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A NONPARTISAN PUBLICATION FEBRUARY 11, 2000 ESSION VOLUME 17, NUMBER 2 Weekly SMINNESOTA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES • PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE In this issue: 100 YEARS OF POLITICS HATE CRIMES, FELONY DWI, AND MORE HF2742-HF3301 ESSION S Weekly Session Weekly is a nonpartisan publication of the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Office. During the 1999-2000 Legislative Session, each issue reports daily House action be- tween Thursdays of each week, lists bill introductions and upcoming committee meeting schedules, and provides other in- formation. The publication is a service of the Minnesota House. No fee. CONTENTS To subscribe, contact: Minnesota House of Representatives HIGHLIGHTS Public Information Office 175 State Office Building • 5 • 9 • 12 St. Paul, MN 55155-1298 Agriculture Environment Insurance (651) 296-2146 or Consumers • 5 Government • 11 Local Government • 13 1-800-657-3550 Crime • 5 Health • 11 Recreation • 13 TTY (651) 296-9896 Development • 7 Housing • 11 Taxes • 13 Director Education • 9 Human Services • 12 Transportation • 13 LeClair G. Lambert Elections • 9 Editor/Assistant Director Nick Healy FEATURES Assistant Editor Michelle Kibiger AT ISSUE: CRIME — A proposal being considered this year would Art & Production Coordinator increase penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice. • 15 Paul Battaglia AT ISSUE: GOVERNMENT — Three of the most influential people in Writers Mike DeLarco, Jon Fure, government joined together this week to push for a unicameral David Maeda, Chris Vetter legislature. • 16 Chief Photographer AT ISSUE: GOVERNMENT — Some lawmakers are looking to protect Tom Olmscheid private property rights in the face expanding development. • 17 Photographers Laura Phillips, Andrew Von Bank AT ISSUE: HIGHER EDUCATION — Critics of the governor’s bonding plan want more for Minnesota colleges. • 18 Office Manager Nicole Wood POLICY — A lecture presented in the Capitol Forum series focuses Staff Assistants on medical and ethical implications of genetic engineering. • 19 Christy Novak, Laurel Waldoch HISTORY — Urban growth and rural concerns were the dominant Session Weekly (ISSN 1049-8176) is published weekly during the legislative session by the Min- forces in 100 years of Minnesota politics. • 20 nesota House of Representatives Public Information Office, 100 Constitution Ave., St. Paul, MN 55155-1298. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DEPARTMENTS/RESOURCES Session Weekly, Public Information Office, Minnesota House of Representatives, 175 State It’s a Fact • 4 Committee Schedule (Feb. 14-18) • 35 Office Building, 100 Constitution Ave., Bill Introductions (HF2742-HF3301) • 22 Minnesota Index: A century of change • 40 St. Paul, MN 55155-1298. Printed on recycled paper which is 50% recycled, 20% post-consumer content. ted in o On the cover: Gov. Jesse Ventura testifies Feb. 7 in front of the House Governmental Operations and r n P r e r Veterans Affairs Policy Committee in support of a unicameral legislature. c e y p l e d p a —Photo by Andrew Von Bank 2 February 11, 2000 IRST READING F eligible. Under the bill, a sliding fee would be assessed for people whose income is between 120 Doctoring a drug program percent and 300 percent of the guidelines. (Pov- erty guidelines vary based on the size of a house- A plan advancing at the Capitol would help more people to hold and income levels. The 1999 poverty level for a for a single person is $8,240.) pay for prescription drugs that they need to survive Abeler’s bill comes at a time when public outcry over the high prices for senior prescrip- BY MIKE DELARCO tion drugs is significant. In recent months, innetonka resident Joann Grove, diagnosed with several local and national media reports have told of seniors traveling to countries such as multiple sclerosis 20 years ago and unable to work for Canada and Mexico to purchase drugs at a the past 10 years, simply cannot pay for all nine cheaper rate than they would have to pay in M the United States. medications she has been prescribed. Abeler said something needs to be done so seniors in Minnesota can afford to pay for pre- “I have been prescribed Nuerontin, which haps avoid financial disaster to themselves and scriptions and still have money left over for helps dull some of the sharp pain that I feel in the state,” said Dean Fenner, chair of the legisla- living expenses. the side of my head because of the MS,” she tive committee for the State Board on Aging. Lawmakers in Minnesota are not alone in explained in testimony submitted to the Medicare, a federal program that provides grappling with concerns about how to help se- House Health and Human Services Policy health coverage for seniors and people with niors pay for prescription drugs. President Committee. “I do not take this drug as pre- severe disabilities, does not cover prescription Clinton, the U.S. Congress, and most state leg- scribed because I can’t afford the $37 per drugs. The state program was created to try islatures are attempting to tackle the problem month co-pay.” to fill that void. as well. Grove would benefit from a plan to make Under the terms of Abeler’s bill, Medicare Prescription drug plans now place among the the state’s current senior prescription drug enrollees, regardless of age, would be eligible top five priorities in more states than ever be- program available to more people, including for the state’s drug program. That means dis- fore, according to analysts with the National disabled Minnesotans on Medicare. abled people on Conference of State Legislature’s Health Care The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Jim Abeler Medicare who (R-Anoka), was approved Feb. 8 by the com- are under the mittee. age of 65 could Abeler’s bill would expand eligibility for the take part in the senior drug program by removing the age limit program. for recipients, doubling the limit on financial The bill also assets, and increasing the income limit to 300 would double the percent of the federal poverty guidelines. The asset limit allow- measure also proposes to change the name of able for program the state’s senior drug program to simply the eligibility to “prescription drug program.” $8,000 for an in- The existing program, which began in Janu- dividual and ary 1999, has seen enrollment far short of pro- $12,000 for a jections. A significant portion of the money married couple allocated to the program remains unspent, or family of two. according to the Department of Human Ser- The law allows an vices. That has opened the door for proposals individual or to expand eligibility. family to have a Abeler said his bill (HF1769) would provide home and one the opportunity to receive aid to many more car without it be- Bebe Rahman, right, of South Metro Human Services in St. Paul, testifies on behalf people in serious need. ing counted to- of Beatrice Anderson, who is mentally disabled, about the difficulty and costs of Members of the committee heard about ward the asset keeping her client on the medications she needs each day. A bill under consider- ation this year would include physically and mentally disabled people in a program how many seniors and people with disabili- limit. that helps senior citizens pay for drugs. ties who do not currently qualify are being The bill would overwhelmed by prescriptions costs. set a sliding enrollment fee for individuals a cer- Program in Denver. “We believe there are a lot of seniors, and even tain percentage above the federal poverty level. So far, 29 states have senior pharmaceutical non-seniors in a traditional sense, that could be Currently, only people whose income is up to assistance programs on their legislative agen- helped by this program, enabling them to per- 120 percent of the federal poverty guidelines are das for 2000, according to the organization’s research. Sixteen states currently have Session Weekly 3 A F IT’S ACT programs to assist low-income seniors in pay- ing for prescription drugs. Four of those states — North Carolina, Nevada, Delaware, and Maine — either expanded or adopted their subsidy programs last year. Just in case Drug assistance plans on state legislative agendas this year mostly fall under three cat- State prepared response to nuclear attack egories: bulk-purchasing arrangements, direct price controls, and subsidies. f the Cold War had erupted into a conditions” — or levels of threat — and Two other states join Minnesota in having nuclear battle, Minnesota’s governor prescribed the appropriate responses at current plans moving through the Legislature. Iwould not have been at a loss for words. each level. Last week, the Kentucky House considered a His response had been carefully scripted At the final step, when “hostile action” bill to create such a plan. In the Virginia As- in advance. was imminent or already occurring on this sembly, Democrats have also proposed subsi- A 1971 report prepared by the Civil De- continent, things would have gotten very dizing drugs for the elderly. fense Division of the Minnesota Depart- serious in the governor’s office. Amid the abundance of plans to aid seniors ment of Public Safety included The first thing the governor was advised in purchasing prescription drugs remains the step-by-step instructions for the governor to do at such a time was to move to an question: Are 50 state plans better than one and other top state officials. “Emergency Operating Center,” where he federal solution? According to the American Scripts for emergency proclamations by could then oversee the state’s response to Association of Retired Persons (AARP), it’s not the governor also were drafted and incor- the crisis. an either-or situation. The organization says porated into the report.

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