The 2013 session of the Minnesota Legislature had some positive and some negative aspects. Some goals were accomplished, others left for another day.
I was happy to see the legislature get done on time. We have had too many years where nothing can be agreed upon. Having a Democratic majority in both houses and a Democratic governor allowed the relatively easy passage of many bills.
The Republicans are not happy with most of the bills passed by the Democrats and signed by Gov. Mark Dayton. I am sure that if Tom Emmer had been elected governor in the last election, and the Republicans had managed majorities in the two houses, the Democrats would be crying about laws they would have enacted.
I agree with some of the laws enacted in this session but am disappointed in others. While I consider myself a liberal, I am not afraid to criticize the Democrats and praise the Republicans when it is warranted.
Gay marriage
As I stated in a column a few weeks ago, I think this was the right thing to do. Same-sex couples should be able to be legally married and entitled to all the benefits of being married.
There is some concern that somehow this law could be used to force churches to perform marriages. If this becomes the case, further laws should be enacted to protect priests and ministers from being forced to perform marriage ceremonies.
Nowhere in our laws states that a marriage has to be performed in religious ceremony and it should stay that way. The rights of the priests and pastors and the religions they represent, should be protected.
Childcare unionization
I agree with the Republican criticism of this new law, allowing the unionization of Minnesota’s child care providers. As I understand the law, the union only needs signatures from 30 percent of the childcare providers and a union of all providers that receive state subsidies will be formed.
Once that union is formed all the childcare providers will be forced to joined that union. If they are not in the union, they would not get the state subsidies.
I consider this a bad law and hope that court challenges prove it to be unconstitutional.
All-day kindergarten
I have been a supporter of all-day kindergarten for many years and I am glad our state is now funding it. It’s voluntary and school districts do not have to provide it. It will be up to local school boards to make the decision to offer it and to accept the state paying for it.
Our district has offered all-day kindergarten for the past several years, but there was a tuition charge.
Higher education
Colleges and universities in the state got $250 million in new spending out of this legislative session. A two-year freeze on student tuition was enacted.
It would have made more sense to me to freeze the University of Minnesota expenditures and decrease tuition by $250 million.
The University of Minnesota’s spending is out of control, especially when it comes to the number and amount administrators are paid.
From 2001 to spring 2012, the "U" added more than 1,000 administrators, an increase of 37 percent.
The University of Minnesota employs 353 people making more than $200,000 a year. That is an increase of 57 percent from 2001. Administrators making over $300,000 annually has risen from seven to 17.
It seems that the university will charge whatever it feels it can get out of the students and spend whatever money Congress and our Legislature is willing to give it.
Graduation requirements
I was happy to see the lawmakers drop the graduation test requirements. The math test, which each Minnesota student would have to pass in order to graduate, was much too difficult for a good number of students to pass.
There is nothing wrong with having standards set in order to graduate, but they must be realistic.
I would challenge those legislators who voted against dropping the math test requirement, to take the test themselves and if they did not pass it, to willingly give up their own high school diplomas.
Coaches
The Legislature passed a bill that prohibits a school board from declining to renew a coach’s contract based solely on the existence of parent complaints.
I agree that coaches should not be fired because a few parents don’t like how things are going. But do we need a state law to regulate something that is common sense? The Legislature obviously has no trust in local school boards or athletic directors
I am afraid this type of legislation will lead to lawsuits by coaches saying they were let go because of parental complaints.
No tax on clothes
I was glad to see that the sales tax was not extended to clothing purchases.
It wasn’t so much that it would have hurt the pocket-books of average Minnesotans. The tax would only have been applied to purchases over $100.
I was concerned about the stores in the Mall of America. I don’t think people realize the number of people from around the country and around the world that fly into the Twin Cities to buy clothing because there is no sales tax.
Although I don’t know anyone personally, there are people who spend thousands of dollars on clothes each year. If we imposed the tax on clothing, they would certainly cease flying in here.
2014 – a change?
It will be interesting to see what happens in 2014, when all of the Minnesota House of Representatives, half of the Senate and the governor, will be up for re-election.
Because of the increase in taxes and hot issues like the legalization of same-sex marriage, will that energize the conservatives? Will we see a conservative Republican governor and both houses with new conservative majorities? It will be fun to see it all unfold.