakota in reference to the Ag/environment bill and I quote I “I can’t predict … when this bill will be settled … it is only part of the decision… we may meet in conference committee in a couple days.” Which again greatly concerns me as there are now some 70 hours left in our session. I believe that we should make sure we move this money forward to the agencies that need it.
Let me remind you what is in the bill as there seems to be some confusion about what the Governor has asked for.
In addition to the disaster recovery loan program; there are appropriations of $3,619,000 for Avian flu emergency response activities from the general fund in fiscal year 2015, a one-time expenditure available until it is expended.
$1,853,000 to the Board of Animal Health for emergency response activities from the general fund in fiscal year 2015, a one-time expenditure available until it is expended.
$103,000 to the commissioner of health for emergency response activities including the monitoring of human infection among workers from the general fund in fiscal year 2015, a one-time expenditure available until it is expended.
$350,000 to the commissioner of natural resources for sampling wild animals to detect and monitor the avian influenza virus from the general fund in fiscal year 2015, a one-time expenditure available until it is expended.
$544,000 is appropriated from the general fund in fiscal year 2015 to the commissioner of public safety to operate the State Emergency Operation Center in coordination with the statewide avian influenza response activities.
………………….
Now since several claims here on the floor and in the press have been made to accuse me of playing political games with the Avian Flu crisis. Let me first say my intent from the beginning and I have been clear about this is to get the funds as quickly as possible as we can to the agencies that need it. I have not wavered from that since the beginning. I am thankful that the whole house joined me in addressing the issue on April 16th and again on April 29th to pass the earlier funding bill. But in my defense let me remind you of the sequence of events.
On March 4th the first incidence of a MN farm being infected by the H5N2 influenza occurred.
On April 10th at the House Ag Finance Committee after money was added to the Ag omnibus Finance Bill to address concerns about the Avian Flu outbreak and placed under the jurisdiction of a proposed and yet to be formed Transfer Board (made up primarily of lobbyists and interest groups), Rick Hansen asked if a hearing had been scheduled, and then proposed the Ag Committee convene a hearing on the Avian Flu crisis as we were getting daily reports of increased flu outbreaks.
April 11th I drafted and dropped in a stand-alone funding bill to meet the Governor’s request to send emergency funds to the Dept. of Ag and to The Board of Animal Health
April 16th a joint hearing of the Ag Policy and Finance Committee was convened to hear testimony about the Avian Flu crisis affecting Minnesota Turkey Farmers. Testimony was heard from Commissioner of Ag Dave Fredrickson, Chief Vet. Medical Officer at USDA Dr. John Clifford, Pomeroy Chair of Avian Health at the Univ. of MN Dr. Carol Cardona, State Veterinarian at MN Board of Animal Health Dr. Bill Hartman, Executive Director of Natural Resources Seve Olson, Lou Cornicelli of the Dept. of Natural Resources and a constituent of mine and turkey grower John Zimmerman.
Later that day HF 2225 was introduced and I asked for a suspension of the rules to move my stand alone bill with emergency funds forward. You all joined me in suspending the rules and passing my bill off the floor.
April 21st The bill returned with an amendment. In the interest of getting the money to the Governor for his signature as quickly as possible I moved to concur. But the House decided not to concur and a conference committee was formed with myself the author as Chair and Rep. Hamilton and Rep. Miller.
April 23rd Governor Dayton declared a peace time emergency and outlined a new request for additional funds, I was the only legislator to attend the press conference and took notes on what those requests would be.
Between April 21st and April 24th while we waited for the Senate to appoint a conference committee I met several times with the Senate Author Senator Dahle he indicated who the conferees were likely to be including Senator Skoe who was the strongest proponent of their amendment, which the House objected to. I made several overtures to Rep. Hamilton and Sen. Skoe to meet and address the concerns thinking that this would facilitate the conference committee meeting and allow us to come to a quick agreement. Senator Skoe indicated he would rather have Rep. Hamilton contact him so I gave Rep. Hamilton Sen. Skoe’s cell phone number and encouraged him to call and arrange a meeting. That meeting never took place.
April 24th Friday The Senate appointed Sen. Dahle, Sen. Skoe, and Sen. Dahmes to the conference committee.
April 27th the Conference Committee was scheduled the morning of that day for April 28th at 3:00pm
April 27th that night I was informed by Nancy Conley that she had been informed by Majority staff that the conference committee meeting for April 28th had been cancelled
April 28th on the House floor I attempted to find out on whose authority a scheduled conference committee would be cancelled. Finding no answer to my question as the conference committee chair, I made the announcement that the conference committee would meet at 3pm.
April 28th 3pm I convened the meeting and as a proposal I introduced an amendment that would become HF 2296, the bill I hope to bring to the floor today. I was told that such an amendment would be out of order as it would greatly expand the bill and was told that it would need approval from both the Speaker and the Majority leader to go forward. While the Senate conferees conferred on accepting the House offer proposed by Rep. Hamilton I checked to see what getting agreement from the Speaker and the Majority Leader of the Senate to agree and would take to move this language forward. I concluded I would not have time though I did not believe it would be impossible, so I accepted the next best thing and wrapped up the conference committee with the agreement from the Senate.
April 29th the amended HF 2225 was taken up and passed on the floor.
May 1st the Governor signed the bill.
May 4th HF 2296 was introduced as a stand alone bill and I made a motion to suspend the rules and take it up and pass it off the floor. This was rejected by Rep. Hamilton and my motion did not receive enough votes.
May 11th Rep. Baker amended the emergency loan language, which he amended from the Ag Finance Omnibus bill to the Ag Policy Omnibus Bill. I attempted to amend the rest of the language in HF 2296 to Rep. Baker’s amendment but that was ruled out of order. Later, I attempted to suspend the rules to bring forward HF 2296 on its own. But I did not have the votes to suspend the rules.
May 13th I made the same motion and it was rejected.
May 14th My motion was also rejected.
Today I stand before you – 70 hrs left in the session and asking for your support to make sure that we send this important funding allocation forward so it has a chance of passing and being signed by the Governor before we close the 2015 session.
I believe it is important that the funds be released from the transfer board where it currently sits in HF 1437 and move forward as a stand alone bill. All members who currently have constituents dealing with this or waiting and praying that they are not hit by it the H5N2 virus should support this and not wait for a meeting that may or may not happen in the next couple of days.
My intent all along since I had HF 2225 drafted was to get the money to the agencies that need it as quickly as possible, that remains my one goal. If that’s what you mean by “playing politics” I will accept your accusation. To me politics is an honorable endeavor and I cast no aspersions on your side for doing what you believe is best.
I believe we owe it to all poultry farmers to act. Think about for a moment, all of the products that depend on chicken eggs and how a wipe out not only of the turkey industry but the egg industry would mean not just for Minnesota but for our national economy. I believe we owe it to all of our constituents to act on their behalf and move without prejudice to declare an urgency and move this funding where it needs to go. Every day matters. We should not wait another day.
But wait they did. House and Senate majority leaders thought getting that big honking bill with its veto-bait environmental policy rollbacks that mostly had little to do with ag policy and funding was more important than simply helping poultry farmers.
Photo: Rep. David Bly, DFL-Northfield, in conversation with opponents of the Ag & Environment Omnibus Finance bill last Thursday. The controversial provisions that led to the veto of the bill stemmed from the environmental sections of the legislation, rather than from agricultural funding.
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For all the wailing that we've heard and read about Governor Dayton's wild-eyed vetoes of budget bills crushing the life prospects of poultry farmers and campers, a look beyond the talking points suggest that the reverse is true.
Lead by a radical, pro-corporate House Republican majority, Majority Leader Bakk thought he could cut last minutes deals for the Range, policy deals that cut to the heart of Minnesota values for clean air and water. Creating giant omnibus budget bills tainted with poison pills of policy but laced with funding for avian flu relief for farmers and buffer language for the Governor's clean water, the deal-makers thought decades of environmental policy might be erased.
This was the real "hostage-taking": stuffing bad policy into vital budget bills. Listening to citizens' objections, Dayton vetoed the ag/environment and jobs/energy bill.
Forum Communications reported Don Davis writes in Governor, leaders: short session soon that the gnashing of teeth of a special session will take place in the State Office Building (SOB) because that's where the cameras are.
Moreover, the Governor has a punch list that should cut through the backroom deals:
Only the governor can call a special session, and Dayton said he will do that only after he and all four legislative leaders agree to an agenda.
Dayton has set an eight-item agenda, more than most recent special sessions:
— Rewrite and pass a vetoed education funding bill with money to launch a pre-kindergarten program.
— Rewrite and pass a vetoed spending bill for jobs, economic development and energy, including more broadband expansion funds.
— Rewrite and pass a vetoed agriculture and environment funding bill, keeping money for avian flu recovery and requiring buffer strips around state waters.
— Overturn a just-passed provision that would allow private auditors to check county books instead of the state auditor.
— Pass a public works funding bill.
— Pass the “legacy bill” to fund outdoors and arts projects, and add funding for a White Earth Band project to protect forests, wildlife and habitat on the Wild River Watershed.
— Pass a $260 million one-time income tax cut, an olive branch to Republicans who place lower taxes at the top of their priority list.
— On Tuesday, Dayton added to his list passage of a bill that would allow felons’ vote to be restored after they get out of prison.
In addition to getting rid of the radical policy "reforms" in the environment part of the Ag and Environment Omnibus bill, we're pleased to see the stripping of the punish-the-state-auditor provision and the restoration of the White Earth Nation Legacy request. Icing on the cake: restoring the vote language, which had broad support across the caucuses.
Enough already. Quit with the BrokeBakk insider dealmaking, folks, and pass a budget for all Minnesota.
Photo: Bakk and Daudt announcing their May 15 deal.
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An exploration of the genesis of this particular provision--first introduced as an amendment by Representative Dan during the April 15 and April 16 markup of an earlier version of the bill by the House Environment committee--reveals yet another single instance of an action by the MPCA triggering an overhaul of law.
Fabian's amendment appears to be fueled by political campaign contributions by Digi-key to the Northwest Minnesota lawmaker, the HRCC and to the coffers of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's PAC. Tony Kwilas, the state chamber's environmental policy director, testified on behalf of the amendment on April 16.
During the April hearing (the discussion of Fabian's amendment is embedded below), committee chair Denny McNamara characterized the company as a computer "refurbisher."
Electronics distributor Digi-Key Corporation has paid a fine and taken corrective action to ensure that generators in its Thief River Falls facility are operated according to state requirements.
In spring 2013, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) determined that the facility had failed to obtain a state permit for a generator that was installed in 1990 and provide required annual emission reports. The company also failed to obtain a permit required when two generators were added in 1999 and 2002 and a Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit (for significant sources of NOx) after the fourth and largest generator was installed in 2009.
The permits and reporting requirements are designed to limit emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) air pollution. NOx, a byproduct of combustion, can cause respiratory problems in people, contribute to acid rain and cause other environmental problems.
Digi-Key has four generators in Thief River Falls that are used during power outages and three of them provide electricity to a local utility during peak energy demand periods.
The company is in the process of obtaining the permit required for the generators and has submitted emission inventory reports for the years 2004-2012. It has also paid a $25,000 penalty.
When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how seriously the violation affected the environment, whether it is a first-time or repeat violation, and how promptly the violation was reported to appropriate authorities. It also attempts to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner.
In the hearing, McNamara suggests that the company was fined for one unpermitted generator--or rather, for lacking "a piece of paper" for one generator. This is a notion that's about as accurate as calling firm a computer "refurbisher."
McNamara also suggests that the $25,000 fine might drive the company into the arms of South Dakota or some other locale, but other reports suggest that a greater issue is affordable housing for new hires or finding workers at all, given the robust economy in North Dakota. The Wall Street Journal has called Thief River Falls a "job island."
Here's the April 16, 2015 discussion of Thief River Falls Republican Dan Fabian's A3 Amendment to HF846:
Following the money
So what drives the hyperbole in the words of the politicians standing up for a poor little rich company with over 3,000 employees and yearly sales of $1.6 billion that received a $25,000 fine after operating four generators without a permit?
Stordahl, Ronald 10-28-2014 HRCC $5,000.00 Larson, Mark 10-10-2014 Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd $3,000.00 Stordahl, Ronald 10-06-2014 Johnson, Jeff R Gov. Committee $ 2,000.00 Trontvet, Rick 08-18-2014 Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd $1,200.00 Larson, Mark 10-06-2014 Johnson, Jeff R Gov. Committee $1,000.00 Stordahl, Ronald 10-17-2014 Kiel, Debra (Deb) L House Dist. $750.00 Stordahl, Ronald A 10-09-2014 Fabian, Daniel E House Dist. 750.00 Larson, Mark A 05-10-2014 Fabian, Daniel E House Dist. $500.00 Trontvet, Rick 10-07-2014 Johnson, Jeff R Gov. Committee $350.00 Trontvet, Rick 08-17-2014 Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd $300.00 (a gift card) Trontvet, Rick 08-25-2014 Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd $250.00 Trontvet, Rick 10-06-2014 Johnson, Jeff R Gov. Committee $250.00 Trontvet, Rick A 04-29-2014 Fabian, Daniel E House Dist. $125.00
Note that the company's leaders ponied up $4750 for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fund; in its turn, the Chamber testified in favor of the Fabian amendment.
The Chamber was only $250 behind the HRCC (the Minnesota House Republicans' campaign committee)as a recipient of the company's political generosity.
The executive spouses of the Digi-Key executives also gave to conservative political candidates. Jean Larson gave Dan Fabian $500; Karmon Trontvet contributed $225.
Was this a clear quid pro quo? It's unclear, since Digi-Key was also a poster child for the very real problems in Thief River Falls related to affordable workforce housing.
Whatever the case, those tuning in to the April 16 omnibus finance bill mark-up didn't hear about the money trail, the real number of the un-permitted generators and the length of time that they were unpermitted--or even the nature of the company itself, only that the fine was oppressive.
Perhaps the amnesty provision needed a bit more sunlight; the Governor made a good call on including this in his veto letter.
We're finding one thing fascinating as we dig into the money behind the bad policy that House Republicans (and Senate conferees) were attaching to these funding bills. That's the willingness to hold Minnesota poultry farmers, the Governor's buffer initiative and departmental budgets hostage in order to cram special interest favors into bills.
A dairy owned by a big funder asked for more environmental review by the MPCA's Citizens Board? Get rid of the board. A billion dollar plus company fined for running four generators? We'll make sure that doesn't happen again. The public interest? What checks has that written recently?
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"It seems the governor's version of compromise is his way or the highway. Moving forward from this veto, which blindsided us, will be difficult," said McNamara, R-Hastings.
McNamara neglects to acknowledge the inconvenient fact of nonpartisan opposition to the final product. Perhaps those who ignore news reports of citizen opposition to the ag and environment bill--almost entirely because of language on the environmental side--can claim to be "blindsided."
Nor can earlier warnings matter to a fellow who is so blindsided by the veto. An article in the Star Tribune from April bearing the headline House GOP legislators, Dayton spar over environmental bill and subhead, House Republicans are using budget bill to push policies seen as more business-friendly would of course never lead anyone to suggest that Dayton might consider a veto.
Admittedly, a chair who savored eliminating the Citizens Board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) likely doesn't much think that citizens' petitions, emails, and visits to the Governor's Residence have a role in the decision-making process.
Blindsiding is a huge ethical problem on Planet McNamara. This is the dude who wanted three-week notices prior to discretionary environmental reviews--a reflex action after the DNR decided to conduct a review of the hydrological consequences of converting pinelands to potato fields. (This provision in the final bill was cited as item #2 in Dayton's veto letter).
As for the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the delay in granting legislative relief for Minnesota's poultry industry, suffering the aftershocks of an avian flu pandemic, it's not as if the House Republicans weren't cautioned about the hazards of putting all their eggs in this basket. Veteran Forum News Service reporter Don Davis notes in With more budget vetoes, preparations begin for partial government shutdown in Minnesota:
Dayton said it was "very, very difficult" to veto the agriculture-environment bill because he supports $19 million for farmers dealing with avian flu and establishing specific requirements for buffers around state water. . . .
As the session was winding down, Rep. David Bly, DFL-Northfield, several times tried to get the House to pass avian flu funding to help farmers repopulate flocks and to receive mental help assistance as a stand-alone bill instead of one that wrapped together hundreds of agriculture and environment issues. Republicans opposed him.
Standing in the foyer of his Tudor-style St. Paul residence a week ago Friday, his tired staff and commissioners around him, Gov. Mark Dayton waited to hear from the legislative leaders who had thwarted him all year.
Dayton, Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk had spent five days ensconced in the mansion trying to agree on how to spend $42 billion.
Unable to reach a deal, with only 90 hours left in the year's session, Bakk and Daudt decided to go it alone.
"I haven't had a chance to pursue with them why they felt the need to do that. But they did," Dayton said that Friday night. . . .
While trying to negotiate an education compromise, Daudt and Bakk were also saving other measures. House and Senate specialists on state government funding, environment funding and jobs budgets were stymied.
Leadership stepped in.
"We just helped them get to conclusion for the most part. We didn't order them: 'You have to do this or you have to that,' " Daudt said. . . .
Deals were cut. Among the provisions slipped into bills: . . .
-- Abolishing the 48-year-old Citizens' Board of the Pollution Control Agency. Dayton vetoed that budget bill Saturday, saying it would destroy environmental protections.
Perhaps the word McNamara was groping for is "outflanked" rather than "blindsided." While neither term honors the victim with strategic acumen, the degree of cluelessness in the former is far less than that implied by the latter.
An admission of this universally acknowledged truth might well salvage the hash browns of McNamara's dignity as well as identify as starting point for renewed negotiations. We hardily recommend it to the gentleman from Dakota County.
Photo: Denny McNamara (R-Hastings).
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Someone in the Restore the Vote movement--which aims to restore voting rights to felons who are on parole or Probation--must have thought this was a winning argument, and found Du three sources for her Blotter post. Du writes:
Thanks to the Minnesota Legislature, everyone can now own guns with silencers -- ex-felons are no exception -- but many still can't vote.
Minnesota had a clear shot this session at finally restoring voting rights for 47,000 people on parole or probation. But the Republican House leadership edited the measure out of a judiciary bill. When that bill eventually passed in late April, it legalized silencers to great cheers from the gun lobby. . . .
Unfortunately, for the reporter--who does not appear to have researched Minnesota statutes on felon rights, it simply isn't true that "everyone can now own guns with silencers -- ex-felons are no exception."
People who are convicted of "crimes of violence" (the list is long and includes crimes that might not seem terribly violent to laypeople) are not able to own or possess guns. The new law allowing suppressors (silencers) doesn't change that.
Can I own or possess a gun even if I have a felony on my record?
When a person is convicted of a felony, he or she loses some civil rights for a while, including the right to own or possess a gun (firearm). The person automatically gets those rights back when they have completed their sentence. But, if a person was convicted of a felony “crime of violence” as described in MN Statutes § 624.713, subd. 5, he or she loses the right to own or possess a gun for life.[emphasis added] The only way to get that right back is to file a petition with the court asking for a special order. Read the law at MN Statutes § 609.165. NOTE: The court does not publish forms or instructions for that petition, so you should get help from a lawyer.
But those who brought this malarky to City Page should contemplate why they're pushing an argument that's as divisive as it is false. Some of the "crimes of violence" are relics of the War on Drugs--and the arrest and convictions rates for the drug related offenses hit harder on communities of color than for white offenders.
But if alienating potential allies in the gun rights community is the goal--Bluestem is told that Public Safety Committee Chair Cornish (R-Vernon Center) smiles on restoring the vote among other civil liberties like gun rights--we think this nonsense can't be beat.
Ms. Du will have to consult her own guidelines for what happens when she's burned by a source.
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In the final minutes of the legislative session Monday, the Senate feverishly passed a bonding bill that included a priority of Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook: $7.2 million for an underground parking garage at the State Capitol that would provide a grand total of 30 vehicle spaces.
That works out to $240,000 per parking space. The underground garage would obviate the need for what’s there now, a surface lot that in the past was used for the governor and constitutional officers and a few select staff. With the surface lot gone, it could be landscaped to improve the site’s aesthetic properties.
The Senate passed the bonding bill with overwhelming bipartisan support, but just a few moments too late for a vote by the House, which had already adjourned.
The “garage-mahal” isn’t dead yet, however.
Bakk advocated for the underground garage, saying continued use of the surface parking lot at the northwest corner of the Capitol would mar the view from both the Capitol and the new Senate Office Building. . . .
Bakk on Wednesday said that “I want to landscape up to the building. If we do not build (the underground garage), we will have a surface parking lot there. That is not the visual I want.”
The veteran Iron Range senator’s commitment to the Capitol project is unquestionable, sometimes at the expense of the political fortunes of himself and his party. It was Bakk who led the charge for the new Senate office building now under construction, inserting language for it into a bill at the end of the 2013 session. House Republicans made an election issue of it and some House DFLers remain convinced the controversy helped cost them their majority. That building will cost $76 million when it’s completed later this year. It will have its own $14 million underground garage, paid for through user fees. By moving the senators’ offices into the new Senate building, Bakk has maintained the public will be able to claim more space to celebrate the grandeur of democracy in the renovated Capitol.
He said his concerns with the current surface lot are related to security so close to the Capitol. Bakk previously told the Star Tribune he wanted the surface lot replaced with an underground garage so the current surface lot could be landscaped for better views, in addition to security concerns.
That should work on the Minnesota Jobs Coalition and Minnesota Action Network oversized mail pieces.
Photo: Majority Leader Bakk.
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Environmental advocates upset about a budget bill that includes several controversial policy provisions today picketed the governor’s mansion to demand a veto.
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton surprised them all by coming outside with cookies and a listening ear. He said he is still looking at all the budget bills and hasn’t decided whether to veto the environment and agriculture budget bill. But he reiterated the same doubts he raised on Wednesday during a news conference.
“Those items that you find offensive — and I agree with you — they didn’t get in there by accident. They got in there because we have a Republican-controlled House and DFL-controlled Senate,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to come back with a DFL bill … We’re in an era where we’re going to have to deal with some of these things we don’t like.”
Bobby King, a policy program organizer with the Land Stewardship Project, responded that some of the provisions, such as the elimination of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board, were inserted in closed-door meetings without a public hearing. . . .
Gov. Mark Dayton has already vowed to veto education funding legislation, citing early education as a top priority. A governor who has also championed water quality should swiftly veto another budget bill — the agriculture and environment spending legislation.
Signing it would put the gubernatorial stamp of approval on multiple measures that would weaken protections for Minnesota’s treasured waterways. Dayton, serving his final term and looking to burnish his legacy, would tarnish it if he let this shortsighted legislation sail through. It needs a do-over in the looming special session. . . .
That these measures even reached the governor’s desk is frustrating when Minnesota was poised this year to make serious progress on water cleanup. In January, Dayton boldly called for strengthening the state’s “buffer” law, which requires vegetative strips along many waterways. The strips help filter out agricultural runoff, a key source of river and stream pollution, especially in the southwestern part of the state. . . .
But there’s little positive to say about other water-related measures in the bill. Among other things, the legislation calls for dissolving the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s long-standing Citizens’ Board. The move smacks of retaliation on behalf of special interests. In 2014, the board voted to require an environmental-impact statement for a proposed 9,000-head dairy operation.
The bill also undermines a promising biofuels compromise between agricultural and environmental groups that could have helped attract biofuels investment in the state while creating incentives for growing perennials and cover crops. These fight water pollution naturally.
Other backward water-quality measures in the bill are almost too numerous to list. Wastewater facilities in the Red River watershed shouldn’t get a pass on meeting new standards. Diverting money dedicated to landfill cleanup is lousy policy. So is a move that could harm wild rice by exempting some mining waste from water protection rules.
Bluestem attended; we were impressed by the energy of the crowd and the presence of so many children, who enthusiastically accepted cookies from the Governor. Dayton said that he'll be looking over the legislation and will mostly likely announce his decision on Friday or Saturday.
There's still time to call or email Governor Dayton and join your voice with those of the protesters and the paper's editorial board. Readers can contact the Govenor's Office via these numbers and email form:
[T]he Legislature missed the mark on several key areas of the Agricultural and Environment Omnibus Budget Bill having final votes today, including:
Abolishing the Citizens’ Board of the Pollution Control Agency: The Citizens’ Board has worked well and is a model we can be proud of. Eliminating it is simply bowing to special interests.
Raiding Dedicated Environmental Funds: Even with $1 billion on the bottom line, this bill raids funds that are to prevent old landfills from contaminating our groundwater and surface water and clean up the pollution where it occurs.
Breaks the Compromise Agreement on Biofuels: The signed agreement between energy, agriculture, and environment stakeholders would establish the next-generation biofuel industry in Minnesota. This bill violates that agreement, undercutting our ability to establish perennial crops for ethanol production and develop new beneficial agricultural systems to protect and restore our lakes, rivers and streams in some our most polluted watersheds in the heart of ag country.
Provides Funding to Promote False Pollinator Labelling: The Legislature voted to allow deceptive advertising for “pollinator-friendly plants” that need only not kill bees upon first contact.
Rolling Back Wild Rice Standards: This language defies the Federal Clean Water Act by limiting the PCA’s authority to enforce our state water quality standards. Surprise Sulfide Mining Amendment: The bill exempts sulfide mining waste from solid waste rules. This amendment was never introduced as a bill or heard in any committee, and its future effect is unknown. Exempting as-of-yet unknown waste streams from potential sulfide mines is an unnecessary risk to water quality and public health.
Red River Rules Suspension: Delays enforcement of updated nutrient pollution permits for wastewater treatment facilities in the Red River watershed until 2025, unless approved by the U.S. EPA, North Dakota Department Health, and EPA Regions 5 & 8.
Polluter Amnesty: A polluter amnesty provision delays enforcement and waives penalties for regulated parties that self-report violations of environmental regulations. This provision needlessly strips the MPCA of its powers to hold polluters accountable for protecting our natural resources.
“Overall, the Ag and Environment Omnibus moves us in the wrong direction for Minnesota’s Great Outdoors, and it’s not what the people of Minnesota want,” said Morse. “Our coalition of 70 environmental and conservation nonprofits, representing over 450,000 Minnesotans urge the Governor to stand his ground for improving water quality and veto this bill.”
Photo: Children at the rally were charmed by Dayton and his cookies, while adults listened to Dayton's words about the bill.
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While acknowledging some good things in HF846, the massive agriculture and environment omnibus finance bill, thirty-six environmental groups--including Greater Minnesota-based grassroots organizations like Clean Up The River Environment (CURE) and Mankato Area Environmentalists--have sent a letter to Governor Mark Dayton urging him to veto the bill.
Here's the letter that has been sent to the Governor's office:
From the Facebook page for the Keep Minnesota Clean Event at the Governor’s Mansion:
Join together to ask Governor Dayton to veto the dirty environment bill and ask the legislature to fix it to keep MN clean. #KeepMNClean
What the bill does: - Eliminates the MN Pollution Control Agency's Citizens' Board - Raids dedicated environmental funds - Allows deceptive labeling for pollinator-friendly plants - Exempts sulfide mining waste from solid waste rules - Grants polluters amnesty from enforcement and penalties
We'll gather at 10:30AM
Kids encouraged!! This is an event with a positive message.
A program of speakers will begin at 11:00 a.m. To represent river otters living on the Upper Minnesota River, CURE is sending a nice-looking Swedish-American guy from Montvideo dressed in an otter suit:
The law, however, is not a done deal. It passed both houses, but its funding comes from a bill that failed to pass the Senate.
Meanwhile, some DFL legislators and environmental groups are urging Dayton to veto the entire environmental policy bill because it contains many provisions they find unacceptable, including the buffer rules.
The Minnesota Environmental Partnership described the buffer law as “insufficient,” and Friends of the Mississippi River said that while it’s a step in the right direction, it doesn’t do nearly enough.
“We are extremely grateful to the governor for being such a champion for our waters,” said Whitney Clark, executive director of Friends of the Mississippi. “It’s unfortunate that it is not stronger.”
Farm groups, which said they wanted more input on how the law came together, were also lukewarm on the final version. . .
In a press conference with greater Minnesota reporters Tuesday afternoon, Dayton said although he had yet to fully examine the bills that along with the education measure passed in the frenetic final hours of the session, he liked what he saw on shoreland buffers.
The language on buffers was a "very, very compelling reason" to sign the larger bill containing the buffer strip measure, he said.
However, there were other provisions in the bill that Dayton said he opposed, including the elimination of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Citizens' Board.
"But, I don't expect to have bills that I agree with entirely," he said. "That's a guarantee when you have a divided government. ... I'm prepared to accept things I don't like in the spirit of compromise." . . .
Sounds like those asking Dayton to veto the bill have our work cut out for us.
Photos: River otters (above); Those hard-working kids at CURE broke out the otter suit on their behalf.
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The Minnesota Environmental Partnership and others have decided to have an event this Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the Governor’s residence, 1006 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, to ask Governor Mark Dayton to veto the ag and environment omnibus bill (HF 846).
What's the problem with the legislation?
From the Facebook page for the Keep Minnesota Clean Event at the Governor’s Mansion:
Join together to ask Governor Dayton to veto the dirty environment bill and ask the legislature to fix it to keep MN clean. #KeepMNClean
What the bill does: - Eliminates the MN Pollution Control Agency's Citizens' Board - Raids dedicated environmental funds - Allows deceptive labeling for pollinator-friendly plants - Exempts sulfide mining waste from solid waste rules - Grants polluters amnesty from enforcement and penalties
We'll gather at 10:30AM
Kids encouraged!! This is an event with a positive message.
Environmentalists want Dayton to reject a spending bill for agriculture and the environment — even though it includes language on buffers to protect the state's waterways. Buffers have been one of Dayton's top priorities this session.
The list of objections from environmental groups is long, and it includes complaints about both policy and spending — including a provision that uses money raised by Minnesota's Legacy Amendment to pay for environmental measures.
One of the biggest objections is to a provision that would eliminate the citizens' board that oversees some decisions at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The language stems from a controversial decision the board made last year over a proposed dairy operation.
Environmental groups also object to money being transferred out of a fund designed to clean up old landfills in the future and to new policies they say would delay water quality rules, hurt bees and go easy on polluters.
"It's really an atrocious environmental bill, especially in a year when we have a lot of money," said Steve Morse, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, which represents a coalition of groups. "It makes dramatic cuts to the environment and natural resources and has a lot of really bad policy."
The Republican-led Minnesota House debated and passed the bill on an 83-50 vote, with most Democrats voting against it. The abolition of the MPCA Citizens Board was one of several reasons some DFLers said they opposed it. They argued the board provides an additional check on a regulatory agency.
"Eliminating this board is a radical step," said Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis. "It shouldn't be in this bill." . . .
The House passed the conference committee report on a 83-50 vote, but the vote in the Senate was much closer 35-30 vote. It's not a veto-proof vote.
Image: logo from Keep Minnesota Clean.
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Did Minnesota representatives need a chance to read and debate the 93-page conference committee report on the Jobs and Energy Finance and Policy Omnibus Bill?
Apparently not in the eyes of Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-Crown), who refused to recognize any House members as he railroaded the bill through the end of the legislative session, which had to end at midnight on Monday, May 18.
Here's Daudt speed date legislative moment, all one minute and 33 seconds of it, via The Uptake. Bluestem cannot begin to tell you what's in the bill:
Screengrab: Daudt's speed dating with the Jobs and Energy bill.
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Update: Listen to the audio here from March 26th 2015, about HF 537 in Hamilton's Ag Finance Committee, hearing testimony on this global agreement. The full compromise language (SF 517) was heard in committee, and passed in the Senate as part of SF2101 (Art. 2, 4). This history still doesn't explain why House didn't accept Senate Language in Conference Report.
Breaks the Compromise Agreement on Biofuels: The signed agreement between energy, agriculture, and environment stakeholders would establish the next-generation biofuel industry in Minnesota. This bill violates that agreement, undercutting our ability to establish perennial crops for ethanol production and develop new beneficial agricultural systems to protect and restore our lakes, rivers and streams in some our most polluted watersheds in the heart of ag country.
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As we post this, the Minnesota House is debating the HF846 conference committee report. While the language on the Governor's Buffer Initiative is better, the Minnesota Environmental Partnership and a coalition of other environmental groups are asking legislators to vote no.
Among the "most offensive provisions:"
Abolishing the Citizens’ Board of the Pollution Control Agency: The Citizens’ Board was established in 1967 to ensure the PCA serves the public interest and to establish an open and transparent decision-making process. The Citizens’ Board has worked well and is a model we can be
proud of. The Conferees adopted language to eliminate the Citizens’ Board altogether, which did not pass either the House of Senate.
Raiding Dedicated Environmental Funds: Even with $1 billion on the bottom line, this bill raids funds that are to prevent old landfills from contaminating our groundwater and surface water and clean up the pollution where it occurs. This budget gimmick results in a more than 24% cut in general fund spending for the environmental. Even if some of the funds are eventually paid back as scheduled in the bill, the overall amount of clean up funds will fall far short of the amount needed for cleaning up leaks from our more than 100 landfills for which the state is responsible.
Breaks the Compromise Agreement on Biofuels: The signed agreement between energy, agriculture, and environment stakeholders would establish the next-generation biofuel industry in Minnesota. This bill violates that agreement, undercutting our ability to establish perennial crops for ethanol production and develop new beneficial agricultural systems to protect and restore our lakes, rivers and streams in some our most polluted watersheds in the heart of ag country.
Provides Funding to Promote False Pollinator Labelling: Recently, the legislature voted to allow deceptive advertising for "pollinator-friendly plants" that need only not kill bees on first contact. Plants contaminated short of that threshold can be labeled "pollinator-friendly."
Expensive Re-dos: The bill requires expensive cost analyses of existing and anticipated water quality standards that establish a false baseline for estimated capital and operating costs of complying with water quality standards without including economic and social costs associated with declines in water quality.
Surprise Sulfide Mining Amendment: the bill exempts sulfide mining waste from solid waste rules. This amendment was never introduced as a bill or heard in any committee, and its future effect is unknown. Exempting as-of-yet unknown waste streams from potential sulfide mines is an unnecessary risk to water quality and public health. Nobody has been able to explain how or whether this would apply to PolyMet and other proposed mines.
Red River Rules Suspension: Delays enforcement of updated nutrient pollution permits for wastewater treatment facilities in the Red River watershed until 2025, unless approved by the U.S. EPA, North Dakota Department Health, and EPA Regions 5 & 8.
Polluter Amnesty: A polluter amnesty provision delays enforcement and waives penalties for regulated parties that self-report violations of environmental regulations. This provision needlessly strips the MPCA of its powers to hold polluters accountable for protecting our natural resources.
Lastly, although some previously adopted provisions that suspended current water quality standards were removed, the repetitive water quality studies that have been kept in the bill will have huge fiscal impacts, but are only minimally funded.
These groups have signed the letter: Minnesota Environmental Partnership Alliance for Sustainability Audubon Society of St. Paul Clean Water Action Climate Generation Conservation Minnesota CURE (Clean Up the River Environment) Environment Minnesota Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Friends of the Cloquet Valley State Forest Friends of the Mississippi River Friends of the Parks & Trails of St. Paul & Ramsey County Izaak Walton League - Minnesota Division Izaak Walton League of America - Midwest Office Land Stewardship Project League of Women Voters Minnesota Lower Phalen Creek Project Mankato Area Environmentalists Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy Minnesota Conservation Federation Minnesota Food Association Minnesota Land Trust Minnesota Ornithologists' Union Minnesota Project Minnesota Renewable Energy Society MN350 Renewing the Countryside Sierra Club - North Star Chapter St. Croix River Association Transit for Livable Communities Urban Roots Voyageurs National Park Association WaterLegacy
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On Thursday's "Your Legislators," a question Bluestem's editor sent in to Pioneer Public Television led off the live roundtable show.
Guest lawmakers included Rick Hansen (DFL, South St. Paul) and Jeff Howe (R, Rockville) from the House and Carla Nelson (R, Rochester) and Sandy Pappas (DFL, St. Paul). Since Hansen has established himself as one of the pollinator advocates at the legislature, host Barry Anderson turned the question over to the Dakota County Democrat.
Hansen reviews the laws passed last year, and efforts to roll them back this year, noting that researchers at the U have determined that not it's not just one factor that's putting pollinators in peril:
They'll say that it's parasites, poor nutrition, poor habitat and pesticides. Not just one. . . but they impact each other. So the pesticides could impact or weaken the bees so they may not find the food, plus you've got to have the habitat. Or they might become more susceptible to mites that come into the hives.
So we've helped with trying to help with the public dollar on habitat, but what happened today [Thursday in the Senate]--this is what happens here. An omnibus bill--a lot of good stuff in it, some bad stuff in it--the choice is in front of all of us. I voted against the omnibus bill, others don't, but it's on its way to the governor, it's pretty popular bill, in the Senate it passed unanimously, but this was in it.
It's unfortunate, and I hope that Minnesotans, if things like this happen at the capitol, there's still a way that they can go to their nurseries and greenhouses and say, "Why is this happening? I want to have something that's not going to kill pollinators."
And ask those greenhouses and nurseries, why are you lobbying for this at the capitol? We want truth in advertising. . . .Minnesotans want--I get emails from around the state, I get emails: we want to help out pollinators. People get the connection with their food supply, they know that bees are critical, . . .we have to try to do this, so if they can't influence us, I encourage them to influence with their dollar at the nurseries and greenhouses and ask for pollinator-friendly plants.
Not long after, Rochester Republican Nelson concurs:
. . .I will say, pollinators are very important and I think the public does realize that. We're going to have to monitor the situation, and laws can change--and they do change. And I also like what you said about having people vote with their pocketbooks.
. . .I think there's even more power in the consumer, so I think that's a good avenue as well. . . .
Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson reported last spring in As pesticide worries grow, 'bee safe' plants generate a buzz that some greenhouses and nurseries were responding to consumer concerns by providing bee-friendly plants that are actually bee-safe.
Saturday, Howe voted for the Schultz amendment to the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources funding bill. Sadly, we've heard this evening that despite yesterday's board bipartisan vote by House members from Preston to Moorhead, the conference committee has refused to include the new language in the current version of the LCCMR funding bill.
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