As session ends, Legislature leaves much unresolved — but leaders say that could yet change

Aug 20, 2020 | 0 comments

A politically neutral pandemic played a big part in plenty being left unfinished when the 2020 legislative session concluded early Monday morning.

Yet, hope remains things can still get done.

As the clock counted down to the midnight deadline to pass legislation, it became more apparent with each tick that partisan politics would again prove too much to overcome for many issues, meaning legislators left the State Capitol with lots still on the plate, including bonding, oversight of federal coronavirus relief funds, housing assistance and tax changes.

“I’m hopeful for the future. If we hadn’t had COVID-19, I think all of those things would have happened at the end,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) said at a Monday media availability.

The coronavirus changed things in a way nobody had experienced.

“The pandemic kind of reached in and grabbed the heart of the legislative session out,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) said at a media availability. “While we did some really good work to address COVID-19, the regular work of this session, a bonding bill, didn’t get done in time.”

Now what?

“The question before us is whether our political system in Minnesota can rally, come together again as it did for a few weeks this session, and begin to address the long-term economic consequences and health consequences of COVID-19,” said House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley). “What we’ve seen in the waning days of the legislative session can’t continue.”

Everything seemed normal early in a session in which little had to get done. Committees and divisions met in person to discuss and create proposals members hoped could eventually reach the desk of Gov. Tim Walz.

Little did anyone know that would soon turn, forcing the House to dramatically change how it operates. The State Office Building and State Capitol became eerily silent. Remote hearings via Zoom replaced face-to-face interaction, social distancing become a mandate and members in the House Chamber often wore masks while others fulfilled their role from locations all around the state.

In less than 10 weeks, the state budget experienced a nearly $4 billion swing from a projected $1.5 billion surplus in late February to a projected $2.4 billion shortfall by early May.

A nearly $50 billion biennial state budget was put together last year, so members could — and, with so many unknowns, largely did — put off any action on that issue. That left a bonding bill as the golden item sought in 2020, as is tradition in the second year of a biennium.

The House unveiled a $2.5 billion capital investment package — $2.03 billion in general obligation bonds — with about a week to go in the session; the Senate put forth a package that included $998 million package Saturday. Both failed to reach the three-fifths threshold for passage in each body. Three Senate DFLers were the only people in either body to cross party lines.

House Republicans said HF2529 was too big in today’s economic climate; many Senate DFLers said SF3463 bill was too small and too partisan. House DFLers noted the state’s growing list of needs — more than $5 billion was requested — lower interest rates and a chance to put people back to work among reasons for support.

Everyone ended up with zero. So far.

Gazelka said agreement was reached on a final number. He would not divulge the sum, but hinted it’s in the $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion range.

A deal could be acted upon next month.

If Walz opts to extend his emergency powers next month, it would trigger a special session, which many members anticipate would be June 12. In a post-session statement, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) urged unity.

“The coming weeks will give us further clarity on our state’s financial situation, time to evaluate our response to the pandemic, and time to make better decisions. We did our best work this session when all four caucuses worked together closely with the governor, and I look forward to doing exactly that between now and June 12.”

“We’re already close on many things,” Gazelka said.

“Minnesotans want us to work together,” Walz said. “… These issues that keep coming up will demand that we work together.”

House passes omnibus education policy bill that includes anti-vaping measures

Aug 17, 2020 | 0 comments

Source: Session Daily

The omnibus education policy bill formally described as “slim” only got thinner with the adoption of a delete all amendment on the House Floor Sunday.

Sponsored by Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins), HF163, as amended, was passed 77-56 by the House in the session’s final seconds. Because the Senate adjourned sine die, the bill is dead.

“HF163 became my attempt to find bills that had general agreement among stakeholders, would grant schools some needed flexibility, and it would have assisted students, teachers, school nurses and administrators as school began again in the fall,” Youakim said. “What made it through negotiations with the Senate fell woefully short, but there are some bright spots and provisions.”

The trimmed down bill includes measures that would support special education students by offering access to alternative delivery of specialized instruction services, and require teachers to have mental health and suicide prevention training before they’re relicensed.

It would also require schools to adopt and provide evidence-based vaping prevention curriculum at least once to students in grades six through eight, and would encourage districts to provide delivery of this curriculum to high school students.

Early childhood provisions would limit the circumstances under which a school could expel or suspend a child from a school-based prekindergarten program, and establish a developmentally appropriate screening timeline for recipients of early learning scholarships. It would also change the deadline by which child care providers would be required to receive a three- or four-star Parent Aware rating in order to be eligible to receive early learning scholarship funds.

“Unfortunately, there were many important provisions that fell victim to the negotiation process with the other body’s chair,” Youakim said. “Provisions that would have made differences for our students who are frequently left behind.”

Previously considered provisions that were not included would have set a statewide goal for increasing teachers of color and American Indian teachers by at least 2% per year; required districts to develop and post a school meal policy that outlines how they will handle lunch debt; and required education records to include pupil withdrawal agreements when a student transfers to a new school.

Several amendments were unsuccessfully offered, including a proposal from Rep. Ron Kresha (R-Little Falls) that generated a lot of discussion. The proposal would have given school districts permission to hold in-person graduation ceremonies in accordance with social distancing guidelines.   

“Have we gotten so far astray in this world that we won’t even allow local people to find ways to celebrate milestones,” Kresha said. “If we truly are the land of rocks and cows up here then we have plenty of space … we can be far enough away that we don’t spread a virus, but yet close enough to know we’re still neighbors, family members, friends and more importantly that we’re still alive.”

Select committee hears nurses’ workplace safety concerns

Aug 17, 2020 | 0 comments

Source: Session Daily

Three months ago, if Minnesota nurses used personal protective equipment the way they have been instructed to use it today — in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic — they could have been fired or lost their licenses.

“This is totally foreign to what we were taught in nursing school,” said Mary Turner, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association and a registered nurse in an intensive care unit. “To be practicing the way we are now supposed to be practicing … is totally unacceptable.”

She was one of several nurses who spoke Tuesday about workplace safety concerns during the first remote meeting of the House Select Committee on Minnesota’s Pandemic Response and Rebuilding.

Many of the nurses expressed concern about the inherent contradiction of rationing PPE while they supposedly have enough, especially given the high volume of gloves, gowns, and masks needed when treating patients with COVID-19.

“We need transparency and truthfulness and not gaslighting,” said Tonya Moss.

House Select Committee on Minnesota’s Pandemic Response and Rebuilding (Remote Hearing) 5/19/20

Current guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control – which shape hospital policies – have been lowered, so that they are no longer based on best infectious disease practices, but on PPE availability, said Ericka Helling.

Practices vary from hospital to hospital, but some nurses are using surgical masks while working with COVID-19 patients, even though they do not offer sufficient protection; re-using N95 masks when they are available; and using cloth gowns instead of disposable paper gowns, the nurses said.

They are also sometimes doing lab work and day-to-day cleaning so hospitals can limit the amount of PPE that needs to be used, Helling said.

Mary Krinkie, vice president of government relations for the Minnesota Hospital Association, said PPE availability has improved significantly over the past month, but supply chain issues remain a concern.

“It is always changing,” she said. “If there’s a spike, you can go through PPE perhaps much faster than you thought you were going to.”

Some supplies purchased by the state may also not arrive when expected, or be diverted to another location, she said.

“This is not about the money, this is about being able to physically get our hands on this personal protective equipment,” she said.

If needed to address PPE shortages, the Minnesota Hospital Association would support a reversion to the governor’s previous peacetime emergency executive order limiting elective procedures as a way to conserve supplies, Krinkie said.

The resumption of elective procedures is “very alarming,” given the already limited supplies of PPE and the measures hospitals have taken to conserve their supplies, Turner said.

The select committee, chaired by House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park), was formed to allow the House to continue conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic, even after wrapping up its regular legislative session late Sunday night.

It took no action, but intends to continue discussions about how state appropriations are being used to address PPE shortages and Department of Health standards. Other House committees may hold interim hearings, as well.

The pandemic has not only caused a public health emergency, but also a “policy challenge unlike any we have seen in my lifetime,” Hortman said.

 “There’s a lot of follow up that will come out of this,” she said.