While Monday, May 17, was the last day the legislature could meet constitutionally, no legislation can be passed on that day. The agreement between the Governor and Legislative leaders was close but took extra time for fiscal staff and the revisor to prepare the bill for action. Thus, farewell speeches of departing senators were held Sunday afternoon and all other action completed by midnight. The governor then called a special session for Monday to finish the final budget work.

The session-ending solution, passed in the brief special session, held firm to no tax increases and balanced the budget with about $800 million in total cuts. It enacted the governor’s 2009 unallotments on a onetime basis to cover this biennium only and to pre-empt further lawsuits. It also ratified the $1.8 billion K-12 aid payment shift that was increased by 3 percent and will require payback beginning in 2011.

As part of the deal, Gov. Pawlenty agreed to approve legislation authorizing the next governor to have the state apply for an early expansion of Medicaid enrollment. There is also $10 million in extra funding for General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) but no surcharge on health care providers to pay for it. The potential $408 million in enhanced Medicaid match funds that are anticipated--though the time of their arrival is uncertain--would be used to bolster the state’s cash flow. Most lawmakers were pleased that the final legislation also guarded against cuts to nursing homes and further public safety cuts.

However, the deal didn’t provide any fundamental solutions to the long term deficit projects and just passed the tough decisions to the next session. For this reason, I was unable to support the final solution.

A largely non-controversial education bill with broad support had a House provision that would have allowed school boards to renew levies expiring during the next six years without having to go back to voters. School boards could have extended the length of the original referendum levy and for the same dollar amount. This took away the voice and vote of the people and I and several members, could not support this bill. A motion to send the bill back to conference committee was successful in the Senate, but midnight was too close to make necessary changes to it. Many of us spent the night in our offices. I was awakened early to work on the final version of the bill, which was reached and passed unanimously by the Senate. However, the House fell short of votes to suspend the rules to allow it to be considered.

Disappointment that significant reforms resisted vigorously by Education Minnesota were not a part of the package was probably a key reason that the opposition could not be overcome in the House. A bill for home school mandate relief that streamlined reporting requirements, made less work for superintendents and school districts and saved the state money (over $400,000 a year)--a win-win for all--was one of the casualties. Provisions needed by a number of individual school districts were lost as well.

Education reform

A second round application for Race to the Top federal funding has become even more unlikely. Lack of legislative commitment to reforms in teacher and administrator evaluation to improve teacher effectiveness linked to student achievement, plans for turning around failing schools and providing alternative pathways to licensure without sacrificing standards assured that the application would not be competitive.

Many of us, while supporting reforms, are not inclined to look with favor on the federal government setting almost-impossibleto meet timelines and prescriptive actions in an area that is the responsibility of the states, not the federal government. The commitment to improved student achievement, closing the achievement gap in many of our schools, using evidence based, scientific research to back the policies we pursue will continue next session.

Law enforcement

Much debate took place during session spurred by the behavior of the Metro Gang Strike Force. As is often the case, one situation, occurrence or failure of judgment leads to proposals for far-reaching changes. I opposed many of the changes that would have severely limited the work of many rural task forces that are doing an excellent job.

In the end policies and practices that would have greatly curtailed the work of effective drug task forces such as the one serving our communities were not approved. Changes that were made to forfeiture laws and the distribution of the proceeds of sales of forfeited property taken during drug operation arrests were still preserved. This allows our local law enforcement agencies running operations a primary means of funding rather than being captured by the state to relieve its budget woes.

Some final words

The pulling back of the majority leadershipdeveloped budget solution which passed, I believe on Saturday-the last few days have run together as Saturday’s session ended at 6:45 a.m. on Sunday-rather than send it to the governor for a veto and the sending back of the education bill to conference committee, also preventing a veto, allowed this session to end with less hostility than in other recent sessions.

The Senate majority leader ended the special session by acknowledging the good work of Senate President Jim Metzen (DFL) and President Pro- Tem Dennis Frederickson (R) who is retiring this year. He also pledged that never again would the president be put in the position he was in at the end of the last session forcing action on a major bill with only a few minutes remaining in the session and senators calling out to be recognized. It was pandemonium unbecoming to the institution of the Senate with members leaving the chamber disheartened and disgusted. Gratefully, it was not repeated this session, as time was taken for expressions of gratitude to hardworking staff who have been working around the clock.

I will be sending out updates on changes to legislative areas throughout the summer. I believe this will be a better way to comprehend the changes since it might be information overload. I hope these updates have been of interest to you. Thank you for your comments, ideas and questions along the way. Keep them coming.

State Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen can be reached at 651-297- 8063, by mail at 123 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155, or via email at sen.bill.ingebrigtsen@ senate.mn.