Almanac: At the Capitol

After the governor vetoed the Democrats' tax and spending plans, the new strategy became 'veto override.' The House passed a health care bill and the Senate passed a public safety bill.

View the Capitol Update for May 11, 2009.

A House committee kills a bill that would have required a photo ID to vote, lawmakers want cleaner cars, and supporters rally for gay marriage.

View the Capitol Update for February 12, 2009.

Medical marijuana is always one of the most interesting bills of the session.  Not only does it bring together the oddest supporters (Dems, GOP, conservatives, liberals) but it brought out emotion from some of the toughest lawmakers today. 

Sen. Steve Murphy broke down when he talked about his father's painful death.  He said he was always a supporter of medical marijuana, but his father's death "reinvigorated" his support.   The tall tough guy of the Senate, Murphy cried as he said he and the kids and grandkids would have given anything to play with his dad one more time.  Rep. Tom Rukavina, also a fierce fighter in his chamber, embraced Murphy as he talked about losing his parents and hoping to alleviate some of their pain.

Sen. Linda Higgins a liberal from Minneapolis and Sen. Debbie Johnson a conservative from Ham Lake stood side by side.  Johnson held a box on Kleenex in her hands.  Sen. Paul Koering a Republican also had a strong statement when he said "if medical marijuana alleviates pain, who in the hell are we to say no to that?"  Gov. Pawlenty and law enforcement are the ones who will say no to this because of public safety and regulation concerns.  More tonight on Almanac:  At the Capitol. 

Giving Thanks to the Staffers Who Make Us Look Good

Each senator has a legislative assistant, who schedules, answers phones and mail, supervises interns, makes sure the senator is at the right place at (sometimes) the right time, and generally runs the office. In the house, two members in the majority and three in the minority share a legislative assistant.

Committee chairs also have a committee administrator who sets agendas; makes sure advocates, testifiers, and authors are notified of meetings; keeps track of facts, names and faces and bill referrals and re-referrals; schedules meetings and rooms; and so on. They are probably on speed dial, or at least in the Blackberry, of every lobbyist, advocate, and department liaison.

Each committee has an attorney or two who researches information, helps write bills and amendments, and tries to make sense of what legislators say they want. They prepare "side-by-side" comparisons of companion house and senate bills for conference committees to use as they consider whether to adopt house or senate language. Right now, the senate counsel for finance divisions are working on caffeine, adrenaline, and no sleep. As conference committees meet late into the night, senate counsel often stays hours after the senators have gone home so everything is ready for the next day's meetings.

In addition, the finance divisions also have a fiscal analyst who balances the books, suggests alternatives or ways to implement suggestions, puts together the spreadsheets that are used in conference committees, and usually walk through the spreadsheets during conference committees.

Then there are the Revisor's staffers. At this time of year, they work all night to draft, edit, proofread, and organize the bills for legislators to use. They seldom get credit for the work they do, but we couldn’t exist without them.

Rep. Michael Paymar of St. Paul and I co-chaired the conference committee on public safety. Every day we see how talented our staffers are. We have come to agreement on the bill, and it will be considered for final passage on the House and Senate floors soon. Our conference committee members were State Representatives Michael Paymar, Debra Hilstrom, Steve Smith, Tina Liebling and Joe Mullery and Senators Tom Neuville, Leo Foley, Mary Olson, Julie Rosen and me — Senator Linda Higgins.

So today I'm using this forum to introduce and thank the good people who helped put together the Public Safety Omnibus Bill, House File 829:

• Libby Wyrum and Nicque Mabrey, legislative assistants for Rep. Michael Paymar and me
• Sarah Kepple Johnson and Carissa Masloski, our senate committee page and intern
• Melanie LaComb and Alice Seuffert, committee administrators for House and Senate Public Safety Budget Divisions
• Patrick Baldwin and Regina Garza, committee administrators for House Public Safety and Civil Justice and Senate Judiciary committees
• Jeff Diebel and Rebecca Pirius, House researchers, and Ken Backhus and Kathy Pontius, Senate counsel
• Gary Karger and Chris Turner, House and Senate fiscal analysts.

Thanks to you all. Enjoy the interim without us!