Legislative Notes for the Week of March 29 - April 2, 2004

Not Much Urgency to Finish Session

Lawmakers are busy with high profile issues. Members will take a brief Easter/Passover Break next week and that will leave about one month before the required May 17 closing date. Senators are not up for election in November 2004, but the entire House of Representatives will be up for election. That may shape some of the legislation and conference committee debate in the final month. We expect the pace of things at the Capitol to accelerate following the Easter and Passover holidays.

Higher Education Bills Moving

Both House and Senate Higher Education bills are moving through the legislature with no additional cuts to the State Colleges and Universities. Rep. Doug Stang ( R - Cold Spring) passed the House version this week. The House combined K-12 and higher education into one bill (HF 1793) and sent it to the Senate. The only significant amendment included adding the tuition and state grant penalty for students convicted of participating in a riot or criminal sexual conduct. The bill requires a study and report from the Higher Education Services Office on the tuition reciprocity program with South Dakota. The legislation also allows state universities to plan for offering doctoral degrees but requires legislative approval.

Senators moved their bill from the Higher Education Budget Division to the Finance Committee, where it will be heard on Monday. Sen. Sandy Pappas (DFL - St Paul) has several provisions in the legislation that are different from the House. Senators included a provision they supported last session that would prohibit marketing credit cards to undergraduate students. They also designed a $2,000 scholarship program for first-generation college students who are receiving a regular state grant and in their first year of college and whose family income is $20,000 or less. The committee also created a low-income loan for students in nursing programs. The maximum amount of the loan is $2,500 per year. The bill transfers money from the state grant surplus to fund the scholarship costs.

It is not clear at this time whether the Senate will combine the K-12 education finance bill and the higher education bill as the House has done. Some sections of the K-12 education bill are controversial and may be difficult to reach agreement on. In the House, the higher education provisions in Article 14 are drafted on 14 pages of the 204 page K-12 education bill.

No Bonding Bill Next Week

House and Senate leaders appear to be waiting until after the Easter/Passover Break to pass a bonding bill from the Capital Investment Committees. Rep. Phil Krinkie (R - Shoreview) and Sen. Keith Langseth (DFL - Glyndon) will wait for the week of April 12 to 16 to roll out a first draft bill.

Employee Contract Ratification

The employee contract ratification bill (SF 1866) moved out of the Senate State Government Budget division this week. The next stop for the bill is the Senate Finance committee. The House version of the contract ratification bill (HF 2034) passed out of the Ways and Means Committee and is headed to the House floor for approval.