Pay Raises/Ebola Funding
Reacting to the firestorm over the Governor’s recent salary increases for his Commissioners, the House had inserted language to cut the funding for one year for the Departments of Health, HHS and DNR. In response, the Senate took up the bill late last week and in an effort to preempt the Republicans offering an amendment regarding the recent pay raises, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) offered his own amendment to the deficiency bill last week, which includes Ebola deficiency funding, to suspend the Governor’s salary increases until July 1 to give the legislature time to assess the increases. Governor Dayton made his displeasure known saying he’d veto the emergency spending bill if it cuts the pay of his commissioners, delaying emergency money for the departments of Health, Human Services, and Natural Resources, and for the Minnesota Zoo.
The House passed the bill on Thursday and settled on an agreement worked out by the Governor and legislators to rescind the Commissioner pay raises until July 1, 2015, and return authority for future salary increases to the Legislative Coordinating Committee beginning July 2, 2015. The Governor would have one day, July 1, to decide to reinstate the salary increases without review.
The Senate and House bills must now be reconciled in conference committee. Sen. Bakk has indicated that the final version will be ready for floor action next Thursday.
MNsure Audit Report
According to the much anticipated Office of Legislative Auditor report on MNsure, in its first year of operations, MNsure’s failures outweighed its achievements. Several committees are holding oversight hearings on the report.
MNsure missed its enrollment target again this year. Just over 60,000 people signed up during open enrollment. That was below the target of 67,000 that the Board set in December, and far below the original target of 100,000 enrollees. Although many low-income residents have successfully signed on for public health programs, it’s failed to attract many middle-income customers to use the site to sign up for commercial coverage offered by private insurers.
Privacy
Privacy advocates are pushing to allow Minnesota voters to decide whether their electronic communication should be protected from unreasonable search and seizure, encouraging the Legislature to put the question on the 2016 ballot. Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover) responded by introducing HF327. Rep. Scott worries that law enforcement is overstepping its authority in acquiring data like financial and telecommunications records without getting search warrants.
A House committee held a hearing on the bill this week. No committee hearing is scheduled in the Senate and DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said he’s reluctant to put any measures on the ballot next year.
Privacy issues are a major theme at the Capitol this year. There are also discussions about the privacy implications of police body cameras, police use of automated license plate readers, and electronic health records.
Transportation
In an attempt to increase public support for his $6 billion transportation proposal, Gov. Mark Dayton released a list of 600 state road and bridge projects Tuesday that he says won’t happen unless his plan is passed into law. Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle said about 72 percent of the projects on the list are in rural Minnesota and Twenty-eight percent are in the seven county metropolitan area.
The Governor is proposing to raise the wholesale tax on gasoline by at least 16 cents per gallon and to hike vehicle registration fees to pay for the road and bridge projects in his plan. He also wants to increase the sales tax in the metro area by a half cent to pay for transit projects.
House Transportation Chair Tim Kelly’s (R-Redwing) plan is to spend $187 million a year over the next four years by tapping the state’s budget surplus and by trimming other spending in the transportation department. He said he expects to announce a broader package in a few weeks.
Senate Democrats have backed a plan that resembles Dayton’s proposal but is more generous.
