Global deal or no, some bills are moving late in session

With momentum building to finish off the 2012 legislative session, the House and Senate spent hours on the floor last week debating bills. And while none of the bills being processed have attracted the sort of attention garnered by the Minnesota Vikings committee hearings in the House and Senate in the past week, GOP majorities in both chambers have worked to advance a passel of members’ pet bills. The topics ranged from child custody issues to hunting license fee increases.

Here’s a survey of some of the legislation that’s been taken up.

Family law

After a debate that was personal for a number of members, the House passed a bill that recasts the power relations between parents embedded in the state’s child custody laws.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, is dubbed the Children’s Equal and Shared Parenting Act and establishes a presumption of joint physical custody.

The bill passed 80-53, with nine DFLers voting in favor and four Republicans voting against.
In cases where couples cannot reach a divorce settlement, the bill directs judges to give equal custody to the parents. The proposal has arisen because of complaints that the courts favor mothers. Both parents would be presumed to get 45.1 percent custody.

“Let’s put an end to the family law system as it is today. It has many problems,” Scott said.
The bill’s opponents raised concerns about how the law would be applied in cases of domestic abuse and further argued that the shared custody presumption would result in a reduction of fathers’ child support obligations.

Current law in Minnesota directs the courts to make custody decisions based on the best interest of the child.

Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, who noted that she was raised by her father after a divorce, said that everybody would like to have shared parenting after a divorce but that the law should respect the particular circumstances that affect each child.

Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, raised concerns that some women might not be able to overturn the joint custody arrangement to get protection from abusive husbands.

“There are lots of victims of domestic violence that are going to get hurt if you vote for this bill,” Paymar said.

Scott said the bill strikes a balance between protecting spouses from abuse and requiring a burden of proof so that parents are not unjustly separated from their children.

Domestic abuse “is still against the law,” Scott said. “No one here on this House floor advocates for abuse or putting someone in harm’s way.”

Rep. Lyndon Carlson, DFL-Crystal, also said the bill would increase costs to the court system.
The Senate bill, which is in the Judiciary Committee, differs from the House version, creating the potential for a conference committee.

Capitol restoration

On Thursday the House rejected by one vote a $221 million proposal to restore and upgrade the state Capitol.

A commission led by Gov. Mark Dayton has presented lawmakers with a plan to replace aging systems and restore the architectural detailing of the 106-year-old statehouse. During the debate, Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, held up a chunk of marble that had fallen off the Capitol to make his point.

“[The Capitol] is the symbol that we leave for future generations. … What does it say about us if we let the symbol of Minnesota crumble?” Urdahl said.

The bill needed 81 votes to garner the three-fifths majority needed to pass bills that borrow money. When the board was closed after being left open for several minutes, it failed 80-50, with three absent members. All Republicans except Rep. Mark Buesgens voted in favor. Eleven DFLers voted for it.

Several DFL legislators objected to the proposal because large portions of the funding for the six-year project won’t be spent in the next two years. A number of DFLers made reference to projects in their districts and complained that authorizing the Capitol project would scuttle many other projects.

“It’s hard for me to believe we need the whole amount right now,” Liebling said.

Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, the bill’s chief author, responded that the state can negotiate a better price and ensure that the project will be carried out more quickly if the funding for the entire cost is secured up front.

“By committing, we’re actually going to get a guaranteed price,” Howes said.

The Senate provided only $25 million for fixes to the Capitol’s exterior in its bonding bill.

Abortion

On Wednesday the House passed an abortion-related measure. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, requires a physician to be present when administering the abortion pill RU-486. The issue related to physicians in Rochester attending to patients via video conference. The RU-486 bill passed 80-48 with seven DFLers voting in favor. The House defeated an amendment offered by Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, that would have required physicians to be present when a man takes Viagra.

The Senate, meanwhile, passed legislation requiring annual licensing and inspections for facilities that perform abortions.

Pensions

The omnibus pension bill passed the Senate 45-18 on Monday over the opposition of fiscal conservatives. The bill’s central provision is a response to the stock market losses that have battered Minnesota’s pension investments in the past several years. It would lower the assumed rate of return for pension investments to 8 percent from 8.5 percent for the next five years. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have deemed the current rate-of-return assumptions unrealistic. But dropping the assumed rate of return makes the retirement plans’ unfunded liabilities grow.

The limited five-year time frame is the result of compromise with the Teachers Retirement Association. The teachers plan opposed an earlier proposal to lower the rate permanently. The compromise irked some Republicans, who amended the bill in the Senate State Government Committee to the lower rate of 8.25 percent for two years and then permanently to 8 percent. That change, however, was removed by Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, in the Finance Committee. Sens. Ted Daley, R-Eagan, and Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, who are both members of the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement, voted against the bill on the floor along with 17 of their fellow caucus members.

Game and fish

Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bill Ingebrigtsen was blindsided on Tuesday when his move to advance hunting and fishing license fee hikes to the game and fish bill was quashed. The state Department of Natural Resources called for the fee increases to prevent the Game and Fish Fund from running out of money by July 2013. The Senate had passed the fee increases in committee, but the House, which passed its game and fish bill before the Easter/Passover recess, did not advance the fees.

On Tuesday Ingebrigtsen took up the House version on the Senate floor and tried to amend the fees into the bill. He assumed the amendment would pass with DFL support because the fees are supported by Dayton. But the amendment failed 39-27, with 22 DFLers and 17 Republicans dissenting. Ingebrigtsen said he anticipated some opposition from fiscal conservatives in his own party. But he said DFLers were playing politics.

“The minority leader basically sabotaged the bill because he wants to go out there and say we’re not getting anything done,” Ingebrigtsen said. “And we’re going to do that over hunting and fishing and wolf legislation that the governor’s office wants.”