Senate committees held long hours this week, as the legislature approached the Senate’s first committee deadline and the House of Representative’s second deadline for bill hearings. The deadlines are standard to diminish the flow of bills and to progress the bills already heard through committees. This week the Senate Crime committee took up the Senate Omnibus Crime bill. The committee heard testimony on this bill and then unanimously passed the bill to the Senate Finance committee. The committee also passed the “Primary Seatbelt” bill, SF 2550, and referred it to the Senate Transportation Finance committee. This meeting was held on Monday. The bill was heard in this committee on Thursday and passed to the Senate Finance committee. This bill would expand the seat belt requirement to all passengers in a passenger or commercial motor vehicle and would make a violation of the requirement a primary offense. It also modifies certain penalties and dedicates a portion of fine revenues to county detoxification services for drug-dependent persons. The Senate Judiciary committee took up a joint and several liability bill this week. It would seek to undue some of the changes the legislature passed last year. The bill passed last year stated that if the company was more than 50 percent at fault, then joint and several liability would apply. The bill this year would make that percentage 40 percent. The committee heard opposing testimony from the business communities of Minnesota. Affordable universal health care was taken up in the Senate Health and Family Security committee on Thursday. The bill would put the question of universal healthcare on the ballot in November. Lastly, Thursday evening’s Senate Game and Fish subdivision committee meeting, a division of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, saw the mourning dove season issue come up for debate and discussion. The committee passed the bill to the full Environment and Natural Resources Committee. A hearing has not yet been scheduled. Please feel free to contact me with your opinions about these or any other legislative issues at my information printed above.
