Health care exchange recommendations released

By |

Rep. Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights) said he expects to introduce a bill later this week or early next week that would put Minnesota on a path to developing its own Internet-based health care marketplace for the uninsured, before a federal exchange program would take its place.Atkins serves on the Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange Advisory Task Force, which released its list of recommendations about how the exchange should work.Among the recommendations are:keeping a level playing field between marketplaces inside and outside the exchange;structuring provisions to encourage innovation and competition;stimulating participation by small employers;pursuing a state-level risk adjustment model; andto closely follow the risk pools and premium variables.The task force also recommends that the exchange be governed by a 15- to 20-member board with staggered and limited terms, including a mixture of appointed and elected directors.States have until Jan. 1, 2013, to develop their own health insurance exchanges, which would be available to consumers in 2014. Otherwise, a federal exchange would be imposed.“This is about giving people the information that they can use to make lower cost, better access, health care decisions,” Gov. Mark Dayton said during the morning news conference.Rep. Thomas Huntley (DFL–Duluth) said states have been given the flexibility to design their own exchanges and that Minnesota’s health care system is different than the rest of the country, delivering high quality care at some of the lowest costs.Republican legislators were offered positions on the task force but declined to participate, according to Dayton. Continue Reading

Human Services bonding requests proffered

By |

More than $57 million in proposed bonding projects, including physically separating sex offenders from vulnerable adults at the St. Peter state hospital grounds, were presented to the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee.The $41.7 million project is part of Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposed $47.3 million 2012 capital budget request for the Department of Human Services. Other recommended projects include $3.1 million for matching grants to renovate early childhood learning facilities and $2.5 million for statewide facility preservation.“It’s a ton of money but the system costs us a ton of money,” said Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka).No action was taken on the governor’s proposals, nor three bills heard by the committee: a proposal for a new mental health facility for children in Hennepin County, renovating a monastery for use as a regional safety service center in Maplewood and finishing the purchase and placement of grave markers for unmarked graves of former state hospital residents.Instead, committee members were asked to listen to each presentation and then use a ballot to rank projects by priority. The ballots are to be tallied at Thursday’s committee hearing.Bills presented were:HF291, sponsored by Rep. Carol McFarlane (R-White Bear Lake) for the renovation of the Harriet Tubman Center East in Maplewood. A companion bill, SF15, is sponsored by Sen. Chuck Wiger (DFL-Maplewood);HF1922, sponsored by Rep. Larry Howes (R-Walker) for a new Washburn Center for Children, has no Senate companion; andHF285, sponsored by Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL-Faribault), for grave markers; Senate Majority Leader David Senjem (R-Rochester) sponsors its companion, SF526.Rep. Diane Loeffler (DFL-Mpls) asked members to give some thought to adding guest services to the St. Continue Reading

The New Normal: Legacy Fund offers glimmer of hope, lots of room for debate

By |

Like deer in headlights, applicants run toward this glimmer of light in a dark economy.Millions of dollars can be released to begin new or ongoing environmental projects in Minnesota, now that legislators passed state finance laws and the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Fund appropriations during the July special session.The latter, commonly referred to as the “Legacy Fund,” is derived from three-eighths of one percent sales tax approved by voters in a 2008 constitutional amendment. The tax will be collected until June 30, 2034 and allocated annually by the Legislature.Legacy funds have been used to fight the environmental crisis de jour, such as alien flying fish and a beautiful emerald bug with a voracious appetite for ash trees. There are less sexy projects too, such as monitoring pesticides and pollution, or runoff from feedlots. Then there are applicants who, like deer in the headlights, run straight toward the only glimmer of light they can find in a dark economy.Restricted UsesBecause the Legacy Fund is constitutionally dedicated, there are restrictions on how and for what purpose the money can be used. Appropriations must supplement traditional sources of environmental spending, such as the General Fund, and cannot replace those sources. Continue Reading

Legacy funds remain unspent

By |

The legislative session ended with House members unable to agree on how to spend nearly $450 million in Legacy money.In the waning three hours of the 2011 legislative session, House members voted 119-14 to send the Legacy funding bill back to a conference committee after the chairman of the committee cited concerns with the bill, and said he did not sign the conference report because of a “timing issue.”“I had questions regarding the open meeting provision,” said Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City), who supported the motion to refuse to adopt the report.Then after a short recess, he supported a motion by Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) to reconsider adopting the report and the final hours became a legacy of debate.HF1061/ SF1363* would remove the requirement that the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council be subject to the Open Meeting Law. Instead, the council would fall under less stringent meeting laws that the Legislature and Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources fall under.The bill also would strike language adopted last year designed to ensure the unelected council is transparent and accountable for the Legacy funds it receives.“I have many, many concerns about this,” said Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-Lakeville). Holberg is respected by other legislators as being the most knowledgeable about the Open Meeting Law.Rep. Mary Murphy (DFL-Hermantown) said Bill Becker, the council director, testified that the council had no problem complying with the Open Meeting Law. Some council members have expressed concerns in monthly meetings about trading emails or appearing at the same events when a quorum may be present.Legislators said there was no urgency to passing the bill prior to the impending adjournment because none of the money appropriated is available until the biennial budget for the appropriate agencies is enacted. Most of the major finance bills are still waiting for action by the governor.One of the other key issues members objected to was the distribution of the Parks and Trails Fund. Continue Reading

House passes energy policy provisions

By |

An energy policy bill passed 82-49 by the House would enable an undeveloped Iron Range coal gasification plant to start out simply as a natural gas plant, with the potential to upgrade as a coal gasification plant in the future. However, it also could enjoy all the advantages it was granted when it was first proposed as an innovative energy project.Sponsored by Rep. Mike Beard (R-Shakopee) and Sen. Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont), HF1025/ SF1197*, as amended, now goes back to the Senate.Natural gas plant technology has been around since the 1920s, said Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finlayson). He and several others didn’t feel it was right to keep the same perks in the bill as when it was proposed as a new “clean coal” plant, such as eminent domain.Rep. Andrew Falk (DFL-Murdock) unsuccessfully tried to amend the bill to delete provisions that would afford the company, Excelsior Energy, eminent domain and to bypass contested case hearings that it was granted when the project was considered an innovative energy project.“This is terrible public policy,” said Falk.Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) said what was supposed to bring jobs to the Iron Range since 2001 has not materialized and has cost more than $41 million to ratepayers and taxpayers. “Please put an end to this project. From a fiduciary point of view, from a public policy point of view, please stop this madness,” Anzelc said.But Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) said killing the project now while it still has a chance to produce jobs and a return on public investment would be like “flushing all this money down the drain.”  He urged members to support allowing the project to go forward.Other provisions in the bill include:eliminating inverted block rates; removing a $5 million grant for 2012 for the Initiative for Renewable Energy and Environment at the University of Minnesota; and allows utilities to notify ratepayers via email for those with electronic billing. Continue Reading

Definition of marriage going to the voters

By |

Although Minnesotans don’t know who will be on the 2012 presidential ticket yet, they can be assured of one ballot question that will likely be a catalyst for high voter turnout.The House passed the bill 70-62 to put a constitutional amendment on the November 2012 ballot asking voters whether to define marriage as “only a union of one man and one woman.” The Senate passed the bill 38-27 May 11.Sponsored by Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) and Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove) HF1613/ SF1308* does not require gubernatorial approval before being placed on the ballot.Opponents and proponents rallied at the Capitol for several days before and during the floor debate, chanting, singing and displaying signs with their views. When the House took up the bill shortly after 6 p.m., the activists gathered around television sets in the Capitol to watch the proceedings.During a nearly five-hour debate inside the House Chamber, several legislators gave personal accounts of why they oppose the bill. Rep. Karen Clark (DFL-Mpls), who has been in a committed gay relationship for more than 22 years, said she had hoped to one day legally marry her partner in Minnesota while her parents could still attend. Her mother has passed away and now she is considering going to Iowa where gay marriage is legal so her 94-year-old father can bear witness. Continue Reading

Environment policy bill passed by House

By |

Two days before the start of the fishing season, legislators took up a Senate policy bill about preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species and amended it into a much broader omnibus environment policy bill before passing it off the House floor 95-37.As amended, HF1097/ SF1115* is on a fast track to gain Senate approval and be presented to the governor before he left for the fishing opener in Grand Rapids, according to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings). Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria) is the Senate sponsor.“We need to get this bill over to the Senate and on to the governor,” McNamara said.New recreation policies to slow the spread of zebra mussels and other aquatic invasive species would become effective the day following enactment if the bill is signed. There are 19 lakes in the state that are infested with non-native zebra mussels and “no one in here wants to become number 20,” said Rep. John Ward (DFL-Brainerd). An amendment offered by Ward to replace the bill language so that it simply included the aquatic invasive species provision was unsuccessful.Several amendments were passed, including allowing Lutsen Ski Resort to continue to take water out of a trout stream for snowmaking purposes. As amended, the resort would be granted a permit to use up to 2 million gallons of water a day in a 30-day window from nearby Poplar trout stream. Continue Reading

House amends, passes coal energy bill

By |

The House amended a Senate bill that would stay the moratorium on new coal plants being built here, but would allow Minnesota electric cooperatives to import power from coal plants in other states.On a 76-54 vote, the House amended and passed HF72/ SF86* in hopes of making the bill more palatable to the governor, according to the House sponsor, Rep. Mike Beard (R-Shakopee).As amended, the bill would allow Minnesota utilities to import up to 2,500 megawatts from Great River Energy’s Spiritwood plant in North Dakota to fuel rural development in Minnesota. There are several power purchase agreements pending from Minnesota businesses waiting to import the power, Beard said.The Senate, where Sen. Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont) is the sponsor, approved lifting the ban on increased carbon dioxide emissions in Minnesota 42-18 on April 14. The amended bill returns to the Senate for reconsideration.The coal moratorium is part of a larger 2007 law known as the Next Generation Energy Act, which limits new electricity from coal in order to control carbon dioxide emissions. Members debated scientific claims that humans are contributing to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.Coal-produced electricity is viewed by opponents as a major contributor, and they want to see more reliance on renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. In addition, the Spiritwood plant would use lignite, the “dirtiest” form of coal to produce Minnesota’s imported electricity, according to Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finlayson). Continue Reading

Raw milk sales given hearing

By |

Before an overflowing hearing room, the House Agriculture and Rural Development Policy and Finance Committee listened to testimony from those who have been drinking raw milk with no ill effects for years, including Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth), sponsor of HF1511.The bill would allow dairy producers to sell unpasteurized milk directly to consumers through farmer’s markets, private buying clubs and home delivery. It also would require raw milk products to contain a consumer product safety label, which would include the name of the producer, product contents and ingredients, a statement that the product is unpasteurized and that pasteurization is not required for direct farm-to-consumer sales. The committee took no action on the bill. Sen. Sean Nienow (R-Cambridge) sponsors SF1111, a companion that awaits action by the Senate Agriculture and Rural Economies Committee.Current law allows for raw milk consumption for personal use by farm families where the milk is produced. Committee Chairman Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake) said most dairy farmers are careful about allowing others to roam their farms because of the risk of introducing diseases to the herd. Continue Reading

New plan unveiled for Iron Range power plant

By |

For the past seven years, Excelsior Energy has been gathering permits and holding public hearings to build an integrated gasification combined cycle (clean coal) plant on the Iron Range. It received millions of dollars from the Renewable Development Fund, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board and the federal government toward the project. To date, construction has not begun and a few key permits are still needed.For another story with a distinctly different perspective, see Ten years and $41 million later, Minnesota “clean coal” plant is still vapor The plan originally included just IGCC facilities; the new plan is to build a natural gas burning facility to power an IGCC plant that converts coal into a synthetic gas. The gas facility would later be converted into a second IGCC plant as demand necessitates. In HF618, Excelsior Energy is seeking legislation that would extend the life of the IGCC permits already granted so the permits don’t expire before the conversion can occur. Continue Reading