Sandra Masin's Blog

Today is the culmination of an incredible journey.  The House had passed H.F. 1540 last Thursday with a vote of 75-59.  The Senate passed the bill yesterday 37-30.  At 5:00 this afternoon, Governor Mark Dayton signed the marriage equality bill into law.  The Governor signed the legislation on the front steps of the Capitol.  He had the legislators and many other people behind him and thousands of people in front of him.  Two of the speakers afterwards were the bill sponsors, Representative Karen Clark and Senator Scott Dibble.

 It was a privilege to be part of this extraordinary event! There were so many people that worked so hard to make this happen. Minnesotans truly can taken pride in their efforts that brought us to this point.

H.F 459/S.F. 379, legislation that bans BPA in children’s food containers, was repassed.  This is the conference committee report and it passed 115-13.

There were several bills that involved fairly lengthy discussion. Representative Mahoney had S.F. 1234 up, it relates to workers’ compensation.  In addition to making various policy and housekeeping changes, it also provides for adoption of advisory council recommendations.  This did pass.

Representative Lesch presented H.F. 694, a bill relating to debt management and debt settlement.  It clarifies exemptions for attorneys at law and modified regulation of debt settlement services.  That passed 126-1.

H.F. 683, a bill creating the Legislative Water Commission passed.  This is Representative Fisher’s bill and it generated a lot of discussion.  The author has White Bear Lake in his district, so he is heavily involved in water issues due to the decreasing amount of water in the lake.

Another controversial bill is H.F. 1183, the Legacy Bill.  This legislation appropriates the constitutionally dedicated legacy funds. It passed 70-55, as amended.

The energy and noise levels at the Capitol were incredible today!  The House of Representatives took up House File 1054, the Marriage Equality Bill,  this afternoon and the Capital was packed with people on both sides of the issue.  The author,  Karen Clark led off with her history on this issue and summarized what the legislation is designed to do.  Two amendments were quickly added to provide clarification.  Over thirty members stood to explain the basis for their upcoming vote.   The comments were extremely moving and very respectful. The final vote was 75-59.  I am extremely proud of the way the House members handled this very sensitive topic.   This legislation is a huge step forward for justice and equality.

We worked on a half dozen bills on Wednesday.  One was H.F. 947,  a bill that distinguishes and clarifies laws regarding civil commitment of sexually dangerous persons and persons with psychopathic personalities from other civil commitments.  It passed 76-50.   This is a follow-up to a law in 2011 that instructed the commissioner to work with the revisor of statutes to separate statutes relating to civil commitment of sex offenders from those related to civil commitment of other populations.

H.F. 681, also called the Child Victims Act, changes the statute of limitation  period for civil actions involving sexual abuse.  In most cases, there will be no time restrictions for child victims after the bill becomes law. Current law provides that any action for damages based on personal injury caused by sexual abuse must be commenced within 6 years from the time the plaintiff knows or had reason to know that the injury was caused by sexual abuse.  The MN Supreme Court interprets the the statue of limitations as running from the age of 18, thus putting a cap on any claims by the age of 24.  Often, the victims don’t come forward until later.

Strikepoint, one of the top handbell ensembles, performed at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Eagan on Sunday afternoon.  It is easy to see why they are so highly regarded. It is amazing to hear all the many sounds they are able to create with the bells.  I thoroughly enjoyed all  their selections,  but my favorites  were Hava Nageela and Fantasy on Kingsfold.

Strikepoint is from Duluth and this looks like the only appearance in the metro area this season.  For more info, look at

www.strikepoint.com

I attended a very special event this morning, it was the 24th Annual Veterans’ Home Fishing Opener.  It is sponsored by Muskies, Inc. and Local Veterans’ Organizations for the residents and their families. They put up a large tent with a Trout Catching Tank inside that has plenty of fish and fun is had by all.  Even inside the tent, it was a little chilly today.  After the fish are caught, they are cleaned, cooked and eaten on the premises.  It is quite an event!  Kudos to everyone that  makes this possible.

We went through nine bills in fairly short order on Monday.  H.F. 829 relates to Evictions, Time for Appeal and Rent Escrow.  It extends from 10 to 15 days the time from the issuance of the judgment within which a party may appeal. It makes permanent the provisions of the federal Renter Protection Act that allow a tenant to remain in a foreclosed property for the greater of 90 days after expiration of the redemption period or the expiration of the current lease.  The vote was 71-59.

S.F 345/H.F. 410 is a bill that permits a personal representative or heir of a deceased victim to request or enforce an order of restitution if the victim dies before or after a request for restitution is made or an order is issued. This passed 130-0.

Sunday was a beautiful day for the Scoops for Troops event.  The line to get ice cream was pretty long, but  time passed quickly because of the conversations that took place during the wait.  Many people were wearing the shirts they received when they participated in the 5K Run and 3K Walk earlier.  In addition to the silent auction, there were:  book signings by authors, bands playing, celebrity scoopers and scores of motorcycles.  The owners of  Ring Mountain Creamery-Cafe are to be commended for hosting this annual event.

We had two bills dealing with consumer protection for children’s products..  Representative Atkin’s Bill, H.F. 459, bans bisphenol-A (BPA ) in children’s food containers.

Representative Percell’s bill, H.F. 357, bans formaldehyde, or ingredients that can degrade into formaldehyde, in specific children’s products. The legislation is aimed at products like shampoos and bubble baths.   A child is defined as a person under 8 years of age.  The vote was 113-13.

The Omnibus Higher Education Finance Bill, S.F. 1236 was the main bill of the day.  This bill increases state spending on higher education and 80% of that increase is allocated to tuition relief.  This is the first increase in funding to higher ed since 2008.  It includes new reporting requirements for both the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system (MnSCU) to hold both institutions accountable for budgeting practices and expenditures of public dollars.