From the Capitol
Major changes proposed in laws regarding sex offenders
Posted: 4/13/04
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
All partisan things come to an end, and so must the 2004 legislative session.
With the return of lawmakers to the Capitol following the spring holidays, the session enters its final weeks.
Many large issues still float freely in the legislative ether. And a brief review may be in order:
ïConstitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage: Passed in the House, identical legislation carried by Sen. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, failed in Senate committee.
Instead, a bill stipulating the Legislature alone, not the courts, can defined marriage was passed. Bill author, Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley, claims no love for the bill.
No further hearing has taken place.
ïBonding bill: the generally accepted reason for having the even-year session, neither the House or Senate have formally presented their bonding bills ó as of date of writing, April 8.
Gov. Pawlenty has included funding for the Northstar Commuter Rail project and Minnesota Zoo in his bonding bill.
ïConfirmations: Lt. Gov./MnDot Commissioner Carol Molnauís confirmation was rejected by a Senate committee. Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke second confirmation hearing is expected to take place on Tuesday (April 13), and she will likely be rejected by the senate education committee
The full Senate has yet to take up the matter, and the confirmations are destined to become play markers in the powergame.
ïStadiums: Gov. Pawlenty has offered a stadium proposal which allows counties to raise local taxes without a referendum, if so desired. The House stadium bill requires a local referendum.
The Senate has not yet taken up its stadium bill.
The Anoka County/City of Blaine Vikings stadium proposal has emerged from a crowd field of proposal, buoyed its specificity and slick handling at the Legislature.
ïGaming: Rep. Bill Haas, R-Champlin, north metro casino bill ó a bill that could build the Red Lake and White Earth tribes a casino in the northwest I-94 corridor, is expected to be heard in the House ways and means committee.
The legislation could face a difficult vote.
A proposal to build a harness racing track in northern Anoka County has apparently failed for the session.
House Republicans alone include Canterbury Park racino revenue ó estimated at $50 million a year ó as part of their budget deficit solution.
Senate DFLers increasingly seem open to gambling. Gov. Pawlenty, too, has gently positioned himself to be more amenable to gambling expansion.
Note: Republicans tend to define gambling expansion in geographic terms ó the creation of new islands. They do not define it equationally, in terms of new slot machines, except sometimes as applied to Indian gaming.
ïDrunk driving, .08: The House passed a .08 bill that implements the provision in 2007. The Senate .08 bill has a 2004 enactment date, a scenario favored by Gov. Pawlenty.
Two local lawmakers, Sen. Leo Foley, DFL-Coon Rapids, and Rep. Steve Strachan, R-Farmington, carried .08 legislation this session.
Foley has pushed for lowering the blood alcohol level for years. The legislation is bound for conference committee.
ïMourning doves: surprisingly controversial, the initiative to a have a mourning dove hunting season in Minnesota seems to have a good chance of passage this session.
No votes yet have been taken on House or Senate floors. Gov. Pawlenty supports having the measure.
ïCrime: House, Senate and Gov. Pawlenty, have all proposed major changes in law regarding sex offenders. Pawlenty proposed reintroducing capital punishment to Minnesota, an initiative that failed in House and Senate committees and one engendering little support among lawmakers.
On punishing sex offenders, Pawlenty and House propose life sentences without the possibility of parole for first time, first degree sex offenders.
Senate DFLers propose mandatory life sentences for repeat sex offenders under an indeterminate sentencing guideline. That is, a sex offender serving mandatory life could be released after a set amount of time, if they are deemed to have met certain standards.
Or they could never be released.
Major changes in law are also proposed in dealing with methamphetamine or meth, a readily made drug considered at epidemic proportions in Minnesota.
In general, strong similarities exist between proposals.
ïFinance: Gov. Pawlenty and House Republicans hold to no new tax doctrine. Senate DFLers propose raising nearly $58 million in new revenues in closing corporate loopholes ó an initiative stemming from a recent court case.
All three players use shifts, up-front sales tax on leased cars, and tap into the health care access fund in their budget solutions.
Senate DFLers proposing cutting an additional two percent from most state agencies than House Republicans and Gov. Pawlenty.
They propose to cut a host of Republican political appointees in their efforts to balance the state books.
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