A reader sent us to Minimum-wage bill would deal a blow to Minnesota restaurants, a February 2013 opinion piece on Minnesota Public Radio by Michael Saltsman, research director of the Employment Policies Institute, which describes itself as "a nonprofit research organization dedicated to studying public policy issues surrounding employment growth."
In the piece, Saltsman describes the woes that the Stillwater restaurant owner would have to endure:
Local businesses in Minnesota can help provide context — businesses like the River Oasis Cafe, a diner in Stillwater. Purchased five years ago by Craig Beemer, the cafe has 17 employees and annual sales just over the threshold the state uses to distinguish a "small" from a "large" business.
Beemer doesn't feel like a large business. Even on busy weekend mornings, he has just seven people on the floor — four servers, two cooks and one dishwasher. Last year, as the owner of the business, he estimates his income was only about 20 percent higher than the top-earning employee on his wait staff.
“Decades of economic research clearly demonstrate that minimum wage hikes result in job loss for the most vulnerable members of the economy,” said Rick Berman, Executive Director of the Employment Policies Institute. “The unintended consequences of this legislation would be pricing low-skilled working men and women in Minnesota out of the job market and increasing unemployment among those groups that need help the most.”
Richard “Rick” Berman is a longtime Washington, D.C. public relations specialist whose lobbying and consulting firm, Berman and Company, Inc., advocates for special interests and powerful industries. Berman and Co. wages deceptive campaigns against industry foes including labor unions; public-health advocates; and consumer, safety, animal welfare, and environmental groups.
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But those doubts aren't stopping Thompson Hall Santi Cerny & Dooley, the law firm where he serves as Vice President of Business Relations, from petitioning the Minnesota Supreme Court to get a piece of the action as Minnesota's medical cannabis industry gears up.
Minnesota’s newly passed medical marijuana law legalized pot for the treatment of certain ailments and permits two marijuana manufacturers and four dispensaries to operate in the state. Medical professionals estimate the law will benefit some 5,000 patients, but its implementation is hampered by other state laws that restrict lawyers from giving legal counsel to prospective business owners in the nascent legal pot industry.
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“We’ve already been contacted by potential entrepreneurs who want to form an LLC,” Maureen Carlson, a business attorney with Thompson Hall law firm in Minneapolis, told International Business Times. “The problem is, we can’t advise them.”
Minnesota law prohibits lawyers from working with clients on illicit activities, and marijuana remains an illegal substance under federal law. Thompson Hall is behind a petition submitted Wednesday with the Minnesota Supreme Court that would amend the state’s rules to authorize lawyers to work with businesses wanting to enter the legal marijuana industry.
“It’s in the public interest to have attorneys involved,” Carlson said. “We need to make sure these companies are complying with the law, have all the right contracts. The marijuana industry is on the forefront [of legalization in the state] and we’re trying to play catchup.”
Under Minnesota's new law, two medical cannabis manufacturers will be selected to operate growing and processing facilities; the cannabis will be distributed at eight facilities operated by the manufacturers.
Photo: Dan Hall, state senator and vice president for business relations at wannabe medical marijuana law firm Thompson Hall. Thompson Hall, for its part, is a very highly regarded firm, and Bluestem thinks the petition is a good idea, since a business that's legal in Minnesota should be able to secure legal advice. Indeed, had Hall supported the more expansive bill for up to 53 alternative treatment centers, the firm might have helped more clients.
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I launched my business in 1981, Frey Manufacturing, a leader in manufacturing transportation equipment, and electrical power designs for industrial, commercial, and international solar projects. Kristi’s family has owned property in Carver County since the 1950′s that is still in the family today. Kristi and I purchased a farm outside of Norwood Young America in 1991, and have enjoyed raising our five children in the County ever since.
Bluestem has discovered that Frey's campaign resume apparently omits a very short career in the residential loan and mortgage modification industry that appears to have occupied at least some of his attention in 2009 and 2010.
Our exclusive and original research has discovered that Frey appears to have worked as a loan and mortgage originator or modification consultant with at least three firms: defunct Michigan-based Save My Home USA Inc; Lewis Hunt Enterprises (D.B.A as Interactive Financial Corp); and the least documented of the three, the Mortgage Indepentent Loan Originator (MILO) Network.
According to addresses on the documents, Robert Frey operated his residential loan originator service out of an office at 624 - 13th St. E. Glencoe, although one additionally lists his Norwood address. This property is owned by Representative Glenn Gruenhagen, according to his Economic Interest Statement filing online at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
Presumably, Frey rented Suite 102 from his friend Glenn Gruenhagen, whose own Gruenhagen Insurance and Financial Services firm is housed in Suite 101 of the commercial office space in downtown Glencoe. There is no evidence whatsoever that Gruenhagen himself was involved in the firm save as a landlord.
Perhaps the most interesting of these business connections is that with Save My Home USA, Inc, a Michigan-based firm which made the news in Minnesota. It's not a flattering story from the foreclosure crisis.
A Michigan company was accused Thursday of defrauding 118 Minnesota homeowners out of nearly $290,000 in what is being called a mortgage modification scam.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce accused Save My Home USA of Madison Heights, Mich., of taking money from the homeowners for mortgage modifications but never providing services.
The department ordered save My Home USA to stop doing business in Minnesota, and it set a hearing for May 5.
The agency said in a news release that the 118 homeowners paid $289,020 in fees, and most families lost $1,000 to $4,000 while falling farther behind in the mortgages.
The department said it contacted 23 of the 118 families and found only one who said it received services from Save My Home USA.
“This is a classic scam by opportunists preying on consumers who are in dire straits with their homes,” said Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman. “The actions of this company appear to have put desperate homeowners in an even more precarious position than they were to begin with."
According to the department, Save My Home USA contacted the residents and convinced them to pay advance fees for loan modification services. The 118 homeowners allegedly paid a collective $289,020 in fees. Of the 23 homeowners contacted by the department, only one claims to have received loan modification services. Instead, residents lost as much as $1,000 to $4,000 per family, and fell farther behind on mortgage payments, according to the commerce department.
. . .Current state law says financial consultants licensed as loan originators only have to abide by one state rule: Don't charge compensation until after completing what they tell a consumer they'll do. But even that [Ron Elwood, supervising attorney for Legal Services Advocacy Project] says, is loosely defined, giving them ways around it to charge upfront fees. Other provisions such as providing paperwork copies or allowing a homeowner to sue for damages are exempt for loan originators. . . .
"Nobody contemplated that loan modifiers ... would actually use the license as a shield to get away with it," Elwood said.
In recent years, he said his office have seen more mortgage fraud cases like Sistrunk's, and often "they can hide behind a good faith effort ... a lot of finger-pointing," he said.
Just last month, the state Department of Commerce issued a cease-and-desist order against a Michigan company, Save My Home USA, for defrauding 118 Minnesota homeowners, charging upfront fees totalling nearly $290,000 for loan modification services that only one person received.
For Sen. Benjamin Kruse, R-Brooklyn Park, author of the current bill, better consumer protections in state law could prevent some of these cases by requiring more of companies. "There's a lot of folks out there and they're burning people," said Kruse, whose district has had a rise in foreclosures.
The Minnesota Mortgage Association supported the law change; no one has testified against it, Elwood said. . . .
Taking individuals' money and hopes during the foreclosure crisis and not not refunding their money when you can't perform on your promises? Even the mortgage industry didn't smile on that practice.
According to Department of Commerce Director of Communications Anne O'Connor, "Individuals did not need to have a mortgage originator license prior to January 1, 2011. It appears from my search that Mr. Frey does not hold a license in MN."
Neither the company nor the individuals were licensed to do business in Minnesota, O'Connor said.
However, the Department of Commerce began investigating Save My Home before the charges were made in 2001; according page 4 of the Findings of Fact and Order embedded below, an administrative subpoena was sent to the last known address for Save My Home USA on August 25, 2010; the issue was not licensing but the illegal requests of an upfront fee for their services.
Bob Frey's Save My Home Now Packet
According to page information for http://freyshome.com/save_my_home_usa_packet.pdf, the page was last modifed on Monday, April 27, 2009 9:43:20 PM.
Bluestem Prairie has been unable to determine if Robert Frey ever actually took money from a client to modify an existing mortgage for Save My Home USA--or for any lending firm for any purpose. When we called to ask him about his career in loan modification, Frey told us he was busy and would call back another time.
Frey did not respond to a follow-up email about his business connections with Save My Home USA.
However, we do find that Frey's cover letter for the firm outlines a practice that consumer advocates warn worried homeowners to shy away from and for which Save My Home USA ran into trouble in Michigan, Maryland and later Minnesota. He writes:
No charge to pre-qualify. If pre-qualified there is a fixed fee of $2,995.00. Money back guarantee of reasonable help less $495.00 Audit Fee. 100% back if you change your mind within 72 hours of your payment Depending on circumstances, it takes 2 to 5 business days to pre-qualify after I receive your completed faxed packet. Call me when you have faxed your packet, if I can not answer please leave a message and I will return your call. Since this process is time sensitive, please be sure you can pay the fee if you are pre-qualified, contact me for some suggestions if necessary.
Save My Home USA will never ask you to do anything inappropriate such as telling you not to contact your lender or asking you to send your mortgage payments to us. Save My Home USA puts all collected funds into an escrow account at an FDIC-insured bank. No money will be deducted from the account unless and until Save My Home USA performs services for you.
When we called the cell phone number listed in the document embedded directly below, Bob Frey answered the phone. The Norwood address is also that for Bob Frey.
The names of the mortgage consultants who worked with the owners of the firms are not part of the public record, according to the DOC spokester O'Connor. Thus we cannot ascertain whether Frey himself was directly involved in anything that got the company kicked out of the state.
And as we noted, Frey did not respond to our inquiry about his connection with Save My Home USA. We are not sure from which state the license, noted on page 12 of the embedded document below, is from. According to the Minnesota Department of Commerce, it's not a Minnesota license.
Information on the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law notes that in Minnesota:
Minnesota Law Prohibits Advance Fees for Loan Modification Services (Minnesota Statute 325N.01-.09)
Enacted in 2004, Minnesota prohibits the upfront payment of fees by homeowners to anyone assisting with loan modifications. . . .
The Department of Commerce "Findings of Fact and Order" (page 5) embedded below notes this practice on the part of Save My Home USA.
Again, there's no evidence that Frey ever sent out one of these packets on behalf of Save My Home USA or took any money from a desperate homeowner.
The existence of the packet and the business connection does, however, make make Bluestem wonder about his definition of the theory of evolution as "fraud" when he appears to have at the very least entertained doing business with out-of-state interests who were indeed alleged to have engaged in fraud.
Michigan and Maryland Act Against Save My Home USA
While the state of Minnesota didn't act on issues with Save My Home USA until 2011, authorities in Michigan and Maryland scrutinized the company much sooner.
Attorney General Mike Cox today announced that his office has filed 18 charges against four companies and one individual for committing foreclosure rescue fraud. Cox also issued warnings to 17 companies regarding complaints from residents about their practices. Michigan law prohibits "foreclosure rescue" companies, which provide foreclosure advice, from making misleading or false statements, or charging service fees before any service is completed.
"Preying on residents in the process of losing their homes is not only shameful, it's illegal," said Cox. "Today we are sending a message that mortgage rescue fraud will not be tolerated."
The charges resulted from the Attorney General's office conducting undercover operations based on complaints from homeowners and include one count of unauthorized use of the Great Seal of the State of Michigan and 17 counts of violating Michigan's Credit Services Act (CSA). The CSA prohibits charging fees before completing services when seeking to negotiate a loan on behalf of a homeowner. The Credit Services Act carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and/or $1,000 fine, and allows the Attorney General's office to seek restitution for affected consumers.
Misleading or false statements made by the companies included guarantees to prevent foreclosure and assertions consumers could avoid foreclosure regardless of their credit score, home appraisal, or debt to income ratio. Victims were charged between $595 and $3,000.
Save My Home USA of Madison Heights o Four counts of violating the CSA (43rd District Court, Oakland
County) o Charged victims between $595 and $2,000 before completion of
services and advised consumers not to communicate with their
State officials have ordered five companies to shut down illegal home loan modification schemes that targeted Maryland residents facing foreclosure, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation announced Tuesday afternoon.
Homeowners paid thousands of dollars in upfront fees to companies that promised to modify their loans in order to avoid foreclosure, according to DLLR. Not only did the companies fail to deliver, but they stopped returning phone calls, misrepresented the loan modification process and ignored requests for refunds, the department alleged.
"Today's actions are part of an ongoing effort to protect consumers from scams where desperate borrowers pay up-front fees to so-called consultants who promise assistance in getting a loan modification or otherwise avoiding foreclosure," DLLR Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez said in a written statement.
The Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice announced 118 similar cease and desist orders delivered by 26 federal and state agencies on Tuesday as part of the ongoing "Operation Stolen Hope. "
Companies served notices in Maryland were:
Equity Recovery Services, Towson;
U.S. Equity Solutions, Owings Mills;
GIAN Inc., Laurel;
Save My Home USA Co. Inc., Michigan; [emphasis added]
Help Modify Now Inc., California.
None of the companies could be reached for comment Tuesday evening. At least one company Web site listed a phone number that was no longer accepting calls. . . .
The Minnesota Department of Commerce "Findings of Fact and Order" (page 5) embedded below notes the Michigan and Maryland actions.
Foreclosures in Carver County
Why should this missing page from Bob Frey's resume matter to Republican primary voters in Minnesota House District 47A?
Bluestem suspects that Carver County residents probably will want to know more about Frey's involvement with Save My Home USA than about peculiar notions about HIV or evolution. According to 2010 Foreclosures in Minnesota: A Report Based on County Sheriff’s Sale Data, a report issued by Housing Link for a coalition of pro-home ownership organizations, 416 foreclousres took place in Carver County in 2010; 363 foreclosures took place in 2009.
Bluestem suspects that homeowners and others who faced hard times during the country's economic downturn might want to get some answers from Frey before casting their ballots. While frey declined to allow Bluestem to ask our questions, perhaps he'll be more forecoming with an answer for those folks whom he wants to represent in the state legislature.
Republicans in the district must choose between Frey and Jim Nash, the conservative and reportedly rational mayor of Waconia in the August 12, 2014 primary. The winner will face DFler Matt Gieseke in November's general election.
The open seat is a consequence of Ernie Leidiger's retirement; Leidiger is perhaps best known nationally for inviting toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean to serve as guest chaplain in the Minnesota House. Dean's prayer, which questioned President Obama's faith, was redacted from the record.
State of Minnesota Documents
The Minnesota Department of Commerce's Cease and Desist Order & Notice of Hearing:
Screenshot: Bob Frey with his giant bone in 2004, as he was testifying to the Minnesota Senate Education Committee against teaching evolution.
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A few priority areas Simpson points to include housing in rural Minnesota and promoting high-technology and manufacturing jobs.
"Look around small towns in rural Minnesota and you'll find tremendous job opportunities with robotics, welding, CNC routing and laser-cutting. Our schools offer A.P. credits for English, math and history, but why not A.P. credits for manufacturing jobs?" asked Simpson.
"I have no problem with kids getting four-year B.A. degrees, but many of them have a hard time finding work. We need to do a better job promoting the jobs in rural Minnesota with strong pay scales that kids can get without being saddled with the debt of a four-year degree."
But all right-wing paranoia aside, we think that while Simpson's intention is probably for the best, he's simply unaware that the College Board program for Advanced Placement probably isn't the best model for what he's trying to achieve.
In 2012, new legislation (Minn. Stat. § 124D.09), was passed that allows eligible 10th-grade students to enroll initially in one Career and Technical Education (CTE) course through PSEO. If the student earns a “C” or higher grade in this first course, she/he is eligible to take additional CTE courses while in 10th grade. In order to be eligible, a 10th-grade student must have taken the 8th-grade MCA reading test in the 8th-grade, and have met the composite proficiency level of “meets or exceeds”.
If the student meets this standard, and if they meet specific CTE course eligibility requirements and pre-requisites set by the institution, they may be eligible to enroll in Career and Technical Education PSEO courses. This Grade 10 option is only open to Minnesota public school students. View the MNSCU policy and procedures for PSEO.
Many two- and four-year colleges and universities in Minnesota offer online courses and some of them offer online degrees and certificates. Through the wide array of online courses offered in Minnesota higher education it is possible for PSEO students in our state to complete the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum requirements and/or other courses that could result in an award in addition to their high school diploma.
As the Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported in 2012, sophomores can only take career and technical cources, rather than the general liberal arts courses open to junionrs and seniors.
There's no need for "Advanced Placement" when qualifying Minnesota high school students can avail themselves of taxpayer-funded PSEO classes at no cost to their families. There's even a limited mileage reimbursement program for low income students to take advantage of the opportunity.
The list of schools offering PSEO includes technical colleges, two OICs and one private tech school, in addition to more traditional public and private two and four year colleges.
One would think that Team Zellers would want to take credit for the expansion of PSEO to officer more career and technical opportunities; afterall, the law passed under Zellers' watch as Speaker.
On the other hand, the House (HF2025) and Senate (SF1531) language to expand PSEO programs that were folded into the omnibus education bill ( see note at end of Senate Actions on SF1531) was firmly bipartisan and Governor Dayton signed the bill.
Photo: In 2012, Governor Mark Dayton signed a bill expanding PSEO to include career and technical courses. Via the Center for School Change.
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In Minnesota, it is not suprising that the Twin Cities has the highest percentage of foreign-born. And though it is not wholly accurate to categorize a county in this way, it does give an interesting view into the state
Curiously, the county with the largest concentration of foreign-born residents isn't Ramsey or Hennepin County, but rather Nobles County, on the Iowa border in the decidedly non-Twin Cities Southwestern Minnesota; the fourth and fifth ranked counties (Watonwan and Olmsted, respectively) are also located in Greater Minnesota.
My town is different than your town. You might go many places and travel far and wide. I have an interesting community that allows me to enjoy the far flung reaches of the world right in my own back yard.
Recently the news is all about “immigration” and our national concerns for security. I find “security” in my own back yard and in my community. Before you respond to the hype and fear about immigration (legal or undocumented) let me tell you about my community.
I am a small business man who has modestly prospered in this curious setting. I have come to embrace the fine people that are immigrating to my community. They have become the life blood that has allowed our community to continue to prosper in a time when the demographics are completely against us.
Our community is located just south of the mythical “Lake Wobegon,” but we've begun to defy those demographic characteristics.
Our accommodation of the newest immigrants started about 25 years ago with Vietnamese and Laotian peoples. It has continued throughout the decades and has been of great benefit to this community, a community that would have demographically drifted off the chart because of an aging population.
Many of my Lao and Vietnamese friends are here because they stood up for American ideals, risking both their lives and the lives of their families, much to their credit. In quiet moments, I have heard their stories; they have have brought tears to my eyes, and I have a profound respect for them.
American Idealism? I have not sacrificed like they have sacrificed. If they would tell you their stories, you would have a new found respect for the immigrant experience. Immigration doesn’t happen because things are dandy. Immigration happens because people are at the limits of their own (moral) tolerance.
Today , I can take my three-block walk to work and say “Hello” to my neighbors in many different languages: Sai Bai Dee (Lao), Buenos Dias (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador ), De Tu Jot (Sudanese) Djow Go (Vietnamese), Ka May La ha (Ethiopian), Mengalaba (Karen). These are perhaps crude renditions of their words, but speaking the greetings allows me a comfort zone with my new neighbors. I have them sign an atlas in my store, which allows me the ability to understand where they have come from, and oftentimes, it allows me to understand some of their travails.
They all enjoy and appreciate my attempt to speak in their native tongues (they laugh at me), as they continue to become assimilated into our community. We are a small community and we strive to make sure that no one is anonymous.
Assimilate: they have! I am convinced that these new immigrants have saved my community. They have purchased homes, they have purchased cars, they have kept our grocery stores busy. They have created their own grocery stores. Many have started their own businesses, some try and some fail--for that I think more of them, not less.
They are the new graduates at the local community college. They have become the New Worthington. There might be a few people that consider this immigration a threat--those folks are prone to fear a loss of their standing within their perceived place within our community. The good news is that the majority of folks around these parts recognize that this “immigration thing” is of great value to our community.
If you are looking for the latest trendy shopping mall or strip mall (filled with brand named stores), Worthington might not be the place for you. We do have many standardized big box stores; however, if you are looking for a real “WORLD MARKET” experience, I encourage you to come and visit Worthington.
It won’t be completely standardized with all the generic brand name stores, but if you have a truly adventuresome spirit, you can enjoy a real World Market experience. Ma and Pa stores are sprouting up as we speak, and they embody the new entrepreneurial spirit of Worthington.
Immigration has never been clean and tidy; it has a learning curve. My community, Worthington has stepped up to the plate and embraced that spirit of accommodation. We learn from our friends, we learn from our new found immigrants, we learn from being able to say, "I don’t understand you, explain to me, again." That is what it means to be accommodating. We aren’t afraid to understand our new neighbors. We recognize that “They” are "Our" new beginnings. We have been re-invented and though we do make mistakes, we recover and strive to learn from them. We have every reason to stand tall and be proud.
Worthington has benefited from its new found immigrants and I suspect history will eventually write a new chapter about this community and its accommodating spirit.
About the author: Owner of the Buffalo Billfold Company, a purveyor of exquisite handmade leather goods, Bill Keitel is a force of nature in the civic life of his community. Read his Forum Communications' Area Voices Blog, UnVarnished Essays-Road Notes, for more of his essays and notes.
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Bluestem has been a frequent critic of State Senator Sean Nienow (R-Cambridge).
But after reading media accounts of the June 24, 2014, Minnesota Legislative Wrap-Up for District 32 hosted by the City of North Branch Economic Development Authority and the North Branch Area Chamber of Commerce, it's hard to fault him for skipping out.
The North Branch Chamber of Commerce and city hall co-hosted an information session last week meant for area businesspeople to get questions answered about any new measures affecting the business world.
State Representatives Bob Barrett, Brian Johnson and Senator Sean Nienow were slated to appear and interact with business community members at the North Branch Library. Sen. Nienow was a no-show, and unfortunately, the bulk of the event lacked any useful information about how new legislative actions will be administered or implemented or what businesspeople should know. Attendees though, did hear Reps. Barrett and Johnson’s thoughts on minimum wage.
Both lawmakers opposed the bill that eventually passed; setting Minnesota on a course for a minimum wage (conditioned on a number of factors) of $9.50 an hour by 2016. There are exemptions for small employer workforces, part time teen workers, etc.
Rep. Johnson, R-Cambridge, told the audience he basically does not support mandating anything of employers. He responded to one man asking about Johnson’s no vote on sick time expansion (HF568) -- saying employers who want to keep good workers will treat them well. The state has no role in that relationship.
Or learned about the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, which Johnson must also consider huge imposition on larger employers.
Read the rest at the Chisago County Press. Far more bland coverage is found in the Isanti County News and other ECM Publishing venues' Legislators update area business leaders by Urmila Ramakrishnan, although the general negativity on the part of the two Republican state representatives is clear:
State Rep. Brian Johnson, R-Cambridge, and Rep. Bob Barrett, R-Lindstrom, talked about how government spending would affect local businesses at a business legislative update last week.
The forum at the North Branch Public Library June 24 was held to update local business owners and the general public on how the new laws would change their businesses. . .
Possibly the most important discussion point was how the increase in minimum wage would impact businesses. The law increases minimum wage to $8 by Aug. 1 and up to $9.50 by August 2016. The wage could also increase based on inflation. Both Johnson and Barrett were against this change, saying it would hurt small businesses and force them to hire fewer employees. . . .
Photo: Child mill workers by Lewis Hine. Does Brian Johnson think it's unfortunate that the government interfered with that private arrangement between job creators and workers?
Maybe the Twin Cities, where corporate taxes are a perennial business lament, isn’t so bad after all.
The announcement earlier this month by Cardiovascular Systems Inc. of a new $30 million headquarters and research facilities in New Brighton didn’t get much attention, amid a lot of expansion in a booming Minnesota economy.
Still, it strongly underscores a report this week by KPMG International, the accounting-and-analysis firm: the Twin Cities has a very competitive “overall tax structure for business,” and it is ranked second for companies that do a lot of research and development, such as medical and technology concerns.
Minneapolis-St. Paul may not be low-tax Ireland, where Medtronic is moving its legal headquarters. But KPMG says the Twin Cities, thanks partly to friendly government tax policies, is a plum place for corporations.
The Twin Cities ranks 17th for “most competitive tax structure” among the 51 highest-ranked international cities, and eighth among the 31 highest-ranked metro areas in the United States. The most favorable corporate-tax structures exist in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Atlanta, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, according to KPMG. (The ranking of 51 metropolitan areas of more than 2 million people includes 20 other cities in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan.)
Moreover, for firms that invest heavily in research and development, such as medical-products companies, the Twin Cities is considered No. 2 in the United States and eighth in the world.
Minnesota employers added 10,300 jobs in May, according to figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The state lags slightly behind the nation in job growth the past year, but the jobless rate is considerably less than in the country.
The agency said the state has added 45,617 jobs in that time, a growth rate of 1.6 percent, compared with a U.S. growth rate of 1.8 percent during that period. Since January 2011, the state has gained 154,300 jobs. . . .
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate in May was 6.3 percent.
“Minnesota’s unemployment rate is at the lowest level in seven years, which is yet another indicator of our improving economy,” said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. “It is also encouraging to see growth occurring in Minnesota’s construction and manufacturing sectors, which have each added more than 9,000 jobs in the past year.”
In his conversations with different voters throughout the state, concerns about health care and balance between the two political parties come up frequently. But nothing comes up more than jobs.
“That will be the number one issue in the election without question,” Johnson said.
Johnson believes there needs to be serious tax reform and deregulation in order to make Minnesota more competitive with neighboring states. He did not support the minimum wage increase passed earlier this year, saying it may actually hurt those lower-wage workers that it is trying to help.
But rolling back the increase would not be an option for Johnson if he were elected.
Heckova message.
Photo: Minnesota's business climate, in Jeff Johnson's world.
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Here's the email we received this morning at 12:27 a.m.:
That article was one of the stupidest articles I have read. If you would like to hear the truth about why the lack of a Tip Credit is regressive to the lowest paid workers, I would love the opportunity to buy you lunch, coffee, or a glass of wine.
Lest you think of me as some overly conservative lobbyist who wants to repress restaurant employees I testified numerous times before both Senate and House Committees that I thought the minimum wage should go to $10 an hour over 36 to 42 months. I was also quoted in trade publications, on radio, and in some small newspapers. I was criticized by other business lobbyists for my testimony.
Are you familiar with the TRDA (Tip Reporting Determination Act) and why it was instituted? So again if you would like to know why Governor Dayton's position might be evolving, join me and learn how regressive your thinking really is. I will be waiting to hear from you.
We'd prefer press releases and fact sheets over lunch, coffee, or a drink, since even though we're a poor country blogger, there's that ethics thing our journalist friends sometimes quibble about.
But the items he mentions are online. When he mentions the "TRDA (Tip Reporting Determination Act)," we assume that he's talking about the Tip Reporting Determination Agreement established in 1993 for which the IRS provides information here and here.
As for Mr. Rockler's testimony, we did find that he indeed appeared before committee hearings in the Minnesota Legislature. See search results for his name here. He has spoken about the omnibus liquor law,
According to that search, his most recent testimony on the minimum wages dates from the 2013 session.
On February 27, 2013, Rockler testified in the second batch of citiizens and lobbyists, both for and against raising the minimum wage before the Joint Committee of the Labor, Workplace, and Regulated Industries and the Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs.
While video is available only for the first batch of people testifying for and against raising the state minimum wage (see right-hand column with Related Video and Audio), Rockler's testimony begins at 2:37:46 in the audio of the full testimony.
Here's what Rockler said:
. . .Kenn Rockler, representing the Tavern Owners League of Minnesota and the Bowling Proprietors Association of Minnesota. I'll probably go little bit against some of my friends who have been testifying here in that my major issue is not the minimum wage. I don't think it would behoove us to go up too fast, too dramatically, but I'm here on behalf of the tip credit.
There's no question about it. You were passed out a chart--I'm not sure if everyone brought it tonight--but on the front page, it talks about the exact comparison between Minnesota and--I just happened to choose the entire Big Ten and the Dakotas, but as has been mentioned before, either 42 or 43 states have a tip credit.
I think the salient figure here is that Illinois, which is the highest salaried state with the exception of Minnesota, we are 46.5 percent higher on our tipped employees. What is "tip credit" by the way? I've gone around to the capitol probably spoken to just about a hundred legislators over the past six weeks, and you know you have a lot of different issues that you have to learn.
I will say this: I think less than one out of every ten people really understand where the tip credit comes from and what it's all about. Tip credit is the realization that while only the servers get a direct tip from the customers, that's it's actual a team effort, the old "Ther'es no 'I' in team." With that realization, the federal government and 43 states allow an employer to make up the difference between the minimum wage with the amount of tips that are earned at that point by the server.
Somebody said that tips aren't a wage. I just heard that before. Actually tips are a wage. Minnesota considers them a wage in every way possible. They charge Social Security, FICA, payroll [taxes]. It's only not considered a wage when it comes to the minimum --the wage act at this point.
The next page I'd like you to look at, if you've got the packet, is there's three pages in there that have the IRS Tax Reporting Determination Act in there. The debate is over as to whether or not who the highest paid employees are in a restaurant. Who won that debate? The IRS.Twenty-five years ago, they put in standards that are in there in those three pages asnd what they said was, "we know that there's a lot of money being made in tips; therefore, every restaurant is going to have to do the following.
They have to report their gross sales, their charge sales, the gross tips declared and the charge tips declared, and if for some reason the restaurant has less than eight percent of their gross sales declared as tips, then it's up to the owners to allocate those tips and the minutae is in that three page system right there.
What does that mean? How does that relate to wages? Well, if in fact a server says, well, I don't make eight percent of my gross sales [in tips], he or she is allowed to say, well, I'd like to have an IRS audit. To the best of my knowledge, 25 years, 50 states and the District of Columbia, no server has ever asked for an audit.
Somebody might be aware of it--and by the way, we want our servers not to make $10 an hour or $20 an hour. We want them to make $50 dollars an hour. If you're coming there as customers, I think it'd be happier and serve you better if they're making $50 an hour than idf they're making $10 dollars an hour.
But the net result on this that by having the tip credit that we are doing right now, that I heard that Mr. [Dan] McElroy testify earlier, we are driving people from full service places where they make the most amount of money into fast casual and casual. I just went for the first time to a Panera Bread that was mentioned by Mr. Svensson here; I didn't realize that-- I tried to leave a tip--you are not allowed to leave a tip there.
Now it costs you a lot less to go there, they're very successful, they're the darlings of Wall Street right now, but when you raise the wages without giving a tip credit, you are driving people away from the highest paid jobs to jobs that are one-third or one-half of that amount.
Representative O'Neill asked, "What type of solution would we in the restaurant industry have?"
Well, mine's going to be a little more dramatic than anybody else here has talked about here, but I really truly believe that if my son or daughter were right now in the restaurant business working as a server, a bartender or a waitress, I believe that they would make more money with this proposition. And that's, let's do this. Let's have the tipped wage or the cash wage as it's known, in minnesota ;et's go to $4.50.
Some people will say, "You want to decrease the wages?" [Bluestem's note: current minimum wages and coming increases are listed here by the MN Dept of Labor and Industry] Well, I don't think it does decrease the earnings in most of the cases, because most of the time, tipped employees where they make their money is by the most amount of business that comes through.
Let's have the Minnesota exception in there. Let's have an idea that was actually proposed by two legislators from Woodbury a number of years ago and was supported by a bipartisan group, both Democrats and Republicans. Let's not allow that tipped wage in Minnesota unless the tipped server every single pay period makes at least $11 an hour.
I'm not sure if anybody has an objection to that system but I haven't been able to figure out a logic reason why and I know that the people in the back of the house would benefit from that and they are truly the ones that we need to boost up....
[Representative Sheldon Johnson breaks in the tell Rockler he has one minute more].
Tricky subject. Hard to do . . . [He closes testimony]
On March 12, 2013, Rockler appeared before the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy. His testimony (audio only) begins at the 30:15 minute mark. This is the testimony where he talks about the compression of non-tipped staff's wages. At the 31:20 mark or so, he says:
But where are they going? Many of you go to Chiptotle, you go to Panera Bread, you go to Caribou Coffee..
He then mentions the tip credit again, while asking for the $4.50 tip-credit wage.
On April 29, the second engrossment of the Winkler bill came before the House Ways and Means Committee. Rockler testified (video available, testimony begins at the 17:55 minute point). Rockler introduces himself, then discusses the need for a two-tier wage, commending Bob Gunther's HF1225. He repeated the no-tipping-at-Panera-Bread story, and estimates that the restaurant industry will lose "somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 jobs" in the first year following the implementation of the minimum wage bill. He notes that in recognition ofthe coming changes, restaurants like Famous Dave's were going to fast casual. Watch the video, including his responses to questions.
Thus, in his testimony, there's only one sentence about wage compression for the lowest-paid workers. Perhap an more elaborate explanation shows up in the trade magazines he mentions, or the handouts the committee members received.
We note, too, that the Dayton boys were proposing a tip-credit wage of $7.25 for any tipped employee making $12 or more when tips are calculated. This is a more generous minimum wage for servers than what Rockler recommended in his 2013 testimony.
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In Bigger is not always better, a column published Thursday in the Morrison County Record, Representative Ron Kresha (R-Little Falls) writes:
Minnesota has become a battleground in the debate over the size of government.
On one side there is the battle cry for more government intervention into our economy and everyday lives, as we’ve seen over the past two years during one-party control in St. Paul. . . .
On the other side is the argument for efficient and effective government that is limited and less expensive. . . .
Government should be preparing people to enter the business sector and then get out of the way as much as possible.
If we continue improving in the area of education and put a stop to this unsustainable growth in government, the best is yet to come for Minnesota.
I believe we can either have a robust, booming economy fueled by innovators or we can have a flat economy subsidized by the government and ultimately the taxpayers. Personally, I am a risk-taker shooting for new heights. [emphasis added]
Given that interjection in a column that is otherwise largely Republican boilerplate, Bluestem grew curious about Kresha's profession. His legislative web page lists his occupation as "chief executive officer." The bio on his campaign website notes that he's the CEO of Golden Shovel; he founded Atomic Learning, after serving asTechnology Director/Curriculum Coordinator for the Pierz School District.
Welcome to Golden Shovel Agency. We build and manage economic development websites across Greater America. We have two services:
Economic Gateway: Award winning economic development websites with all the necessary tools, customized to highlight your region and assets to site selectors and businesses. GateKeeper Service: We provide social media and website management service to set goals, create original content and publish it on your economic development website and social media tools.
For more than 45 years northeast South Dakota counties have been served by GROW South Dakota and its community action programs. Consistent, reliable, services have been evolving to fit the needs of local individual, families and business owners in order to improve the quality of life for low-income and rural communities.
Northeast South Dakota Community Action Program (NESDCAP) was established in 1966 servicing three counties. The program evolved from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 legislation to fight “a war on poverty.” Funded by federal, state and local money the non-profit agency opened its doors to provide ways and means to help low-income individuals and families become self-sufficient and improve their quality of life. NESDCAP expanded to serve seven additional counties in 1974 and seven more counties in 2001 bringing the total service area to 17 counties in northeast South Dakota.
In an effort to stimulate business ownership, business development and job creation in low income and rural communities the Northeast South Dakota Economic Corporation (NESDEC) was established in 1978 and served 10 counties. . . .
And there's this Incentives Directory at Advantage South Dakota, a Golden Shovel client, which links to local and state government loan funds.
Eau Claire GIS firm Applied Data Consultants, Inc. (ADC), and Minnesota Web development firm Golden Shovel Agency will present Economic Gateway during the Wisconsin Economic Development Association’s (WEDA) 2011 Governor’s Conference on Economic Development Feb. 9-11 at Monona TerraceCommunity and Convention Center in Madison. . . .
WEDA is a 450+ member statewide organization whose primary objective is to increase the effectiveness of individuals involved in the practice of the state’s economic development by encouraging cooperation, exchange of information and promotion of professional skills.WEDA’s 2011 Governor’s Conference Be Bold Wisconsin: Building Business is recognized by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) as professional development training that counts towards recertification of Certified Economic Developers (CEcD). Governor Scott Walker will outline his administration’s major economic development policy initiatives, and plans to promote Wisconsin as being “Open for Business.” . . .
Many of Golden Shovel's clients are rural electrical co-operatives, for which Kresha's firm built economic development portals, which also include resources like the Incentives Directory and Resource Directory for the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, Inc. These incentives and resources directories include links to USDA grant and loan programs and the IRRRB, a "a unique State of Minnesota economic development agency . . ."
Kresha obviously doesn't want government (or at least those government loans and other incentives) to get out of the way along with the rest of government once kids are educated. Is there a downside to economic development agencies (which often have little direct accountability to the citizens in their communities)? Governing magazine's Mark Funkhouser writes in How to Stop the Economic Development Wars:
For several decades we have been conducting an economic-policy experiment in state and local governments, and now it's time to stop the testing because the results are clear: The dominant paradigm, incentive-fueled competition among these governments, does not create economic prosperity.
Two big facts confirm this conclusion. First, as the New York Times reported last December, states, counties and cities are giving up more than $80 billion each year to companies in tax breaks, outright cash payments, and buildings and worker training. Second, the wages of the taxpayers who have been footing the bill for this stuff have been flat since at least 1979. . ..
Kresha's "risk-taking at shooting for new heights" seems propelled in part by government loans/grants and co-op ratepayers. Imagine that.
Photo: Representative Ron Kresha,
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One of the Republican talking points during the legislative floor debate on raising the minimum wage was that businesses near Minnesota's borders would flee to neighboring lower wage states.
In the nation’s debate about the minimum wage, which President Obama has proposed increasing at the federal level to $10.10 from $7.25, [Oregon's] rolling borderland of onion farms and strip malls provides a test tube of sorts for observing how the minimum wage works in daily life, and how differences in the rate can affect a local economy in sometimes unexpected ways.
Ms. Lynch is one of the many minimum-wage migrants who travel from homes in Idaho, where the rate is $7.25, to work in Oregon, where it is the second highest in the country, $9.10. Similar migrations unfold every day in other parts of Idaho — at the border with Washington, which has the highest state minimum, $9.32, and into Nevada, where the minimum rate tops out at $8.25.
A report coming out of Wisconsin this morning suggests that this dynamic is kicking in, and employers in the Badger State's western border towns are considering paying more to keep low-wage workers home.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D) signed a new minimum wage law raising wages to at least $9.50 an hour by 2016.
With Wisconsin’s minimum at $7.25, there's some concern people may choose to move or work in Minnesota for a higher wage.
For border counties like Pepin, there's some question whether people making wages below $9.50 would drive or move for a bigger paycheck, and what that would do to businesses in Wisconsin.
David Klein is the store manager at Countryside Co-op in Pepin. He said he expects no problems filling part time job openings, but that could get more competitive when Minnesota raises its minimum wage over the next three years. . . .
It's interesting that Republicans on the House and Senate imagining business flight across our borders could only thing of the labor market from the perspective of management and not job seekers.
Photo: The bridge at Hudson, WI, looking west.
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Bluestem isn't sure that the slighting of rural broadband by the Minnesota Senate DFL isn't just another tiresome leadership tic on Tom Bakk's part, but his apparent need to use everything as a bargaining chip gets vexsome sooner rather than later.
Take rural broadband.
The slighting of this economic development instructure in the senate's supplemental budget--and star-quality freshman DFL state senator Matt Schmit (DFL-Red Wing) who introduced legislation to develop it--was baffling to Bluestem. While we enjoy cable broadband at our world headquarters in sunny Maynard, some areas of Greater Minnesota still lack fast access to the Internet.
We're not alone in scratching our head on this one, especially as Governor Dayton is finally coming around to understand the important of this issue to Greater Minnesota. In Dayton now willing to support broadband fund, the Rochester Post Bulletin's political reporter Heather Carlson writes:
After initially criticizing a grant program for high-speed internet in rural Minnesota, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton said he has been convinced it is important to fund the initiative this year.
. . .The Minnesota House approved a supplemental budget with $25 million for the broadband fund. Last week, the Senate passed its own supplemental budget without any broadband funding.
Coalition of Greater Minnesota CitiesPresident Randy Wilson issued a statement last week criticizing both the Senate and governor for not doing enough to support rural issues like broadband.
"We expected leadership from the governor on broadband and other issues that are important to Greater Minnesota. So far this session, the Minnesota House has been the one arm of state government to lead with a rural agenda," said Wilson, who is also mayor of Glencoe.
The Greater Minnesota Partnership had been critical of Dayton's reluctance in the past to fund broadband. But the group's executive director, Dan Dorman, praised the DFL governor for voicing support for broadband funding and said they will go a long way in helping his organization's efforts to convince the Senate to fund the program. Dorman said he believes access to high-speed internet to rural areas is critical for the state's future.
The members of the House have already shown their commitment to Greater Minnesota by addressing our most pressing needs, broadband expansion and local government aid (LGA), in their omnibus budget bill. Now it is time for the Senate and Governor to step up and be leaders on these important issues.
A lack of adequate broadband coverage is the most critical economic development issue facing Minnesota’s rural communities. Currently, only one-third of Greater Minnesota has the same high-quality broadband coverage available to more than 90 percent of metro-area households (according to data provided by ConnectMN). This puts our communities at a tremendous disadvantage.
The House recognizes the broadband disparity must be addressed immediately, before business owners, students and residents in Greater Minnesota fall further behind their urban counterparts. As a result, it voted to include funding for a state broadband infrastructure fund in its budget this year.
Senate leadership has been frustratingly silent on broadband. By failing to act, the Senate is effectively agreeing that the disparity between Greater Minnesota and the metro area should continue. . . .
The mayors are writing as board members of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities. Up in Fargo, Forum Communications' Don Davis reports under the subheading "Rural action sought":
Rural action sought
Only the House is listening to the needs of rural Minnesota, according to a key group focused on issues outside of the Twin Cities.
“So far this session, the Minnesota House has been the one arm of state government to lead with a rural agenda,” said Glencoe Mayor Randy Wilson, president of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.
The House has passed provisions such as one that expands broadband Internet around the state, as well as creating a job-training program and giving Greater Minnesota residents tax breaks.
The gap between rural adoption and the state’s overall number has closed over the past three years, the latest annual survey of high-speed Internet use shows. Seventy-three percent of rural households subscribe, up from 58 percent three years ago. . . .
The overall gains are encouraging, though it’s still worrisome that one in five homes don’t have broadband, said Bill Hoffman, project manager for Connect Minnesota. “With just the sheer volume of the economy that’s moving online, 20 percent left out is a huge chunk.” . . .
Will the Senate get on board with this intiative? For the legislative branch led by a non-metro legislator, the upper chamber under Bakk's dickering around isn't looking as friendly to Greater Minnesota as Paul Thissen's House. Speaker Thissen apparently doesn't just represent his district in south Minneapolis, but all of Minnesota. Fancy that.
Photo: Freshman Senator Matt Schmit in Bemidji, spreading the gospel of broadband. Via the Bemidji Pioneer.
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Governor Mark Dayton will sign the bill for a $9.50 minimum on Monday. The wage will be raised in three steps to $9.50 by August 1, 2016, with future raises indexed to inflation.
Small businesses are able to pay a lower rate, while lower youth and training wages are part of the law.
Already, a clown car of conservative gubernatorial candidates are promising to block the post-2016 raises.
Minnesota's Republicans continue to share their "we'll pay you less and you'll get rich" message with the world. While they haven't been able to pass so-called "right to work" legislation, the new whipping post against working Minnesotans is the indexed minimum wage.
Under the DFL deal to raise the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 per hour with an inflation index starting in 2018, Minnesota’s Commissioner of the Department Labor and Industry can suspend indexing the wage for up to 12 months — if leading economic indicators point to a “substantial downturn in the state’s economy.”
At least three Republican gubernatorial candidates — Kurt Zellers, Dave Thompson, and Jeff Johnson — assert they have near-absolute power to stop indexing annually, if elected. One economist says forecasting is uncertain enough to make that possible. If so, indexing would effectively disappear during GOP administrations.
The bill delegates indexing’s annual fate to the labor commissioner, but Gov. Mark Dayton notes that appointee “works for the governor and serves as an at-will position. The bottom line is the governor has the prerogative to make that decision.”
Read the rest of the article to learn that Kurt Zellers, Dave Thompson and Jeff Johnson believe that telling Minnesotans that they don't deserve raises in times of inflation is a winning message. (Bierschbach reports that "GOP gubernatorial candidates Marty Seifert and Scott Honour did not return requests for comment.")
Back to the study. Just what did the Economic Policy Institute find?:
* Women's wages dropped 4.4 percent in states where unionized companies made union dues optional. (Men's wages were 1.7 percent lower).
* The hit to wages was higher among non-whites. Blacks and Hispanics were paid 4.8 percent and 4.4 percent less than their non-union peers.
* On average, annual wages and benefits are $1,500 lower in RTW states than for comparable workers in non-RTW states — for both union and nonunion workers.
* Right-to-work laws widened the pay gap between men and women.
So now the MNGOP hopes to add freezing potential raises for the state's lowest paid workers to their dreams of depressing wages. How appealing.
Photo: Most of the MNGOP gubernatorial candidates. Via MPR.
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Minnesota's legislative Democrats have struck a deal to raise the wages of the state's lowest paid workers.
Monday morning, House Speaker Paul Thissen, House Majority Leader Erin Murphy, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, along with key negotiators of the minimum wage measure will announce they've come to agreement. The Star Tribune has been told by two sources with the knowledge of the deal that it would hike the wage to $9.50 an hour and would link future increases to increases in inflation.
"I feel really good," said Deputy Senate Majority Leader Jeff Hayden, a Minneapolis DFLer who had long worked on the minimum wage issue. "I think there are going to be a tremendous amount of smiles (tomorrow.)"
The agreement will likely end what has been a major source of tension at the Capitol and allow lawmakers be lay claim to giving hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans a wage boost. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, more than 350,000 Minnesota workers held jobs that paid less than $9.50 an hour, many of them in greater Minnesota . . .
According to the Star Tribune--and Bluestem's sources had murmured this as well:
The breakthrough on minimum wage came just after a breakthrough on another contentious issue at the Capitol: a new senate office building. Bakk had long insisted the new building was needed.
On Friday, House leaders agreed to approve the building. . . .
The original $90 million cost has been whittled down to a $77 million office space, with cost of the remaining parking garage to be self-funding by users.
We await details of the deal, to see what choice morsels and bones are buried in the conference report.
Meme: It looks like it's here. There goes the plan for the Index The Wage Peeps Diorama contest. It's unfortunate, because one of those big pink Peeps bunnies certainly made an excellent Senate Majority Leader.
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A source supplied a letter to Tom Bakk from nine female DFL senators, urging him to support indexing the minimum wage that he had agreed to raise to $9.50 in a series of steps.
The senators note how raising and indexing the minimum wage is a women's issue, while making a business argument for indexing, since business owners would be able to plan for smaller wage hikes, rather than larger raises after many years of no change.
Here's the letter, which was signed by Pappas, Torres Ray, Alice Johnson, Eaton, Kent, Goodwin, Scalze, Wiklund and Dziedzic--more evidence that indexing raises to the minimum wages has been gaining support in the Minnesota Senate:
March 19, 2014
Dear Senator Bakk,
Thank you for the leadership you’ve provided regarding the minimum wage. The hard-working women of Minnesota have especially felt the pain of our state’s current minimum wage and the increase to $9.50 will bring some relief to our state’s women. As you know, low wage employees are disproportionately women: 63% of those working at or below minimum wage are women. Like you, we believe that this step is a top priority for the Senate DFL caucus and we appreciate your support.
Another step that we’d like to see taken by the conference committee on minimum wage is the adoption of the indexing provision. This is a critical move that will greatly help our families and the women who work to provide for them. But it is not just this group that will benefit; indeed our entire society will be better off since more than one half of the primary breadwinners in Minnesota are women.
Recently, some in our caucus have been re-thinking the indexing issue. As a result, they have decided to lend their support. We are reaching out to you now to enlist your support, as well.
We understand that indexing is a controversial issue and that it will impact our state’s business owners. But gradual increases will help them plan, rather than face a large increase after many years of no change.
Additionally, women make up a significant part of our core DFL constituency, especially those women who have been so long disadvantaged by an unfair wage. We think that raising the minimum wage, indexing and other WESA proposals will help bring women to the fall mid-term election. Please help us pass this bill. It’s the right thing to do.
Photo: Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk. He gets letters.
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Much of the money in the Minnesota House's plan to tweak the state's two-year budget would go to greater Minnesota.
"We focused on rural Minnesota and greater Minnesota," House Majority Leader Erin Murphy, D-St. Paul, said, because many rural parts of the state have not recovered from the recession as well as the Twin Cities.
Debate continued into the night Thursday, but there was little doubt that the House would approve its $322 million budget increase. The bill slightly changes the $39 billion, two-year state budget enacted last year.
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said the budget plan is one "Democrats are pushing like drugs on the House floor. They can't spend enough." ...
University of Minnesota scientists would try to make advancements in the fight against terrestrial invasive species in a new Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center. The center would receive $3.9 million from the General Fund and $490,000 from the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund, which is supported by Minnesota Lottery proceeds. (A floor amendment reduced the General Fund appropriation by $1.2 million, which was directed to the university’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to research a pig virus).
The floor amendment, offered by Chris Swedzinski (R-Ghent) passed 129-0. Then every Republican voted against the larger bill, but not before assuring that slice of "pork."
[Steve] Dudley said with pigs valued at $80 per head, and a running average of 1,688 pigs lost per 1,000 sows, the impact to producers can be as high as $135,000 for each 1,000-sow farm. A recent Rabobank estimate is that 12.5 to 15 million pigs will die — that’s 6 percent to 7 percent of the nation’s hog production.
The virus has led to the biggest drop in pork production in 30 years. As the supply of pigs going to market drops, it will likely mean added costs for consumers.
Dudley said the virus is deadly for pigs less than 15 pounds. The newborns don’t have the antibodies to fight off the symptoms of the virus — vomiting and watery diarrhea that lead to severe dehydration.
And the current method of dealing with the disorder:
One of the methods now being used to build up immunity in baby pigs is to take a natural approach. Dudley said intestines can be taken from pigs that have died from PEDv — or the manure from scouring piglets — and fed back to the rest of the animals on the farm.
It's gruesome, but the sows eventually develop immunity, passing that to their nursing piglets through colostrum milk. More research is definitely needed to stem the outbreak and develop a vaccine for the disease, thought to have emerged in China.
Another item in the bill? Rep.Mary Franson's amendment included a 5 percent increase in the operating rate to nursing homes. Franson then voted against the bill, but not before scoring more money for homes.
This must be the new normal: ask for increased spending via amendment, then voting against a bill sure to pass. It's having eating one's cake while claiming you're dieting.
But one thing that Republicans stood firm on: a provision that will aid the state's troubled beekeeping industry:
Beekeepers could make a claim for compensation if their bees are killed by a pesticide. Compensation would be eligible in situations where the person who applied the pesticide isn’t known or if the person applied the pesticide in a manner consistent with its labeling. Claims can’t exceed $20,000. The bill would appropriate $100,000 from the General Fund to pay for experts who evaluate the pollinator deaths and $150,000 from the Pesticide Regulatory Account for claims.
Joyce Peppin and Steve Drazkowski rose during the general discussion to object to that (their floor speeches can be seen near the end of the hearing video). Peppin confessed to being confused about the language apparently she's slept through months of media coverage, public concern and committee testimony about the issue. Draz droned on about how beekeepers shouldn't compensated for the value of their dead bees, since only live bees have value.
It was late, when a person's character shows through, and Representative Drazkowski's qualities as the ALEC Asshat of the Year shone through the fog of exhausted debate.
Photo: A porker of a bill or relief for the pork industry and other helpful funding for rural Minnesota? We can't wait to hear the rural Republicans complain again how Greater Minnesota gets neglected.
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As a Farmers Union member, Bluestem's editor supports allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp to food, fiber, oil and biofuel; the Minnesota Farmers Union is joined by the National Farm Bureau and the Grange in seeking to return this crop to producers' portfolio for rotation.
There's finally as glimmer of hope for those who want to add hemp to their options, throwing a lifeline to the industry. Of course, if that rope is made of hemp, Minnesota farmers didn't share in a penny of the money made from field to fiber.
Advocates for industrial hemp would have a modest success in the bill. It would direct the Department of Agriculture to examine how other states are implementing the research authority that was granted in the most recent federal farm bill. The measure stops short, however, of proposals from previous years that would have allowed hemp to be grown for commercial products like clothing. MDA is directed by the bill to report to the relevant legislative committees about its finding no later than Jan. 15, 2015.
Industrial hemp won't get anyone high, but it might help farmers and value-added processors make money for a burgeoning market for legal products. Minnesotans can buy hemp-based products, but only farmers in other states and nations can grow the crop, We should allow farmers and businesses to capture that revenue stream and keep those dollars on Main Street.
Photo: Like the sign says, industrial hemp isn't for smoking. It can make a decent biofuel stock, though.
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For some time, Bluestem has been hearing from very reliable sources, some very close to the Minnesota Senate itself, that contrary to Majority Leader Tom Bakk's claim that while he supports indexing raises, the policy doesn't have the vote, the real roadblock is that Bakk himself doesn't like the idea.
Our sources, consistently and independently, assert that the votes are there, with enough senators willing to vote for whatever comes out of the conference committee that the measure will pass if it's in the report from the committee.
It’s a session that has seen alliances between Democrats tested, not just over the office project but in the ongoing effort to raise the state minimum wage from $6.15 to $9.50 an hour. What seemed like a slam dunk for the party has again divided Bakk from Dayton and Thissen, as the majority leader pushes back against longtime allies in labor and angers party activists who seek not just a wage hike, but an automatic tie to inflation.
“I’m just trying to take a thoughtful approach on this, and the idea of putting minimum wage increases on autopilot, I think, puts some of our business community at risk,” Bakk said in an interview. “I realize that’s not where labor wants to be. But it’s the thoughtful approach.”
By using the term "autopilot," he's adopted the rhetoric of indexing's opponents, while leaving the poor in the cold. That sounds like a man who has been soaking in praise from Republicans and Big Business, not a DFL leader.
Photo: A variation on a meme.
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Although the Rest-Bakk bill to put an indexed minimum wage met with approval by the Senate Jobs, Agriculture and Rural Development Committee despite universal condemnation by all of those testifying, the seeming juggernaut has been withdrawn and returned to the author.
. . .Nienow said that he hasn’t seen the latest filing.
“I have not seen anything yet,” Nienow said.
Nienow said little about the complaint when it was filed in January. He is now acknowledging that his business, National Camp Association, was not profitable.
“Well the reality is, there was a business loan, and the business did not succeed,” Nienow said.
When asked how he intends to pay back the loan and handle the complaint, Nienow said “that will be worked out as we go forward.” . . .
Fortunately for Nienow, Sheck has posted the latest filing by the U.S. attorney (below), so Nienow should get a chance to check out what's up with that.
After stalling on raising and indexing the minimum wage, fearless leaders in the Minnesota Senate are hoping to put the question on the ballot in November as an amendment to the state constitution.
Unlike Republicans who placed voter suppression and marriage inequality on the 2012 ballot in order to please the supporters on both measures, Senators Tom Bakk and Ann Rest are pursuing this approach against the resolute objections of the broad-based coalition that's been fighting for an indexed $9.50 minimum wage.
Why do we smell the sweet civet odor of insincerity in the air around this bill?
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk proposed Thursday giving voters power to decide whether Minnesota’s minimum wage climbs automatically.
A constitutional amendment that he and another prominent senator, Ann Rest of New Hope, put in play would ask voters this fall if the wage should be linked to inflation. Bakk said he worries that a legislatively adopted minimum-wage indexing feature could be susceptible to repeal later. He said 10 of 11 states with an automatic inflator have accomplished that through a referendum of some kind.
Oh really? Frankly, Bluestem finds this new approach to raising the minimum wage to be an act befitting a leader like Bakk, who lacks political courage, while taking his encouragement mostly from the praise of Republicans and big business, rather than those who brough him to the dance.
Bakk's new-found allies should come in so helpful if the Democrats should lose control of the governor's office and the Minnesota House in November, Bluestem is sure.
Rest on indexing: "bad policy"
More on that later. First, let's review where Ann Rest stands on indexing the minimum wage. After all, Bluestem's been keeping that MN Senate minimum wage constituent Whip Count since March 6, and so we have a pretty good idea what Senator Rest thinks about the policywhich she's proposing to enshrine into the state constitution.
While Republicans like Scott Newman and Mary Kiffmeyer were true believers in the voter suppression amendment they flung at voters, Rest's move seems much less heartfelt, if one looks at her March 7, 2014 "2014 Capitol Update." In a "Note From Ann" on page 3, Rest wrote:
I appreciate the many contacts I have received regarding the minimum wage debate at the Legislature. I am becoming more comfortable supporting a higher wage than that which the Senate passed last year, but I will not vote for a bill that includes inflationary increases. Legislators should be willing to do the right thing consciously and vote for increases when they are appropriate. I sincerely hope that the conferees recognize that compromise is what will result in success, not steely insistence that only one side of an issue can be “right.”
Okay then. But there's more. In an email to a constiuent dated March 19, 2014, the senator from New Hope wrote:
I am waiting for a bill that shows the House is willing to compromise. I haven't seen any evidence of that yet. The Senate has compromised. I hope a bill is reported that does [not?] have the auto- pilot language in it. It is bad policy.
Ann Rest
Sent from my iPad
Senator Ann H. Rest 235 State Capitol St Paul MN 55155
Now, we're not quite sure that she meant--as she wrote--"I hope a bill is reported that does have the auto- pilot language in it;" since that doesn't make good sense, we've inserted [not?] in the sentence. However, with the bill for the amendment thrown in the hopper, maybe she's just perverse and seeks to put what she calls "bad policy" in action on the floor of the Senate.
Bakk to the future?
After passing a minimum wage bill last year that would have only raised the state's minimum wage to $7.75, Bakk now insists that he's signed on to the Rest bill for an amendment just to protect those poor workers:
“The constitution is intended to protect the rights of the minority. These low-wage workers are a minority of Minnesotans. This gives them some protection that their wages would keep up with inflation,” said Bakk, a retired carpenter from Cook. “It meets my test that this is important enough that it belongs in the constitution.”
And there's this:
Although he has pushed this year to make it harder for measures to reach the ballot, Bakk said he wouldn’t hesitate to proceed even if it’s a party-line vote. “The choice for Republicans is: Put it in statute or do you want the voters to decide?” he said.
This is astonishing cheek on Bakk's part. It's not the Republicans who've been stalling on putting the indexed minimum wage, and since Bakk supposed Majority Leader of a DFL caucus, their objections matter not.
Nope, it's been folks like Ann Rest who's been objecting to indexing raises in the minimum wage.
Now, if this turkey makes it through both chambers and heads to the voters in November, Blesutem fully expects the coalition to take up the amendment and persuade voters of its worth. Getting voters to the polls on this may even help House DFLers, all of whom should leadership and voted for the $9.50 indexed minimum wage.
The senate isn't up for election until 2016, a presidential year, and so perhaps the Raise the Wage Coalition can look around for some progressive talent to run for the Minnesota Senate. Enough said.
Photo: Official photo for Senator Ann Rest, who is sincere about this amendment, for sure.
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All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
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