ECM Capitol reporter
They’re picking up where they left off, House Transportation Policy Committee Chairman Ron Erhardt, DFL-Edina, said.

Cheered by transportation funding advocates, Erhardt on Tuesday, March 5, presented a $3 billion transportation funding package — the most ambitious in years.

A veteran and arguably a political casualty of transportation funding fights at the State Capitol, Erhardt called the legislation, promising billions but containing a variety of tax increases, a “balanced approach.”

“And that’s what I think is absolutely necessary,” Erhardt, who, as a former Republican, provided a key transportation funding override vote, told his committee.

The benefits of the 2008 transportation funding initiative have begun to wane, he explained.

The new legislation, as Erhardt noted, has a lot of moving parts.

It would phase-in a nickle increase to the state’s 28.5-cent per gallon gas tax.

The bill would raise the tax on propane and liquefied natural gas by several cents over three years.

License tab fees would increase, and the flat tab fee paid on older vehicles would increase $10 under the bill.

The legislation proposes to expand the state sales tax to automotive parts and services, slating half of the revenue to highways, with the remainder split between metro and Greater Minnesota transit.

The current quarter-cent metro area transit sales tax could increase to three-quarters cent under the bill.

The half-cent increase, which would capture at least an additional $100 million a year for metro transit and $100 million a year for county highways, could be approved with a county board vote.

In addition to authorizing a wheelage tax statewide and removing a $5 cap, the bill would allow counties in Greater Minnesota to levy the existing local optional sales tax for transportation by county board resolution alone — no referendum needed.

Ten pro-transportation groups, ranging from the Transportation Alliance to unions, took a stand to back the legislation.

Edina Mayor Jim Hovland in a House committee on Tuesday, March 5, speaks in support of a transportation funding bill carried in the House by Rep. Ron Erhardt, DFL-Edina, seated next to the mayor. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

“We could be about to enter a Golden Age of transportation in Minnesota,” Edina Mayor Jim Hovland said.

Hovland urged lawmakers to pass the bill essentially as it is.

“There’s always resistance with the gas tax,” Hovland said.

Former Anoka County State Senator Steve Novak, transportation and capital bonding lobbyist with the Minnesota Inter-County Association, called the legislation “a complete bill.”

“This is probably the best public/private partnership you can find,” Novak said of transportation funding.

Association General Contractors Tim Worke spoke of the creation of thousands of needed transportation construction jobs.

No action was taken on the bill, with the committee expected to take up discussions again on Wednesday, March 6.

Rep. Jim Newberger, R-Becker, argued the proposed gas tax increase in the bill would hurt the trucking industry. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

Rep. Jim Newberger, R-Becker, while saying there were some good ideas in the bill, argued the proposed gas tax increase would hurt truckers, shippers and delivery guys.

“It will wipe out their (profit) margins,” he said.

Erhardt countered by saying transportation was key to economic growth.

If Newberger had a better plan, offer it, Erhardt urged.

“We’d be happy to hear it,” he said.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton in his transportation budget proposed increasing the metro-wide transit sales tax, but didn’t offer the array of revenue raisers contained in Erhardt’s bill. Dayton has repeatedly indicated he doesn’t favor a gas tax increase.

According to the Department of Revenue, increasing the gas tax by one cent brings in an additional $31 million.

The governor’s transportation finance advisory committee late last year suggested increasing the state gas tax to 40 cents over 20 years.

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Rep. Debra Hilstrom of Brooklyn Center suggested the gun issue came to her rather than the other way around.

“When you serve on a committee, and you listen to a lot of testimony, and you get 6,000 emails in three days,” Hilstrom said with a smile, speaking after a State Capitol press conference Wednesday (March 6) announcing her gun legislation.

Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, stood before the House chamber on Wednesday (March 6) to present her gun legislation. Standing to the right of Hilstrom is Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, with Rep. Ton Cornish, R-Vernon Center, standing to the left. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

With white-shirted sheriffs at her side, Hilstrom presented legislation that focuses on tightening existing background checks, includes provisions sought by county attorneys, but does not contain so-called universal background checks  found in other bills.

Hilstrom, Democrat and House Judiciary Finance and Policy Committee chairwoman, heralds her bill as a common sense, get-things-done, bipartisan piece of legislation with 73 bill cosponsors already lined up.

“This is an attempt to solve real problems for Minnesota,” she said.

The legislation is supported by the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek and  the Gun Owners’ Civil Rights Alliance.

It’s called a National Rifle Association (NRA) cop-out bill by critics.

But Stanek styled the bill as focusing on preventing those who should not have access to guns from getting them.

It’s in keeping in what he’s been telling people, including President Barack Obama, since January, he said.

“Gun ownership is not a privilege,: Stanek said. “It is a right guaranteed by Second Amendment.”

Among the provisions in the bill is a broad sharing of mental health commitment information.

Time requirements are placed on corrections officials for the transfer of fingerprint information for background check purpose for out-of-state prisoners brought into their custody.

The bill makes it a felony to provide a licensed gun dealer or private seller of firearms or ammunition with information that the person knows to be materially false in order to deceive the sellers.

In a statement, Executive Director Heather Martens of Protect Minnesota called it predictable that an NRA-approved bill lacking the most important preventive steps in gun safety would be introduced.

“If this NRA bill passes, Uzis and Glocks (guns) will still be readily available online, at gun shows, at flea markets, and all over the state with no background checks,” Martens said..
“That’s crazy.”

But Hilstrom argues her legislation isn’t watered-down, and that she is  anything but an NRA pawn.

The top priorities of the sheriffs’ associations are in the bill, she said.

Likewise, changes sought by county attorneys are also found in it.

“I’ve never been endorsed by the NRA,” Hilstrom said.

“I got a ‘C’ once, a ‘D’ once, and an ‘F’ once,” she said of NRA legislative score cards.

Nor has she ever submitted a application for endorsement by the NRA, she said.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, speaking after a Capitol event, said he has always supported universal background checks — in the past he has said the  existing background-check law contains “gaping holes.”

Although saying he hadn’t yet seen Hilstrom’s legislation, Dayton said he had recently met with Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association officials.

“They have a good, common sense approach,” Dayton said.

It would be a “big disappointment” if lawmakers sent him gun legislation without a universal background check provision, Dayton explained.

But such an omission would not necessarily draw a gubernatorial veto, Dayton indicated.

“I tend to veto bills for what’s in them; not what’s not in them,” he said.

Some legislation heard before legislative committees this session would require most gun purchases to take place through licensed gun dealers.

Provisions allowing the gun dealers to charge fees for handling the sales transactions have been contained in some bills.

Andrew Rothman, vice presidnet of the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance,  calls such fees the equivalent of a poll tax.

That is, it’s a fee for pursuing a constitutional right.

Tim Budig can be reached at tim.budig@ecm-inc.com.

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School District Superintendent Mark Bezek and School Board Chairwoman Jane Bunting shuffled between House and Senate education committees at the State Capitol testifying in support of legislation designed to get the school district more funding.

Elk River School District Superintendent Mark Bezek gestures to the House Education Finance Committee while School Board Chairwoman Jane Bunting watches. Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River, listens at the end of the table. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

“I need you to act outside of the box,” Bezek told the House Education Finance Committee.

The bills, carried in the House by Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River, and Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, look to free up dollars the school district already has and pull in others the district believes it deserves.

One bill would allow the school district to transfer up to 80 percent of a debt- reduction fund for other uses. According to a House fiscal note, the school district had about $4 million in the debt-reduction fund at the close of 2012.

The legislation will result in increased property taxes, the note states.

But Bezek portrayed the school district as struggling to deal with “explosive growth” and facing millions of dollars in budget cuts over the next several years.

“(And) we’re about two, three years from a full explosion again,” he said of a resurgence in home building.

Three years ago a similar fund-transfer bill, Bezek told the committee, seemed poised to pass but “went up in smoke” late session.

The superintendent detailed a number of school district initiatives needing extra dollars the transfer could provide.

District officials also want a law that would get metro-equity revenue funding for district students, about 29 percent of total enrollment or some 3,700 students, living within the seven-county metro area.

It would add a 1.25 funding multiplier to these students.

Although the bill was not amended in House committee, Bezek indicated ultimately school officials want the equity funding applied to the entire district.

That the trigger for the equity funding is whether a school districts’ headquarters are located in or outside of the seven-county metro area drew snickers as one lawmaker suggested Elk River simply move it headquarters to a more favorable location.

Besides citing local traffic snarls as proof metro school district status, the school district pays its vendors the same rates the vendors charge school districts technically within the metro, Bunting argued.

“We say, ‘That’s us,’” she said of being a metro school district.

The current legislation, which provides equity funding only to those district students living within the metro, would bring in an additional $400,000 – a big deal to Elk River, Bezek explained.

“That’s six, seven teachers,” he said.

While House Education Finance Committee Chairman Paul Marquart, DFL-Dilworth, expressed reluctance to commit to initiatives while the larger committee bill was still being put together, he didn’t dismiss either bills out of hand.

The Legislature approves school district fund transfers fairly often, he explained.

But Marquart indicated that if the committee approved metro-level equity for Elk River, it would also have to do so for other school districts straddling the metro borders.

“It seems to be an issue of fairness,” he said.

He directed committee staff to get cost estimates.

But Marquart also noted that Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed doing away with the equity funding in his proposed budget.

Kiffmeyer, who also presented her bills to the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday morning, was guardedly upbeat.

“It’s like it’s got some positive energy on both (House and Senate) sides,” she said.

Zerwas credited the school district officials for being “forward looking and innovative.”

Tim Budig can be reached at tim.budig@ecm-inc.com

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Rep. Bob Dettmer, R-Forest Lake, wants the state to stop taxing the military retirement pay of veterans.

Rep. Connie Bernardy, DFL-Fridley, listens to veteran David Stanton of New Brighton talk about veterans and jobs while appearing before a House committee on Monday (March 4). Bernardy is carrying legislation providing tax credits for hiring veterans. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

Dettmer, a retired U.S. Army Reserve warrant officer, has long argued that taxing retirement pay is self-defeating, serving to drive away talented veteran retirees with skills for business, ardor for public service, money to buy homes and cars.

Dettmer will meet with Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton this week to discuss his legislation, Dettmer said.

Backers of the legislation, such as United Veterans Legislative Council Chairman Ralph Donais of Elk River, view the number of retired veterans — those with 20-plus years of military service, drawing retirement pay — living in Minnesota as too small.

According to Donais, the state is currently ranked 33rd in terms of retired veterans — Wisconsin, ranked 30th, has about 2,000 more, he said to the House State Government Finance Committee on Monday (March 4).

To the Badger State, those additional military retirees over the years mean millions of extra federal dollars flowing into the state, he argued.

No committee members found Dettmer’s proposal compelling.

Rep Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, argued almost any pensioner group could make the same argument.

Additionally, she questioned the methodology of the state-by-state rankings, suggesting factors other than taxes could account for disparities.

Donais agreed, saying the prevalence of military bases — places where veterans can get medical care, shop the PX — serves as an attraction.

But committee member Rep. Ernie Leidiger, R-Mayer, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, argued Dettmer was spot-on with his bill.

Taxes and weather are two big things veterans ponder when considering where to live.

“We want our people to come back to our state,” Leidiger said.

Although no fiscal note was yet ready for Dettmer’s bill, the lawmaker said the revenue loss would be modest.

The committee passed Dettmer’s bill onto the House Tax Committee.

Several other veterans bill were heard by the committee.

Testimony became emotional — one struggling veteran wiping tears from his eyes — during presentation of bills providing income tax credits to businesses hiring qualified veterans.

Wearing a VFW hat bright with pins, veteran David Stanton of New Brighton spoke of applying for more than 200 jobs,  including fast-food work, for which he felt over-qualified.

“We’re not looking for a handout,” Stanton said.

But at least let veterans be among the first in hiring line, he urged lawmakers.

Representatives Connie Bernardy, DFL-Fridley, and Anna Wills, R-Apple Valley, are carrying legislation to provide business with nonrefundable tax credits for hiring veterans.

A business could earn up to $3,000 in credit for each disabled veteran hired, $1,500 for hiring an unemployed veteran.

The two bills differ slightly, Bernardy’s bill providing a $1,500 tax credit for hiring an underemployed veteran, with Wills’ offering a $500 credit for other veteran hiring.

While the state’s unemployment rate hovers around 5.5 percent, the rate for veterans is almost double.

Dennis Davis, a consultant who works with businesses on veterans- hiring issues, suggested the repeated deployment of active members of the military makessome businesses leery of hiring them.

Why hire one if they’re not going to be around, the logic goes, Davis explained.

But Davis also argued the cost of the tax credits would be recouped by getting more veterans off unemployment benefits.

Minnesota has about 400,000 military veterans.

Tim Budig can be reached at tim.budig@ecm-inc.com.

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Kresha represents District 9B, which includes most of Morrison County.

Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, says the pace at the Minnesota Legislature is a bit overwhelming and he urges legislators to slow down to be able to digest the information that is coming to them.
Kresha is a small business owner. (Photo by Howard Lestrud, ECM Publishers)

“It’s OK to slow things down a bit,” Kresha said when looking at the fast track legislators are currently negotiating. “You just can’t soak in all the information” you receive, he said. “You have to make decisions about finite resources but to take in everyone’s arguments and to take in all the information, it is just impossible,” Kresha explained.

He said legislators must condense things and get to the point with their constituents and groups.

Kresha explains how he approaches his meeting with constituents and other groups. “I ask them to give me their 30-second elevator pitch so I can get it in my head and file it way. What I really want is a contact because when a bill comes up, I can then contact the individual or group and say, ‘Let’s have a conversation again.’”

Kresha, the owner and chief executive officer of an economic development marketing company, said the pace at the Legislature is overwhelming.

“I can see why it takes you a couple of terms to really understand the flow of the budget, to understand exactly how money is appropriated, and just understanding which committee your bill is going to touch is daunting.”

In addition to his legislative duties and running a business, Kresha has a wife Wendy and five children, ages kindergarten to a senior in high school. He said he tries to get back for sporting events and school events and stay connected with his family. His company works nationally with small cities and counties, trying to make them competitive.

“What I find is you need a lot of good people at home,” Kresha said. He said his business partner and employees have picked up the ball and run with it, as have his children and wife at home.

Kresha is adamant about focusing on the budget and worrying about other issues, like bonding, at another time, he said.

“Let’s deal with the budget, with business-to-business taxes, and let’s make sure we build our district strong,” he said.

A couple of bonding items in his area have been mentioned: funding the Camp Ripley Trail and providing funds for expansion at the Pine Grove Zoo. Kresha said he is a big supporter of the veterans trail and believes the Pine Grove Zoo is “a great growing resource and fantastic tourist stop” and he supports both projects.

Kresha cautions, however, that he does not want to make bonding items into political footballs.

“I am not going to put my district at risk of being part of political games, so first and foremost, let’s deal with the fact that we need to get some jobs in my area and let’s deal with the fact that education is not equal in my district.”

Kresha said he does not believe any of his cohorts campaigned on the idea of an expanded, faster government to get it all done.

“Let’s be thoughtful and let’s run a lean form of government, then let’s talk about investment,” he said.

Gov. Dayton’s attempt to lower the state sales tax to 5.5 percent and look for a way to broaden it has “some merit” to it, Kresha said.

Kresha said he blames Dayton, however, for playing a shell game in trying to find $1.4 billion in a property tax shift to enable state government to send out checks “to make people happy, but then we are going to get it on the other side.” Kresha said the shortfall and needs should be identified and then the appropriate revenue should be raised.

“Let’s not go crazy,” Kresha cautioned. “I think he (the governor) has overreached with the business-to-business tax.”

In his area alone, Kresha said a large number of companies exist that have contracted workers.

“We’re  putting a huge burden on them that they have never seen before,” Kresha said. He explained that a small company doing $300,000 in business a year and utilizing marketing, design, printing and advertising immediately has $15,000 in taxes directed at them.

A home-based worker competing across the country who may be one or two percentage points higher than a competitor can’t pass on the extra costs but has to eat them.

Kresha strongly supports tax reform and said formulas are becoming more complicated.

“We are setting ourselves up for future legislative sessions to tweak things to help our districts,” Kresha said. He said the state has to look at the property tax formula, one of the most complicated in the state.

Kresha has introduced legislation that looks at a late fee structure. The legislation speaks to penalties being imposed on taxpayers who are thrown into the mercy of the situation.

“We make it harder for the taxpayers to understand how they can manage their property taxes and how they manage their every day expenses. Then, we charge lawyer fees to figure it all out,” Kresha said.

Legislation on gun violence has been dominating much of the legislators’ time early this session. Kresha said many of his constituents question why this is.

“I haven’t gone to just the local hunters and local sports people, I have talked to local gun dealers, to my schools and to the sheriff” about this issue, Kresha said. He says Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel urged Kresha not to create knee-jerk legislation. He said schools have given him the same message. “I don’t think there is a whole lot of merit to the legislation we have proposed right now,” Kresha said.

As a message to his constituents, Kresha said “every minute we spend on guns, every minute we spend on marriage equality and every minute we spend on all of these issues that are not germane to the budget, that’s less time we have to fix the health exchange and less time we have to put some of these bonding proposals in place for next session.”

Kresha said he believes legislators are doing themselves and their constituents a disservice by not hashing out and having thoughtful conversations about the budget and jobs.

Early last week, Kresha officially introduced HF933, a bill with wide bipartisan support and a number of DFL co-sponsors that would promote existing tax credits to businesses in Greater Minnesota. These angel tax credits were designed to boost businesses in all of Minnesota, not just the seven-county Metro area, Kresha said.

“Greater awareness of the tax credits available to eligible small businesses means more jobs for Greater Minnesota,” Kresha detailed.

Kresha has also signed on to a bill that helps school districts that are close to statutory operating debt. These districts, by this legislation, would receive 90 percent of their funding right away. He is also looking at a number of legislative proposals that will equalize some of the formula.

“I make no bones about it: I am not a metro legislator but an outstate legislator,” looking out for the interests of Greater Minnesota, Kresha said in explaining some of this recent legislation proposals.

Howard Lestrud can be reached at howard.lestrud@ecm-inc.com.

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Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series on bipartisanship.

Most politicians are guilty as charged, guilty of over using the words bipartisan and bipartisanship.

During most election campaigns, whether it’s for city council, county board, state house, state senate, governor, U.S. house, U.S. senator or president of the United States, we will hear candidates calling for bipartisanship.

When a politician sends out a press release on legislation being proposed or adopted, it is often stated that the agreement was bipartisan. The word bipartisan is defined in the dictionary as an adjective: representing, characterized by, or including members from two parties or factions: Government leaders hope to achieve a bipartisan foreign policy.

Howard Lestrud

Sometimes political parties overstate the term bipartisan to describe an agreement. In actuality, there may have been only one member of the other party in support of a bill.

To get a sense of how younger people define bipartisanship, I contacted Forest Lake Schools Superintendent Linda Madsen and Director of Teaching and Learning Jennifer Tolzmann to connect me with some high school social studies students.

Director Tolzmann contacted social studies teachers at Forest Lake Senior High School who contacted 120 of their students.

Twenty-nine actual responses came from the 120 students. Seventy-seven students responded that they had no idea, or didn’t know the term.Thirteen students responded that they assumed it had something to do with “2” something… but weren’t sure what.

Of the 120 students, 64 percent didn’t know or hadn’t heard of it, 10 percent understood the prefix “bi”, and 24 percent took a stab at what it meant. A few seemed to be right on.

The students were asked this question: What does the term bipartisan mean to you?

Some of the responses were:

• I’m not sure what it means but it may mean to support one another.
• I don’t know, but I would guess it means a division of cultures in the same country.
• Bipartisan means that technically two, both, Democratic & Republican political parties are working together on a certain task.
• I think bipartisan means two parties or two sides working together (Republicans and Democrats or Right and Left Wing).
• It means being able to work with members of a different political party.  Being able to compromise.
• Bipartisan is the strong association or support of a political party or political system.
• To see both sides of an issue and look past differences to solve that issue.
• Bipartisan means respect & compromise among different party members.
• Bipartisan means that you vote for 2 candidates from opposing parties for different offices.  This is also seen in “split tickets” when voting.
• Bipartisan means more than one party has influence in a governmental group, usually a legislature or branch.
• Bipartisan means working with “both sides” on an issue, usually to make an agreement on certain issues of a bill.
• I don’t know but “bi” means 2 and partisan seems to some political party so the definition that sounds like it is a 2-party political system – something  among those lines.  I’ve never heard of it, so, breaking the words is what it brought me to.
• Bipartisan is to be spineless on either viewpoint of an argument.  The middle ground that could either be the best opinion or the worst.  The person everyone is trying to influence.
• Bipartisan means you don’t really have a side so you’re in the middle.  It’s like the saying “sitting in the middle of a fence”.
• I don’t know, but I know that “bi” means two and I’m pretty sure it’s describing someone who has dual citizenships.
• I don’t know, but I think that bipartisan means some kind of agreement between two separate sides that don’t always agree!  Some kind of “meet in the middle” agreement between two sides.

NEXT: Let’s see how our politicians interpret the words bipartisan and bipartisanship.

Howard Lestrud can be reached at howard.lestrud@ecm-inc.com.

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Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, sat before a Senate committee on Monday (March 4) expressing delight that her personal-care-attendant bill had been blended with the child-care-provider legislation.

“I welcome the opportunity for people to get better representation,” Eaton told the Senate State and Local Government Committee.

Child care provider Cindy Bills (left) of Rosemount appeared before a Senate committee on Monday (March 4) to oppose legislation concerning possible child care provider unionization. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

Personal care attendants providing assistance to individuals in programs covered by state Medical Assistance would be included in a potential unionization vote.

As with the child care providers, the path involves the union collecting cards or indications of support from providers,

This could set in motion an election should at least 10 percent of  providers indicate a desire to be represented by a union.

Sen, Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, has blended her legislation dealing with the possible unionization of personal care attendants with a bill dealing with potential unionization of child care providers. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

Darleen Henry, of Rosemount, a personal care provider, spoke of life greatly changing after her mother had a stroke — the 23-year-old daughter is a care giver for her mother.

“Right now as it stands, I have no voice,” Henry said of rules and regulations affecting personal care attendants.

Things could only get better with a union, Henry said.

Unionization would not interfere in any way the right of those receiving personal care to select, hire, fire, or otherwise direct the actions of their personal care attendants, say bill authors.

But the bulk of the committee hearing centered on the child care providers.  The legislation potentially would allow  some 9,000 licensed and unlicensed providers who care for children receiving state subsidies to vote on unionization.

About 90 minutes of testimony were heard, with emotions bare on both sides.

“There is nothing stopping Minnesota,” Eliot Seide,  executive director of the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 5, said of Minnesota joining 16 other states with child-care-provider unionization.

The union, he argued, needn’t be the only association representing child care providers — they can join any number of groups, he explained.

“We don’t discourage that,” Seide said.

But about a dozen child care providers appeared before the committee — Cindy Bills, the wife of former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills,  being one — to vigorously argue against unionization.

Kelly Heaton, a Ham Lake child care provider, portrayed unionization as erasing the gains the child care industry has made.

“I am not an employee of the state. I am a small business owner,” she said.

Becky Swanson, a child care provider from Lakeville, like other bill opponents, stressed that child care providers were independent business people.

“The union did not build my reputation,” she said.

Opponents also expressed chagrin that licensed and unlicensed child care providers were lumped together in the bill.

One opponent argued the unlicensed providers were included simply as a means of engineering a favorable vote.

Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, the Senate bill author, conceded basic philosophical differences exist on the question of unionization.

This is “new territory,” Pappas said of the potential unionization of child care and personal care attendants.

It’s understandable it’s emotional, she said.

Republicans on the committee were unsympathetic.

Sen. Branden Petersen, R-Andover, portrayed the legislation as a plan to “siphon off” dues for the union from small business.

He called it “the biggest union power grab” in recent times, a comment that drew a rebuke from a Democratic senator concerned about keeping Senate decorum,

Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, attempted to table the bill — a parliamentary maneuver to stop progress — and offered an amendment to remove providers not interested in joining the union from paying dues.

But both actions failed on party-line votes.

Because committee members had other committees to attend, the bill was set aside.

Tim Budig can be reached at tim.budig@ecm-inc.com.

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Since January, CentraCare has operated New River Medical Center under a management agreement signed by both organizations.  On April 1, lease and affiliation agreements will go into effect formally affiliating New River Medical Center with CentraCare.

“We are pleased to welcome the local medical center into the CentraCare family,” stated im Davis, CentraCare’s vice president for corporate services, in a corporate news release issued Monday.  “This affiliation signifies a new era for CentraCare as we expand the reach of our health care mission and a new era for local medical care as CentraCare embraces the health needs of area patients and communities.”

CentraCare has a long history of investing in the health of the local community through Big Lake Clinic, Monticello Cancer Center, CentraCare Kidney Program – Big Lake Dialysis and St. Benedict’s Senior Community – Monticello.  When New River Medical Center transitions to CentraCare Health – Monticello, patients, families and members of the community will benefit from CentraCare’s history and tradition of health care excellence.

“CentraCare was very thoughtful in their decision to transition the organization to CentraCare Health – Monticello,” Davis said.  “We recognize that it may take time to grow accustomed to the new name, but we are confident this name communicates CentraCare’s commitment to this community and demonstrates CentraCare’s pledge to strengthen and grow your local health care services.”

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