The Senate started the 10th week of the legislative session by conducting floor sessions and taking up bills. One of the bills taken up this week was a bill to add additional grounds to the current domestic abuse order for protection law, which would now include situations where the respondent is incarcerated and about to be released or has recently been released from incarceration. This bill was proposed in an attempt to help protect domestic abuse victims from offenders who are released from incarceration. The bill passed the Senate. Another bill discussed this week on the Senate floor dealt with disclosure requirements for push-polling. Specifically, if someone calls to poll another person to either support or oppose a candidate, that person must disclose who is represented by the person conducting the poll; the name of the candidate, campaign committee, or political party unit, if any, that has authorized the poll; and the name, telephone number, and address of a contact person for more information about the poling efforts. This bill passed the Senate floor, but has not come out of the House policy committee. A bill authorizing mandatory direct deposit for municipalities was also taken up and passed on the Senate floor. Under current law, the Commissioner of Finance may require direct deposit for all state employees on the state payroll system. This bill would allow municipalities (city, county, town, school district, political subdivision or an agency of local government) to require direct deposit for employees being paid by its payroll system. The bill pointed out that direct deposit of payroll is more efficient and cost effective for the employer. The bill would give the municipality the option of requiring direct deposit of its employees, similar to the discretion of the Commissioner of Finance with state employees. In response to the recent Legislative Auditor’s report on the Minnesota State Lottery, a bill was passed on the Senate floor to make the state lottery more accountable to the state elected officials. The report issued by the auditor found that our lottery is more independent and less accountable than most other states. The bill modifies provisions regarding appointment of the state lottery director, and establishes a Lottery Organization Task Force to develop recommendations regarding the future organization of the state lottery.
