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Session Weekly May 14, 1999 Vol. 16, Number 19

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A Nonpartisan Publication of the Minnesota House of Representatives ♦ May 14, 1999 ♦ Volume 16, Number 19 HF2439-HF2450 Session Weekly is a nonpartisan publication of the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Office. During the 1999-2000 Legislative Minnesota House of Representatives • May 14, 1999 • Volume 16, Number 19 Session, each issue reports daily House action between Thursdays of each week, lists bill introductions and upcoming committee meeting schedules, and pro- Reflections vides other information. The publication is a service of the Minnesota House. On May 11, Minnesota celebrated the 141st birthday of its statehood. In 1858, the No fee. population was close to 140,000. By 1860, the population had rapidly grown to 172,063. When part of the land acquired by the Louisiana Purchase and Northwest Ordinance To subscribe, contact: became Minnesota Territory in 1849, the population only comprised about 5,000 French, Minnesota House of Representatives British, and Canadians. Those that had already emigrated here were trappers, voyageurs, Public Information Office and explorers with now familiar names like LaSalle, Du Luth, Hennepin, Faribault, and 175 State Office Building Pike. St. Paul, MN 55155-1298 The area’s earliest population included members of the Sioux and Chippewa nations (651) 296-2146 or such as Thunder Face, and Bemidji and their ancestors who migrated to the area over 1-800-657-3550 20,000 years ago. Others were Major Lawrence Taliaferro, Commander Seth Eastman, and TTY (651) 296-9896 the Union soldiers at Fort Snelling. Most of them were European Americans from the East. A few members of African descent were also present. These included George Bonga and Director family, who, in 1803, was the first black to be born in the territory. A few black emigrants LeClair G. Lambert were free men, including those who came by boat up the Mississippi and stayed. Others, Acting Assistant Director/Editor like the famous Dred Scott, were slaves at Fort Snelling, and so were those who came from Nick Healy the South with their owners to spend the summer in the territory. Most of the first legislators of the territory like Gideon H. Pond and Joseph W. Furber Acting Assistant Editor were from the East Coast or lower Canada. A few emigrated from inland states like Ohio, Sandy Donovan Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Very little evidence shows that the borrowed expression by New York Tribune editor Art & Production Coordinator Paul Battaglia Horace Greeley, “Go west, young man,” prompted Minnesota’s major population increase around 1853. The Territory’s commissioner of emigration urged new arrivals to the New Writers York Harbor to go west. He also advertised in European newspapers about the territory’s Jon Fure, Grant Martin, virtues and its available land. Emigrations of northern Europeans tripled. Sarah Tellijohn, Paul Wahl The new Minnesotans included more groups of Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Germans, and Irish like Hans Mattson, Charles Borup, Paul H. Hansen, William Pfaender, and Chief Photographer Tom Olmscheid Dillon O’Brien. They took to farming, transportation, and small businesses. Others later became involved in the lumber and the mining industry. Photographers Italians, Slovaks, Greeks, Scots, Dutch, Russians, Arab-speaking peoples, Finns, Latinos, Gina Dabrowski, Laura Phillips, Chinese, Jews, Welsh, and Armenians are just part of the rest of a virtual “melting pot” of Andrew Von Bank people who increased the population to more than 1,675,000 by the end of the century — one-third of them being foreign born. Most of the newcomers to Minnesota during its first Office Manager Nicole Wood 50 years are a worldwide ancestry of the present members and staff of the 1999 Legislature. Minnesotans inherited the guarantees for freedom of civil and religious liberties on Staff Assistants which the United States was founded. And newly arrived refugees from Kosovo may also Christy Novak, Jennifer Ridgeway heed a quote from the inscription by Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor: Session Weekly (ISSN 1049-8176) is pub- Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free . lished weekly during the legislative session by —LeClair Grier Lambert the Minnesota House of Representatives Pub- lic Information Office, 100 Constitution Ave., St. Paul, MN 55155-1298. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and at additional mailing INSIDE offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes Highlights ........................................................................................................................................5 to Session Weekly, Public Information Office, A Closer Look: Gift ban debated ...........................................................................................18 Minnesota House of Representatives, 175 State Feature: Cass Gilbert Society ..................................................................................................19 Office Building, 100 Constitution Ave., Feature: Adjournment date ....................................................................................................20 St. Paul, MN 55155-1298. Feature: CemetePries populated by politicians ..............................................................21 Printed on recycled paper which is 50% recycled, Governor’s Desk (CH1 - CH165) .............................................................................................22 20% post-consumer content. Bill Introductions (HF2439 - HF2450) ..................................................................................26 Committee Schedule (May 17) ..............................................................................................26 t e d i n o On the cover: Sister Adelyn follows the sixth-grade class from St. Peter’s School in r n P r Canby up the Capitol steps on a rainy day. The class visited St. Paul for a Capitol tour e r c e y p on Statehood Day, May 11. c a l e d p —Photo by Tom Olmscheid 2 SESSION WEEKLY / May 14, 1999 Stalemate averted . Three parties reach agreement to cut taxes, boost K-12 By Paul Wahl An agreement that includes what propo- nents call the largest permanent income tax cut in the state’s history — and a promise the legislative session will end as scheduled— was announced by leaders of all three legs of Minnesota’s tripartisan government May 11. “This is a great and historic day for Minnesota’s taxpayers,” said House Speaker Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon). “The tax cut was our number-one priority all year, and we are extremely gratified it will finally be a reality.” For the Senate, the agreement includes a plan to sock $968 million in one-time money from the tobacco settlement into endowments for medical education and research, smoking prevention, and possibly other health-related endeavors. The Senate also won a concession for an additional $50 million for K-12 education, with another $50 million dedicated for that Gov. Jesse Ventura announces a tripartisan budget agreement during a May 11 press conference. purpose if budget surpluses continue. Legislative leaders attending the announcement are House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty, right, Senate And Gov. Jesse Ventura will get $60 million Assistant Majority Leader Ember Reichgott Junge, left, and Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe. in state funds, raised through bonding, to Moe had called the idea “wrong” if it came at $911 million increase in overall spending, the leverage $250 million in federal funds to build the expense of the rest of taxpayers. Senate version called for an additional $100 the first link of a light-rail system in the Twin Ventura’s original budget included only a million. Ventura’s proposed budget called for Cities. small cut in income tax rates for the lowest $90 million less than the House plan. “This is a good day for the people of Minne- earners. The compromise proposal essentially splits sota. Tripartisan government works,” Ventura The state has a three-tiered income tax, the difference between the House and Senate said. with rates currently at 6 percent, 8 percent, plans, adding $50 million in general K-12 Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe (DFL- and 8.5 percent. The top bracket begins at spending for the biennium to the House plan, Erskine) also expressed his pleasure with the $100,201 in annual earnings for a married and earmarking another $50 million of a agreement during a press conference following couple and $56,680 for a single filer. The deal potential future surplus. the announcement May 11. likely will bring a 0.5-percent cut in all It was Moe who walked away from nearly brackets. Tobacco settlement funds the same agreement on May 10 when neither The tax cuts are expected to amount to Another sticking point between the House Sviggum nor the governor was willing to aug- about $800 million a year. Who will get how and the Senate had been how to spend the ment education spending further. much is being considered by lawmakers on a state’s proceeds from the 1998 tobacco settle- It was Ventura who began the compromise House-Senate conference committee work- ment. Establishing endowments with the efforts when he announced on May 9 that he ing on the omnibus tax bill (HF2420). settlement money had little support among would support an across-the-board tax cut The House, the Senate, and Ventura had House Republicans throughout most of the demanded by the House Republicans and agreed earlier to a $1.3 billion budget surplus session. approved overwhelmingly by the entire House. rebate plan based on a sales tax formula.
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