MANKATO — The legislative session won’t begin until Feb. 17, but the lawmakers’ work is already in full swing.
Over the past week, legislators have been traveling across the state to hear directly from community leaders and residents about their concerns and priorities. On Thursday the latest of these meetings was hosted by Greater Mankato Growth at its legislative forum.
Mostly focused on the business concerns of the state, the forum featured discussions on the chances of a bonding bill passing through the state Senate and House this year. The legislators present — Rep. Luke Frederick, DFL-Mankato, Sen. Rich Draheim, R-Madison Lake, Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, Rep. Bjorn Olson, R-Fairmont, and Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska — were split on the possibility.
“I believe we have to find money somewhere … to do a bonding bill. Although we’re staring at a huge deficit in the next biennium, and my caucus is not going to support additional spending … (I) hope to have some proposals as to how to move money around within the state budget in order to do a bonding bill,” said Torkelson, who announced last week that this will be his last legislative session.
Frentz agreed with that stance, noting that if projects are left off bonding bills they “do not get cheaper, they get more expensive.”
However, the possibility of a bonding bill may rely on one thing: the February forecast.
“Minnesota has had Medicaid dollars stopped (from) coming into it by the federal government. Those dollars account for about $2 billion of our total budget. If the February forecast takes into account that lack of dollars coming into the state, then we as a Legislature will have to respond accordingly,” Frederick said.
Another issue addressed was the rollout of Minnesota’s new Paid Family Medical Leave Act, which some employers have said leaves them scrambling for options. Changes are likely to come to the act; the main discussion was when and what would it take to bring those changes.
“I think something’s going to break (with this program) before real change happens,” Olson said. “I truly believe that this is unsustainable. … I’ve heard all sorts of stories … (one) gal took time off because her hamster died. That’s very sad. But is that requirement of mandate from the state to pay someone so they can have grievance time for their hamster?”
Stories like that have spread quickly across the state, leaving some doubting the authenticity of some of the anecdotes.
“It’s probably not a surprise to anyone that I’m a supporter of paid family medical leave. … There were concerns from people that said … ‘Employees are calling in three hours after the start of their shift and we don’t think we can do anything.’ … I don’t think that’s true at all,” Frentz said.
One obstacle to getting changes passed, as mentioned by Draheim, is a lack of bipartisanship and legislators willing to vote against their party.
“One size does not fit all. That is the mantra of the socialists in the Democratic Party that have taken over, ‘one size fits all’ and that is not the case,” he said before talking about supporting a bill that included changes, authored by Frentz. “His party would not let him vote in favor of his own bill. To make some minor changes that I applauded. I supported Nick’s proposal. … We have to have that open dialogue.”