Legislative Notes for the week of April 17 - April 21, 2006

Bonding Conferees Announced

Both the House and Senate have announced the conferees for the bonding bill this week. The House conferees are Rep. Dan Dorman, R-Albert Lea; Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague; Rep. Denny McNamara, R-Hastings; Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls; and Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul. The Senate conferees are Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon; Sen. Wes Skoglund, DFL-Minneapolis; Sen. James Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul; Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul; and Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley. The House bill includes $949 million for bonding projects, including $187.7 million for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The Senate bill is $990 million, including $223.2 million for the system. A conference committee is needed to work out the differences between the two bills. We still need to work hard as a system to promote the importance of our projects, especially as momentum builds for the stadiums. At the time of this report, a conference committee has not yet been scheduled. Stay tuned.

Controversial DREAM Act Included in Both House and Senate Bills

The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) addresses tuition for young people who grew up in Minnesota and have graduated from a Minnesota high school, but generally derive their immigration status from their parents. When parents are undocumented or in immigration limbo, their children are unable to obtain legal residency. Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, and Rep. Ray Cox, R-Northfield, introduced a bill to address this issue and allow these students to be eligible for resident tuition if the student attended high school in Minnesota for three or more years and graduated from a state high school or received a GED in the state.

The language is in both the Senate and House Higher Education omnibus bills. Those in opposition to the language, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty, have said that providing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants would give them benefits not available to legal U.S. citizens who reside in most other states. The House Ways and Means Committee heard the bill this week and after much controversy over removing the language, no amendment was offered to remove the provision. It passed the committee still intact on a vote of 26-8. Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, encouraged members of the committee to remember that many people in this country are descendants of immigrants. Both the Senate and the House higher education bills await floor action.

Higher Education Benefits for Veterans

The veterans bill that provides benefits to veterans and their families has made its way through the committee process and is now part of the State Government omnibus bills in both the House and Senate. The Senate bill includes $900,000 for higher education veterans assistance offices. The commissioner of veterans affairs is to provide campus veterans assistance to serve the needs of students who are veterans at Minnesota higher education institutions. The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses are to provide adequate space for a veterans assistance office in order to provide information to students and family members. A steering committee made up of a representative from all facets of higher education, the adjutant general or designee, a representative of county veterans services office and a representative of the state Department of Employment and Economic Development are to advise the commissioner of veterans affairs on how the funds are to be used and to develop a long-range plan to serve the needs of students in Minnesota who are veterans. The House bill appropriates $500,000 for the veterans assistance offices. The veterans affairs commissioner in consultation with the Office of Higher Education is to determine the most appropriate way to use the funds to meet the needs of students at higher education institutions. In addition, the House higher education bill appropriates $100,000 f or a systemwide veteran services coordinator for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses.

One Supplemental Budget Bill in Both Bodies?

The Senate Finance Committee passed one large omnibus supplemental finance bill this week, instead of taking up individual finance bills. This bill, made up of 26 articles, makes supplemental appropriations for early childhood education, K-12 education, higher education, environment and agriculture, economic development, transportation, public safety, state government and health and human services. The higher education article, Article 11, appropriates $4.7 million, and $5 million is for academic programs supporting the University of Minnesota, Rochester. The appropriation is for faculty, staff and program development in the areas of biomedical technologies, engineer and computer technologies, health care administration and allied health program. The bill saves funds by tightening the definition of eligible school for purposes of the state grant program. We anticipate this bill will be taken up on the Senate floor next week.

Floor discussion this week in the House has given indication that the House also will have one large supplemental budget bill in order to match up with the Senate bill, and lawmakers have said the bill will include budget items from the different omnibus bills that need to be funded. This means that the higher education bill, and others as they currently stand, may look significantly different as one bill is put together. Stay tuned.

E-forum on College Affordability

Congresswoman Betty McCollum, DFL-Minn., is hosting an e-forum on college affordability. Current college students and parents may send written or video testimonies sharing their experiences in financing a college education and their thoughts about what Congress can do to improve college access and affordability for all Americans to CollegeForAll@mail.house.gov

Written testimony should be 500 words or less. Witnesses must include their name, college or university, home address, phone number and e-mail address (for verification purposes only). Only their name, hometown and university will be posted along with their testimony. Video testimonies must be in Windows Media format and no longer than 3 minutes. A transcript of the video also should be submitted. Submissions without complete contact information will not be posted. The e-hearing Web site is:

http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/makecollegeaffordable.shtml