Watered down stem cell ban added to higher ed omnibus bill

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The Senate Higher Education Committee on Wednesday adopted an amendment by Sen. Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville, that would prohibit state or federal money from going to somatic cell nuclear transfer, a type of embryonic stem cell research, in Minnesota. A broader bill, which would criminalize that type of stem cell research, awaits a vote on the Senate floor. The full omnibus bill passed out of key committees on Thursday and has moved to the Senate floor for a full vote. The amendment offered by Sen. Fischbach to the higher ed bill states: No state funds or federal funds the state receives for state programs may be used to either support human cloning or to pay for any expenses incidental to human cloning. For purposes of this section, “cloning” means generating a genetically identical copy of an organism at any stage of development by combining an enucleated egg and the nucleus of a somatic cell to make an embryo. Continue Reading

Klobuchar, Minnesota legislators move to criminalize 2C-E

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DFL legislators have introduced legislation to make 2C-E a Schedule One substance in Minnesota following the death of one teenager and the hospitalization of 10 others after ingesting the drug. The bill would list the substance along with illegal substances like heroin, LSD and ecstasy. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said earlier this week she will include 2C-E in a drug banning bill she introduced last week dealing with synthetic marijuana. 2C-E is a synthetic drug in the phenethylamine family, a group of psychadelic substances developed in the 1970s. It’s been made a controlled substance in Denmark, the UK, Sweden and New Zealand. Continue Reading

Minnesota’s elected officials weigh in on Libya

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Rep. Betty McCollum and Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar have given measured support for the United States’ military operations in Libya as a part of an international coalition of force in the region. McCollum wants congressional oversight before more operations commence while Franken is concerned about the costs. The rest of the delegation, some of whom were critical of perceived inaction by President Obama, have largely remained silent on Libya. “The brave men and women of America’s armed forces are fulfilling critical missions around the world. Continue Reading

Republican school vouchers proposal may violate Minnesota Constitution

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A provision in the House Omnibus Education Finance bill released by Republican leadership on Monday could run afoul of the state constitution: School vouchers. Minnesota’s constitutional ban on taxpayer funding for religious schools, which stems back to anti-Catholic sentiment in the late 1800s, could create legal problems for the bill, as other states have found. HF934 contains numerous proposals for education funding in the 2012-2013 fiscal cycle, including the initiation of a controversial school voucher program. Over the course of four years, the authors propose to divert $53 million away from public schools into private – mainly religious – school coffers. Parents would choose the school, the state would cut a check and send it to the school, and the parent would arrive at the school to endorse the check. Continue Reading

Klobuchar missing from DOMA repeal bill

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar is one of only two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who have not signed on to a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and that committee is only two votes away from passing the bill out of committee. Klobuchar and Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl are seen as the two key votes on the committee and both have said they haven’t decided which way they will vote when the bill is taken up in the coming weeks. The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1995 bill signed by President Clinton which bans the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. In February, President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder evaluated the law, found it likely to be unconstitutional and decided not to defend the law in court challenges. And last Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California introduced a bill to repeal the law. Continue Reading

Bill to criminalize embryonic stem cell research passes through House, Senate committees

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Committees in both the Minnesota Senate and House passed a bill this week that would criminalize the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) process in embryonic stem cell research as well as prohibit the products of that research from entering the state of Minnesota. Despite expert testimony that the bill would hamper medical research in Minnesota, it passed three key committees this week. The Senate’s Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety heard the bill on Thursday. John Wagner, professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and the Stem Cell Institute, said the bill would harm research at the university. He also implied that the bill’s title, The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2011, was misleading. Continue Reading

In wake of Citizens United, Dems seek constitutional amendment to define ‘natural person’

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Following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, Minnesota Democrats are proposing a constitutional amendment to define an individual as a “natural person.” The 2010 ruling gave corporations certain rights as “persons” and allowed them to engage in new levels of political activity. Sen. Scott Dibble of Minneapolis said the DFL bill is aimed at curtailing the idea that corporate entities have the same rights as human beings. The bill, SF683/HF914, puts forward a simple question to voters: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to define ‘person’ to mean natural person?” “Corporations have been allowed to funnel vast sums of money into elections which distorts our elections and really amounts to buying elections,” Dibble told the Minnesota Independent. Continue Reading

Anti-abortion rights bills advance in Minnesota Legislature

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After two days of testimony, a pair of anti-abortion rights bills passed key committees in the Minnesota House this week, one to ban abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy and another to ban taxpayer funding for abortions. Religious leaders came down on both sides of the issue, while legal and medical experts said the bills were poor policy. In the Senate, yet another bill to ban abortion at 20 weeks was introduced on Thursday bringing the total bills in the legislature to curtail abortion rights to nine so far this session. On Tuesday, the Health and Human Services Reform Committee passed a bill to ban abortion at 20 weeks on a voice vote. Andrea Rau of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life told the committee, “This legislation is not so much about stopping abortions as it is about protecting the ‘pain-capable unborn child.'” She added, “This is mainstream common sense kind of legislation. Continue Reading

Democrats hit Bachmann on foreclosure vote

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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting Rep. Michele Bachmann following a vote to defund the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Though the Democrats are targeting Bachmann, her Democratic colleagues, Reps. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson, joined the Republicans on the vote Thursday. Bachmann and Rep. Chip Cravaack both represent districts with a high rate of foreclosures. The DCCC is hitting Bachmann because she voted against an amendment that would save a portion of the program for senior citizens whose mortgages are in negative equity or “underwater.” Continue Reading

Republican leadership offers MN budget targets

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Republican legislative leadership unveiled its budget targets on Thursday. Most government departments would see a cut under the budget proposals from the last two years, while a few, such as education and health and human services, would see a modest increase from the last biennium. Democrats immediately blasted the proposal, which will spend $34 billion in the 2012-2013 biennium – $3 billion less than the budget proposed by Gov. Mark Dayton. Republican leadership set targets for committees as they begin to create the budgets for their respective policy areas. The numbers account for the difference in spending from the last budget cycle and don’t account for the automatic increases that most state agencies build into their budgets. Continue Reading