Dear Neighbors,
About two weeks ago, the Star Tribune published an editorial entitled “Good government needed at capital”. It was a thought-provoking piece and I’ve been reflecting on it ever since. It’s worth going back and reading if you missed it. John Kaul, a longtime observer of the legislative process observed that “it used to be that almost every bill went through multiple hearings that looked into everything,” he said. “Every detail. Every group heard from.” “Policy deadlines were real, he said, so that bills could finish in time for conference committees to take the several weeks needed to negotiate differences in House and Senate bills.” Separately, House Speaker Melissa Hortman observed that, perhaps, the world has grown too complicated for the legislature to accomplish its work within the bounds of a constitutionally defined session which was established in a much simpler agrarian era when it was important that the legislature adjourned in time for farmers to attend to their fields over the summer. In the previous session, the legislature set two records. The first was for the most number of bills introduced in a session (over 6000). The second was for the least number of bills passed into law during a session in the modern era. The Covid 19 epidemic, which truncated the 2020 session, had a lot to do with that. Even so, there is no way that even a fraction of those bills was ever going to be put through the multi-stop committee process described by John Kaul.
Knowing this, I made a concerted effort to have my most important bills drafted early, between sessions, so that I could introduce them at the very beginning of this session, in January. I haven’t talked much about my own legislative initiatives this year, but among them, is a trio of Healthcare Pricing Transparency bills numbered House Files 57 (would require hospitals to post their prices in a consistent, usable manner), 58 (requires drug manufacturers to post their prices, openly, and prohibits health plans from kicking you off your prescription drugs in the middle of the year) and 59 (which requires health plans to file the prices they paid for medical claims in a timely manner for use in analyzing and addressing the cost of healthcare). These three bills did receive multiple hearings through the committee process, but only because they were filed early and were ready to be presented early in the session, before other worthy bills could be drafted, filed, and prepared for presentation. These three bills were incorporated into the House Health and Human Services Omnibus Bill and may yet be passed into law this year through the conference committee process. However, my Republican Senate co-author, Rich Draheim, was not able to get these bills heard in the Senate and so I am spending this week lobbying the Senate members of the conference committee to encourage them to incorporate these bills into the final conference committee report.
The hardest part of getting a bill passed into law is convincing the relevant committee chairs that your bill is more worthy of receiving a hearing than any of the other dozens of bills which are contending for that committee’s limited allotment of hearing time. Even though all of the committee hearings were held via Zoom this year, each committee’s allotment of hearing time was much the same as it has been in previous years. In the House, the major budget committees each meet three times a week for 90 minutes at a time, from the beginning of the session in January until the committee hearing deadlines in early April. Most members serve on three such committees. (Mine are Transportation, Commerce and State Government finance and I also serve on the Local Government Subcommittee). There’s just not enough available hearing time to give all the worthy bills the hearings that they deserve. If you’re in the minority in either chamber, the chances of getting one of your bills heard in committee is practically nil.
Two of my most important bills, one which would grant consumers extensive data privacy rights, and another which would begin the transition to charging electric vehicle owners, like me, a mileage-based user fee to compensate for the fact that we pay no gas taxes, will only be heard, unofficially, “for information purposes”, during the interim between the end of this year’s session and the beginning of the 2022 session to ease the way to getting them formally heard and passed in 2022. Each of these bills was deferred because they would have taken up too much valuable committee time during a budget year. I’ve withheld introducing my comprehensive Housing Affordability bill for the same reason – I’ll be taking it to the League of Cities for policy discussions over the summer before formally filing it.
I agree with the general tenor of the StarTribune editorial; however, it will be almost impossible to realize that vision without extending the length of the legislative season so that more good bills can be heard through the committee process.
Minnesota Council on Disabilities award
Some awards touch you more than others, and so it was very heartwarming to receive an award this week from the Minnesota Council on disabilities for my advocacy on behalf of Minnesotans with disabilities. The Council relies on me for my advocacy for improved access to mobility services, including full funding for Metro Mobility and improved access to shared mobility services; and for digital accessibility to the information on state and local government websites. Our most important accomplishment, this year, was an increase in compensation for personal care attendants who attend to the needs of Minnesotans with severe disabilities. Many Minnesotans who need these services have gone months at a time without them because of the severe shortage of PCAs due, primarily, to the fact that these jobs, which require both extensive training and incredible dedication, typically pay less than flipping burgers at McDonald’s.
Conclusion
This week, I am spending much of my time cooling my heels waiting for the meetings of the Transportation conference committee/working group to begin. All of the budget working groups, including this one, are supposed to have budget agreements by this Friday and actual bill language the following Friday. This working group has not yet held a single meeting because the House and Senate committee chairs have not yet agreed on what the tripartite high-level budget agreement among the Governor, the Senate Majority Leader and the House Speaker means to our committee.
Consequently, I should have pretty good availability to respond to your questions this week.
Vaccine Update
The Governor just launched a new “Your Shot to Summer”, offering a list of great incentives to those who get their first COVID-19 shot May 27- June 30. This is to help us get above the 70% total vaccinations so we can have a safe and open summer. Some of the incentives include:
- Great Lakes Aquarium Pass
- Mall of America Nickelodeon Universe Pass
- Minnesota Fishing License
- Minnesota State Parks Pass
- Minnesota Zoo Admission
- Northwoods Baseball League Tickets
- State Fair Tickets
- Valleyfair Single-Day Admission
Learn more about this great opportunity here, mn.gov/covid19/summer.
Memorial Day Weekend
I hope you and your loved ones are able to have a safe and reflective Memorial Day this year, and take a moment to recognize and honor those who made the greatest sacrifice and gave their lives in service to our country.The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs is again partnering with TPT to create a 30-minute Memorial Day program entitled “Reflections: Memorial Day 2021” that will be broadcast across the state on TPT’s Minnesota Channel at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 31 and again on Sunday, June 6 at 8 a.m. A link will also be available on their website to view the program online any time.
Sincerely,
Steve Elkins
Representative, House District 49B
515 State Office Building
100 Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
St Paul, Minnesota 55155
651-296-7803 Ofc