Capitol Letter for February 10, 2023
The Capitol Letter™ is a recurring publication that provides reports from LWV Minnesota volunteer Observer Corps and Lobby Corps members on what is happening in the current legislative session.
Lobbying by LWVMN
LWVMN Co-Voter Service Chair Paul Huffman continues to speak in favor of voter access at the Capitol from his experience as an election judge through provisions like Automatic Voter Registration (see his testimony at 1:55:25). For an overview of the companion bill in the House and Senate, please continue to read the Observer Reports.
Observer Reports
Senate Finance - Tuesday, February 7
LWVMN Observer Corps Member Amy Caucutt
This was the last Committee stop for Restore the Vote SF26/HF28 to focus on Section 8, which is the $20,000 cost to the state budget. However, Republicans made amendments to the body of the bill that were allowed by Chair Marty. Author, Sen. Champion, reminisced that former Republican Chair Julie Rosen, would not have allowed amendments out of the purview of Finance. All of which were defeated on party line votes, though: A-1 by Sen. Dahms to require all court fees be paid prior to voting. Sen Champion responded that this would constitute a “poll tax" and a dividing line between "haves" and "have-nots” which Sen. Pratt called “charged language'”. Sen Pappas opposed this saying that it would be a double standard since we do not prohibit those with unpaid parking tickets or library fines from voting...or even unpaid child support. A-2, Draheim, which he called a "compromise amendment," allowing felons to vote 2 years after incarceration. Sen Champion responded that we need a clear, bright line to end the confusion for felons, former felons, and election workers. Bill was passed onto the Senate floor.
Senate Elections - Tuesday, February 7
LWVMN Observer Corps Member Pamela Anne Mercier
This meeting was to discuss and vote on SF3, also known as the “Democracy for the People Act”. After member discussion following last week’s testimony, the bill passed 8 (D) to 6 (R) along party lines and was referred to the Transportation Committee (which passed on Thursday and sent to Health and Human Services). There was one significant change following an amendment, the removal of the Democracy Dollar Coupon program.
Overview of the bill, amendments, and discussion: The bill consists of three articles. Article 1, Strengthen the Freedom to Vote through four changes in Minnesota statute. First, establish an Automatic Voter Registration System so that eligible voters will automatically be registered to vote when they apply for a new or renewed driver's license or when they apply for other selected state services. The second new law would create a permanent list of voters who automatically receive mail-in ballots and would not need to complete a mail-in ballot application. A third provision would allow 16 and 17 year olds to preregister to vote. The fourth proposal, restoring the right to vote, would become law if SF26 passes the Senate floor. Article 2, Protect Voters and Our Elections System, includes provisions to expand the availability of translated ballots and voting instructions to speakers of languages other than English. It also requires that when a certain threshold of voting aged citizens whose non-English native language is spoken in a district, an election judge must be provided in that precinct who can act as a translator for that language. The other provisions in Article 2 provide strengthened protections against intimidation, deceptive practices, coercion, etc, aimed at preventing a citizen from voting. Criminal penalties that may result from such illegal actions are also described in this section. Article 3, Modernize Campaign Finance System to Empower Voters and Increase Disclosure of Secret Spending, is aimed at making campaign finances, including the sources of campaign contributions and advertisements resulting from such contributions, more transparent and restricted based on certain laws. It includes restrictions on campaign contributions, for example, by corporations which, as defined in the bill, have single foreign owners who own one or more percent of a corporation's total equity. The provision to establish a program of Democracy Dollar Coupons, previously in Article 3, was removed from the final version of the bill. Several amendments to the bill were submitted before the final vote. One asked for a change in language related to the creation of a voter list through automatic voter registration. One senator proposed that the list of potential voters, even those who had been found by the Secretary of State's Office to be ineligible, should be made public, not kept private, as stated in the bill. This amendment was voted down. Another amendment proposed deleting the word, "permanent" from the mail-voter list that would be created if the provision to create such a list passed. This amendment was also voted down. Finally, a third amendment asked to change the percentage of a corporation owned by a foreign entity disallowing it from contributing to campaigns in Minnesota from one percent to at least 50 percent. There was lively discussion of this amendment with Republican senators arguing that one percent ownership foreign entities could not lead to powerful influence in a campaign. Democratic senators countered this argument with evidence they said they had from reliable research resources concluding that 1% ownership of a major corporation represents huge potential influence. These three amendments were voted down along party lines. Robust discussion took place around the issue of how numbers of native speakers of languages other than English might need assistance with voting would be determined by the process described in the bill. The provision passed, but clarification was asked from the State Department about how these numbers would be collected and further definitions of some terms were also requested.
Senate State and Local Government - Tuesday, February 7
LWVMN Observer Corps Member Amy Caucutt
Interesting presentation from Center for Rural Policy and Development (see their research online as "state of rural'). They have found a "covid trend" of population growth for the first time in rural areas. Another takeaway is that economic development is no longer attempting to bring in a big manufacturing plant for jobs. Now with scarcity of employees (outstate job vacancy rate is 9-10%, metro is 7%) the name of the game is people recruitment with housing, child care, "visitor strategy.” Legislators were urged not to focus on the loss of 18-29 year olds, but to note the return of 30-49 year olds and their needs in society and quality of life.
Next up, HF4 (Mohamed) licenses for all. I must admit, this was the most tense and uncivil hearing I have observed. Chair tried to focus the hearing on Art1, sec4 and 9 & 11. Sen Drazkowski wanted a "full understanding of the bill" as well as the "security features” to address his concerns. He was told to be brief, but he wasn't and in fact insisted on being offensive, calling undocumented individuals “illegal aliens." Over and over Several Republican amendments were proposed and voted down on party lines. Sen Jasinski says he agrees with the concept, but this bill goes beyond public safety. Sen’s Koran, Lang, Anderson all spoke in opposition.Ssen Cwodzinski, Mitchell, Maye Quade and Champion all spoke in favor, some with personal stories. Bill passed and sent to Finance Committee.
Senate Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development - Wednesday, January 8
LWVMN Observer Corps Member Sherry Hood
SF1314 - Focus on the Forever Green Initiative appropriation bill authored by Senator Judy Seeberger (DFL). (There was a brief early presentation by the poultry industry on Avian Influenza.) The Forever Green Initiative bill seeks $2 million in 2024 and also $2 million in 2025 from the General Fund to the U. of M. for funding, which aims to protect the state's natural resources while increasing the efficiency, profitability, and productivity of Minnesota farmers. This would incorporate perennial and winter-annual crops into the existing agriculture practice. These winter crops will enrich the soil, help prevent soil erosion, provide for clean water, increase crop production, provide more $ for farmers, industries, and communities.
SF1353 - Continuous living cover crops and cropping systems -Seeks $10 million in 2024 for grants to the U. of M. to purchase and maintain equipment and physical infrastructure. This is to support breeding, research, and food science activities of the Forever Green Initiative. These bills were moved to be held over to an omnibus bill.
House Committee on Elections and Finance - Wednesday, February 8
LWVMN Civic Engagement Director Sam Streukens
HF3 (Greenman)- companion to SF3 (above). Secretary of State Steve Simon spoke in support of automatic voter registration that would expand registrations while keeping safeguards in place, increased language access in communities, and protection for voters. Both ISAIAH and Clean Elections MN testified in support of Article 3, controlling corporations, and empowering Minnesotans through disclosure of spending. LWVMN’s Paul Huffman (at 27:30) echoed Secretary Simon that AVR would cut down same-day registrations, and he shared his support for the pre-registration of 16 and 17 year olds and permanent absentee ballot list provisions included. A Protect Democracy representative, who represented LWVArizona, spoke about the rise of voter intimidation throughout the country, including in Minnesota. A leader from the Muslim Coalition of ISAIAH shared how voter outreach would improve with language resources. The Vote from Home Coalition shared facts of permanent absentee increasing voter turnout and reducing work and cost on counties. All three thought that this bill would protect and expand democracy. Finally, Eric Wang of People United for Privacy, shared about donor privacy, and the co-leader of MN Citizens Concerned for Life was concerned that limiting contributions would infringe on free speech. Member discussion began with two Republican amendments that were voted down on party lines. Rep. Greenman responded to Rep. Bliss’ concern with proof of residency by saying that a license is not a voter card. Rep Bahner responded passionately to Rep. Quam’s concern of checking registrations that the system is in place and the right to vote should be safeguarded. Rep. Altendorf noted that Democrats spent more than Republicans in MN with Greenman responding that spending has risen overall, and this is a bipartisan bill. Rep. Coulter echoed the League’s mission that this bill is good for voters and would better reflect the state and community. Rep. Agbaje agreed that language barriers and intimidation have kept people from voting in the past. Finally, Rep. Bahner affirmed Paul’s testimony that pre-registration for youth would encourage civic participation and that permanent absentee allows those who consistently vote absentee due to personal reasons or otherwise to stay active. She also said that finance reform would allow more opportunity to hear from candidates and that US democracy should be the model around the world. Tensions rose in the meeting when Rep. Torkelson (the Republican lead) could not have all of his questions answered due to time constraints. Rep. Greenman reminded Committee members that the bill has to pass 5 more Committee stops before going to the House floor for a vote and responded to Republican comments that the bill would increase free speech through donor disclosure. The bill was referred with 8 yes (D) -5 nos (R) to the Transportation Committee. Rep. Torkelson appeared to confront Chair Freiberg after the meeting.
House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law - Thursday, February 9
LWVMN Observer Corps Member Cindy Holker
HF14 - Criminal Background Checks required for firearms transfers. Focus of the Bill in this committee was on the appeals process and court findings although much of the questioning and comments from the Republican side and testimony on both sides was not focused in this area. Testimony in support came from groups like the MN Chiefs of Police Association (Jeff Potts) and other law enforcement groups. Testimony against came from the NRA and MN Gun Owners. Focus of opposition (both testifiers and Republican Committee members) was "punishing law abiding citizens" and 2nd amendment rights. Talked a lot about hunting and letting a family member use a gun, etc. Representative Pinto referred the members to an exception already written into the bill.
HF15 - Law Enforcement and family members are able to petition a court to prohibit people from possessing firearms if they pose a significant danger to themselves or others by possessing a firearm. Testimony for and against came from many of the same testifiers for HF14 above. Again, 2nd amendment rights came up along with concern that this would stop a person from seeking mental health care for fear of losing their guns. Testimony for was focused on the need to prevent suicide by guns (the biggest cause of death by guns) and other shootings. Both bills were referred to the Ways and Means Committee along party lines.
Thursday, February 9
LWVMN Observer Corps Member Amy Caucutt
I spent Thursday, Feb 9th attending random committee meetings at the Capitol to see what was going on and to meet up with my local legislators. Try it yourself for a free overview of issues facing MN state government and assorted, in depth answers to these problems contained in the bills being heard. Also try it for free drama supplied by personal stories of testifiers as well as comments and arguments put forward by committee members. I did not attend big-ticket hearings like Cannabis; I did not sit in on huge price tag items like subsidies for housing or children. I did hear about an idea to allow MA recipients to opt-out of HMO management (HF816 Hicks) when they believe the fee for service would better meet their needs. I heard fears that this would unravel the entire health care system. I heard the author state that this doesn't fix either the fee for service or HMOs, but will give recipients a choice between 2 flawed systems. I heard testimony on the need for health insurance to cover diagnostic mammograms (the ones you get when you are called back due to some potential problem, and then you receive a bill for $800-900). Rep Acomb has a bill (HF390) to fix that and require insurance to cover. Then, in the tax committee (I note here that the house tax chairs, now Rep. Gomez, and last session Rep. Davids are not just extremely knowledgeable, but inject a sense of humor in the committee workings which make it far more enjoyable to attend meetings than one might expect), I heard about the situation that taxpayers without a social security number (ie foreign nationals) who file taxes using something called an ITIN are not eligible for Minnesota's Working Family Credit, even if their children are US citizens. Rep. Lee has a bill (HF1400) to fix that. I also heard from my Rep. Smith that this will have a big impact in Rochester where so many foreign nationals live. Finally, I attended the Senate Elections committee and had the thrill of sitting right behind Sec. of State Steve Simon, former State and Ramsey County Elections Director Joe Mansky, and Peter Wattson who filed the lawsuit that league worked on requiring court led redistricting (for many years, he was chief of staff to the DFL Senate Majority Leaders as well). They testified about the bill the state owes for that lawsuit. Then, the Elections Committee tackled SF1283 (Westlin) which seemed to be a "simple fix” to Minnesota State Law which was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2018. The Court had ruled that while the state could control the polling place and environs to prevent electioneering/campaigning/soliciting for votes on election days, the statutes' current language forbidding "political speech" was too broad. This bill tightens up language so that the prohibition is for materials with a candidate's name, likeness, logo or slogan...or that of a political party or ballot question appearing on this election's ballot. Members of this committee like to pose hypothetical questions as well as wordsmith. One of the biggest issues brought forward pertained to the current law of prohibiting this conduct and these materials within 100 feet of a polling place. Now that we have voting going on for more than 1 day, and often in buildings like government or community centers that serve many other people and purposes, how can this be enforced? Joe Manski, from the audience added that the 100 foot limit was put in law in the 1980s by Sen. Luther, and he has been instructing election judges in how to enforce it ever since. Author Sen Westlin suggested a bi-partisan task force to look at potential fixes for the many problems being encountered due to some current voting places, early voting, and the 100 foot maintenance for no electioneering. (Amy was a lobbyist for Olmsted County for 29 years!)
Senate Elections - Thursday, February 19
LWVMN Observer Corps Member Cathy Thom
Office of the Secretary of State Budget Presentation - Election Change Items
A. Secretary of State Steve Simon - The SOS's office brings in more than they cost - they cost $14 million, and bring in $27 million more than that, largely due to the business services fees that they charge - all of which goes into the general fund. The office budget has been "aggressively flat," since the early 1990s, even if you don't account for inflation. With inflation, it's been "substantially reduced." There are only 21 full time employees, including only one general counsel. Most of the election administrators (9) support the election offices in all 87 counties. They have 9 full-time IT staff. Two of their election security staff are paid for by federal funds. The office also has a few outreach staff members. First ask is for 1/2 million dollars per year to increase their staff - 3 FTEs in election admin, 1 FTE in outreach and communications, and 1 FTE to provide statewide general communications and info to the public. 1 FTE is for one additional general counsel. Why? Addition of the presidential primary, which is a 3rd statewide election every four years. The increased use of absentee ballots by the public. Increased turnover in local county election offices in regard to personnel and equipment - need for more training and equipment certification. Twenty-fold Increased processing of federal grants for local offices since 2017. The second ask is for increased security throughout their office and services, including business services. Third, to increase state HAVA funding in order to qualify by matching for more federal HAVA funds. Fourth, to cover the costs of state redistricting litigation.
B. Peter Wattson - Lead plaintiff in Wattson v Simon litigation for redistricting. The Court ordered, as it has in past redistricting years, the SOS office to pay the attorney's fees of all of the plaintiffs since it was decided that redistricting needed to be litigated. These are not optional fees, and they are getting to the point where they are overdue. Senator Cwodzinski (DFL - Eden Prairie) asked if there is a way to avoid future litigation in 2031. Mr. Wattson replied that the legislature could agree on a plan to begin with. Or the legislature could appoint a nonpartisan commission to draw maps rather than leaving it to the courts.
Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board Budget Presentation - By Jeff Sigurdson, Executive Director.
Given salary steps, inflation of fixed costs, and increased office need, these increases and $160,000 increase in the base operating budget is necessary. The increase allows them to maintain current 8.4 FTEs of staffing and move their servers and IT resources to a more modern and secure place, both physically and into cloud backup and scaling capabilities.
SF1283 - Senator Westlin (DFL - Plymouth) - Prohibitions clarification on soliciting at or near (within 100 feet of) a polling place. Minnesota's laws have to be revised in order to get in line with a 2018 US Supreme Court decision by providing a more specific description/definition of prohibited political solicitation, garb, materials, etc., to make it less subject to the judgment of individual election judges. It also expands prohibitions to in-person early voting periods, and to ballot questions in addition to candidates, which was listed in the original law, which dates back to the late 1980s. Steve Simon - MN Secretary of State - Testified in support of the bill. The bill specifies the "bright line" as displaying or promoting anything or anyone that is on the current ballot. The old law prohibited anything "political." This is the biggest of MN's laws that needs to be revised in order to conform to the 2018 Mansky SCOTUS decision. MEMBER DISCUSSION: Senator Koran (R - North Branch) - Thinks the bill is still not specific enough and leaves too much subjectivity. Senator Westlin says there are three buckets: A candidate on the ballot, a ballot question on the ballot, or explicitly a particular political party. For instance, you could not prohibit just a generic red hat. It is only prohibited if it can be clearly identified with any candidate or ballot initiative on the ballot, or any specific political party before it rises to the level of prohibition. Senator Koran still thinks that symbolism can still make this murky for election judges to navigate. Chair Carlson asked if election judges still are the enforcers, and Senator Westlin replied that yes, they are, however they are given clearer guidelines than in the past. Senator Mathews (R - Princeton) - Suggested that specifics should be limited to name, logo, & likeness in order to avoid a "slide into subjectivity." Things like "slogans" he claimed are too broad. Senator Westlin said that there are slogans, such as MAGA, that are very closely associated with certain candidates, which is why slogans were included in the prohibitions. She said that for that reason, in her opinion, names alone are too narrow. But if former President Trump is not on the ballot in 2024, it would not be prohibited to wear a MAGA logo into polling places then. Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL - Woodbury) - stated that as an election judge herself, she knows that it is applied very narrowly, and even those who violate it there are things they can do, such as remove the item or turn it inside out, and still be allowed into the polling place. No one has not been able to actually vote due to these prohibitions. Even if they refuse to remove or cover the item, they are usually allowed to vote, but their name is recorded in an incident report. She did say that the "within 100 feet of a polling place" can be tricky when a polling place is physically connected to or within a building that is not a polling place. Senator Limmer (R - Maple Grove) - Asked if 300 people are hanging outside a polling place with just the color associated with a specific candidate's campaign for 3 hours, would they be allowed to be there? Nicole Freeman from the SOS office said that there would have to be a legitimate reason to be at the polling place for that long, or yes, they could be asked to leave. Senator Anderson (R - Buffalo) - Asked how many complaint incidents has MN experienced within the past several years under the old statute? Nicole Freeman said that she did not know exact numbers, but she would get it. Former Election Administrator and Mansky case plaintiff Joe Mansky was asked to discuss his own experiences, and he said that although the Court was supportive of the state's interest in keeping polling places safe and conflict free. But overly broad prohibitions can become overly suppressive of protected free speech, including political speech. He said that he brought the suit because of the difficulties and subjectivity of enforcement by election judges under his supervision. Senator Rest (DFL - New Hope) - expressed misgivings about the necessity of including the word "likeness" when it comes to political parties. Senator Westlin answered that "likeness" and "logo" could be interchangeable for parties, but this bill makes it more specific than the old language. Under this bill, a DFL logo or donkey would not be allowed, but the slogan "Black Lives Matter" would be allowed unless there was a ballot initiative they were sponsoring or closely associated with them. Senator Rest suggested just taking the word "likeness" out and keeping the prohibitions to name, logo, and political party. Senator Marty (DFL - Roseville) - Echoed Senator Mitchell's concern about how to create exceptions for polling places located within 100 feet of non-polling place businesses or residences. Enforcement of prohibitions in these circumstances are trickier and often should be waived as a matter of practicality as long as no one is abusing the proximity to intimidate those within or directly around the polling place itself. Senator Cwodzinski said that election judges will be able to determine a lot of these things now with better guidelines that this bill provides. He said that the polling place is one place where you can go where things are supposed to be calm and absent of partisan political rancor. Senator Mathews suggested just drawing the 100-foot line around the polling place itself, not the polling place "building." That can help with early voting locations that double up within government buildings, libraries, etc., from becoming enforcement headaches. Nicole Freeman replied that the 100-foot prohibition currently applies in law, so dealing with these situations is not new. For instance, County Commissioners are reminded to take their campaign magnets or signs off their cars when parking near the polling place in the weeks that early voting is going on. Senator Koran added that could perhaps be handled by more specifically defining what "the people" means within the 100-foot rule. The bill was laid over without action but generally had bipartisan support.
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Thank you to our Lobby and Observer Corps members for their advocacy! Please learn more at our 2023 Legislative Session Webpage and email Sam with any questions or suggestions for the Capitol Letter.