FEBRUARY 7, 2003 VOLUME 20, NUMBER 5 In this issue: STATE OF THE STATE TEACHER COMPENSATION, NUCLEAR STORAGE, AND MORE HF262-HF341 ESSION S Weekly Session Weekly is a nonpartisan publication of the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Services. During the 2003-2004 Legislative Session, each issue reports daily House ac- tion between Thursdays of each week, lists bill introductions and upcoming commit- tee meeting schedules, and provides other information. The publication is a service of the Minnesota House. No fee. CONTENTS To subscribe, contact: Minnesota House of Representatives IGHLIGHTS Public Information Services H 175 State Office Building Arts • 5 Employment • 8 Law • 11 St. Paul, MN 55155-1298 Budget • 5 Environment • 8 (651) 296-2146 or Metro Affairs • 11 1-800-657-3550 Business • 6 Game & Fish • 9 Recreation • 12 TTY (651) 296-9896 Consumers • 6 Health • 9 Safety • 12 Education • 6 Higher Education • 10 Tourism • 13 Director Elections • 7 Insurance • 10 Transportation • 14 Barry LaGrave Assistant Director LeClair G. Lambert FEATURES Editor/Assistant Director AT ISSUE-EDUCATION: Three school districts have experimented with alterna- Michelle Kibiger tive teacher compensation plans, but expanding the programs to other Assistant Editor districts may be difficult, given budget constraints. • 15 Mike Cook Art & Production Coordinator HISTORY: At least 16 current legislators have family connections with former Paul Battaglia legislators. • 16 Writers Miranda Bryant, Patty Janovec, PEOPLE: Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) is ready to represent his district Jeff Jones, Tom Lonergan by making some of the tough decisions facing the Legislature. • 18 Chief Photographer Tom Olmscheid PEOPLE: Rep. Lynne Osterman (R-Plymouth) was prompted to run for office by the stadium debate, and now she hopes to encourage economic Photographers development. • 19 Andrew Von Bank, Kristine Larsen Office Manager PEOPLE: Rep. Aaron Peterson (DFL-Madison) is the third generation of Nicole Wood Petersons to represent the southwest Minnesota area in the Legislature. • 20 Staff Assistants Christy Novak, Joseph Rude POLICY: Gov. Tim Pawlenty returned to the House chamber to deliver his first State of the State address Feb. 6. • 21 Session Weekly (ISSN 1049-8176) is published weekly during the legislative session by the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Services Office, 175 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155-1298. Periodicals DEPARTMENTS/RESOURCES postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address It’s a Fact: On the air • 4 Reflections: State of the State • 27 changes to Session Weekly, Public Information Bill Introductions (HF262-HF341) • 23 Minnesota Index: Financing higher Services, Minnesota House of Representatives, 175 State Office Building, St. Paul, Committee Schedule (Feb. 10-14) • 25 education• 28 MN 55155-1298. Printed on recycled paper which is 50% recycled, 30% post-consumer content. On the cover: Snow covers the Quadriga atop the Capitol Feb. 3. —Photo by Tom Olmscheid 2 February 7, 2003 IRST READING F★ ★ ★ stay open until 2010 to justify the utility’s investment; and Storage concerns • The waste storage issue would affect the utility’s decision to seek federal nuclear li- House begins examining ways to create more space for cense renewals for both plants, a process nuclear waste at 2 state power plants requiring significant lead time. Committee members mostly sought more details about Xcel’s proposal. Rep. Jean BY TOM LONERGAN reached capacity last summer, according to Wagenius (DFL-Mpls) reminded utility offi- ore waste storage for Xcel Energy’s Xcel. Spent fuel is stored in a pool inside the cials that in 1994 Northern States Power rep- Prairie Island nuclear power plant near plant, but that pool will be full in 2007. If resentatives said they wouldn’t return to the MRed Wing will be the major factor that there’s no additional storage capacity ap- Legislature to ask for more nuclear cask stor- determines nuclear power’s future in Minne- proved, the utility will shut down Prairie Is- age. “We have to talk about the elephant sit- sota, utility officials told House members at land at that time. The Monticello plant’s waste ting in the middle of the room and that’s your hearings Feb. 4 and 5. is stored in a spent fuel pool that will be full in credibility,” Wagenius said. The utility’s request for additional dry cask 2010, utility officials said. In response, Laura McCarten, the utility’s storage capacity for Prairie Island’s spent fuel Other factors involved in why Xcel needs the community services director, said, “We didn’t rods has re-opened an energy and environ- Legislature to decide the waste storage issue want to come back.” The 1994 state law, she mental debate in the Legislature that a decade this session, according to utility officials, in- said, directed the utility to prepare a replace- ago led to a legislative compromise approving clude the following: ment for Prairie Island. “We can replace the off-site storage for Prairie Island and requir- • There is currently no interim national nuclear plants,” McCarten said. “The question is, is that ing Xcel, then Northern States Power Co., to waste site available; the best energy option?” develop renewable energy sources. • A $130 million new steam generator needed The utility is seeking a policy decision, she Also at issue is whether the Mdewakanton at Prairie Island would require the plant to said. “We’re looking at whether nuclear power Dakota Tribal Council at Prairie Island, as a will be part of Minnesota’s energy future.” third-party beneficiary to the 1994 agreement Edward Garvey, deputy commissioner of the between the state and Xcel, has the authority state Commerce Department, said the nuclear to limit the amount of stored nuclear waste power issue is “a question we all have to from the plant. struggle with as public policymakers.” As an Rep. Bruce Anderson (R-Buffalo Township) assistant to former U.S. Sen. David and Sen. Mark Ourada (R-Buffalo) introduced Durenberger, Garvey worked in the late 1980s bills in the House and Senate Feb. 6 to increase on high-level nuclear waste storage. the number of storage casks at Prairie Island “It’s a question of when,” Garvey said re- beyond the 17 allowed by the 1994 state law. garding the establishment of a national nuclear Members of the House Regulated Industries waste storage site. He said the Pawlenty ad- Committee heard testimony Feb. 4 and 5 from ministration would do everything it can to Xcel representatives, the state Department of assure that Minnesota’s nuclear waste “is go- Commerce, and the nonpartisan House Re- ing to be at the front of the line,” when the search Department. Representatives from the federal site is available. Xcel officials don’t see state Public Utilities Commission and Health the national site being available for another Department are scheduled to appear before the decade. committee Feb. 11 with public testimony from Last year, Congress designated the Yucca groups and individuals to be heard that day Mountain site in Nevada as a suitable reposi- or the next. tory for spent nuclear fuel. According to a The storage issue affects the future opera- House Research analysis, Nevada is adamantly tion of Prairie Island’s two nuclear reactors opposed to the project and is expected to le- and the utility’s Monticello nuclear plant, gally challenge it. Without the site, some of the which together generated nearly 30 percent of nuclear waste currently stored in Minnesota the electricity Xcel’s Minnesota customers would remain in the state until after 2035, ac- used in 2001, according to a House research cording to the analysis. report. Prairie Island’s unit one began operat- The environmental trade-off between fos- ing in December 1973 and its unit two went PHOTO BY TOM OLMSCHEID sil fuel-based and nuclear-generated power online a year later. The utility’s Monticello Jim Alders, manager of regulatory administration does not provide legislators with an easy plant, located three miles from the town it was for Xcel Energy, testifies before the House Regu- choice, said Steve Rakow, an analyst with the lated Industries Committee Feb. 4 on issues per- named after, began operating in mid-1971. taining to the Prairie Island nuclear power plant Commerce Department’s electric utility unit. The 17 dry storage casks at Prairie Island and the need for additional storage at the facility. “It’s acid rain, smog, and global warming Session Weekly 3 On the air Legislative proceedings have been televised since the mid-1980s Minnesota is one of 41 states offering live development of the House Web site and e- broadcasts of legislative proceedings, delivered mail. “The public did testify before the com- Officials with Xcel Energy’s Prairie Island nuclear either via television or the Internet. Both non- mittee and was supportive,” he says, “Once power plant say waste storage in dry casks, like partisan offices of Senate Media Services and the broadcast began it became clear that this these, have reached capacity. House Public Information Services work to- was going to be a regularly watched event.” versus radioactive waste,” Rakow said. gether to provide both – televised access to Seniors and those in Greater Minnesota re- If coal generation were to replace its nuclear the Legislature and Internet video streaming. sponded immediately. He says it changed the plants in the state, Xcel said, that could lead to The history of legislative broadcasts is rela- way people not only looked at the Legislature 420 million more tons of carbon dioxide emis- tively short – they began just 16 years ago. but the way the Legislature acted on the floor sions over 30 years. In 1987 Minnesota’s and in committee. Coal-fired plants currently provide 34 per- Senate began broadcast- There are three ro- cent of Xcel’s energy fuel sources, according ing live committees and botic television cameras to the utility, and nuclear sources account for floor sessions on a local in the House chamber.