Welcome to my "In Touch Page". I will be using this page to keep you informed about what I am doing here at the Capitol and around the District.  I hope you will visit often.

Pam

In-District Office Hours

with

Senator Pam Wolf

Monday, July 9th

10:00 AM - 12 Noon

Caribou Coffee

8097 Hwy 65 NE

Spring Lake Park, MN

and

5:00 - 7:00 PM

Caribour Coffee (Near Kohl's)

10400 Baltimore Street NE

Blaine, MN

Your opinions are important to me.  I'd like to hear your views on the 2012 legislative session and other issues that concern you. Please call for an appointment, or just stop by to say hello!

The final version of “Last In, First Out” (LIFO) reform legislation passed through the Senate with bipartisan support. The bill, which aims to keep the best teachers in Minnesota’s classrooms, is now on its way to Governor Mark Dayton for his signature or veto.

Senator Pam Wolf (R – Spring Lake Park), the Senate author of the legislation, made the following statement regarding the bills final passage:

“I am proud of the work we have done to reform the last in, first out policy. I would like to thank my colleagues who offered their support for this bill which proves that we value quality teachers. We know that teacher quality has a significant impact on student learning. Ending seniority-based layoff will help our schools keep their best teachers in the classroom and enhance the learning experience for Minnesota’s children. Although Governor Dayton has expressed concerns regarding this legislation, I hope that he can put special interests and partisan politics aside to ensure that our schools have the ability to retain quality teachers so students have the greatest possible chance for success.”

This afternoon the Senate passed Senator Hann’s Health and Human Services Policy Bill. Senator Hann did a great job of putting a policy bill together that will serve the citizens of Minnesota well. I am grateful that he included two of my bills in the Omnibus Bill

S.F.2123 This bill requires verification when a non custodial parent is charged for childcare for their children. If the public authority is collecting the childcare fee, they must verify that the child is actually going to a daycare facility. The public authority must now check with the custodial parent and verify the attendance of the child in daycare.  Previously, the public authority sent out a request for information, but if the custodial parent did not respond to the inquiry the authority would continue to collect the child support from the non custodial parent. Now if the custodial parent fails to respond to the authority the payments will stop.

S.F.2496 This bill includes Kidney Dialysis among the health services that will be provided under Medical Assistance(MA). Prior to this change a dialysis patient would have to wait until there condition reached and emergency stage before it was covered by MA. This caused higher cost because emergency cases are more expensive to treat than routine dialysis treatments. It is important to receive treatment on an ongoing basis to avoid costly emergency treatment.

This afternoon we will be having a meeting of the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee. We will be discussing three of the Vikings Bills. I believe all on the committee hope that we can pass a bill on.

However, there are some proposals that will not get the full support of the committee. I asked several questions about the funding of the Stadium with the Rosen bill, and I did not get a satisfactory answer. I will be listening for an answer to those questions. I hope they have put the bill on a stronger financial footing.

In the past 48 hours I have received many emails from all over the state – very little from my district in support of a Vikings Stadium. I have also received emails and calls against it. I am concerned about how the financing of a stadium works. The Rosen bill, which the Vikings owner and the Governor like, uses appropriation bonds. The bonds are repaid out of the General Fund. This is the same fund we use to pay for most government services. Everything from public safety, to health and human services, to K-12 education is paid from that fund. Bonds must be paid and then everything else is paid. I have not received an answer for what happens if the gambling revenue is not as high a predicted.  As the bill stands the bonds would be paid out of the General Fund and if there was not enough money left for other government responsibilities programs would have to be cut. I do not want to put a future legislature in the position of having to cut education or health and human services because people choose to gamble less than expected.

Over the long life of these bonds we will see good times and bad. There will be recessions and hopefully good economic times as well. Whatever occurs, the bonds must be paid out of the General Fund, whether there is enough money or not. I do not think that is responsible budgeting. I look forward to a solution which does not involve allocations from the General Fund. This is why I support Senator Chamberlain’s bill. It does not raid the General Fund under any circumstance.

When the Chamberlain bill comes up for a vote, whether in committee or on the Senate Floor, I will vote for it. I cannot vote for the Rosen bill if the financing of the bill remains as it was before.

The Legislature is back in session after Spring Break. This morning I attended the House Education Finance Committee hearing. We heard from the Co-Chairs of the Integration Revenue Task Force. I was a member of that task force last fall and winter. The task force presented its recommendations to the Legislature several weeks ago. This hearing was held to give legislators an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the work of the task force. http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Welcome/AdvBCT/IntegRevReplaceTaskForce/index.html

At the same time the House Ways and Means committee was meeting.  They heard H.F. 322  http://wdoc.house.leg.state.mn.us/leg/LS87/HF0322.2.pdf  which is the House companion to my bill S.F. 1402. This bill will increase   the presumed parenting time of fit parents.  In cases where both parents are fit parents, who want to spend more time with their children, this bill will level the parenting time between the two parents.

The Senate is on a Spring Break this week. I will be using this time to spend time with my family, reflect on the session's work thus far, and work in my garden (if it’s not too cold). I will also be meeting with fellow legislators and constituents to prepare to hit the ground running on Monday, April 16. The remaining days of session will pass very quickly, and there is still much to do.

Please feel free to contact my office during this time. My staff will be available and they can reach me.

Take care,

Pam

I met with Governor Dayton to discuss my bill H.F. 1870 {S.F. 1690} which would allow school districts to base unrequested leave of absence and discharge decisions on teacher evaluation outcomes, rather than strictly on seniority.

It is important for our students that we provide the best educational opportunity possible. One way we can do this is by retaining the best teachers. Governor Dayton agrees on the goal of retaining the best teachers and the importance of effective classroom teaching, but he is concerned about the “timing” of the bill. I hope that he will put students first and sign the bill.

My bill S.F. 2496 was heard in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee today. The bill includes kidney dialysis in the conditions that will be treated under medical assistance. Last year a bill was passed changing the way non citizens received health care. Only emergency care would be handled under medical assistance. My bill includes kidney dialysis as one of the areas that would be treated as an emergency. If kidney patients do not get the care they need on a regular basis there condition will deteriorate rapidly and they will need emergency care. If they are treated before they become gravely ill the treatment is less costly and the quality of life is better. This bill is both humane and cost effective. The bill was laid over for inclusion in the Health and Human Services Omnibus Bill.

The Lifo Bill Goes to Conference

The LIFO Conference Committee will hold a hearing on March 23 to reconcile the differences in the House and Senate bills.

Senate File 1690– Commonly referred to as the “LIFO” bill, this bill will require school districts to take teacher performance evaluations into consideration when they are calling teachers back after an unrequested leave.

Under current rules when a group of teachers are laid off by a school district they are called back based on seniority. My bill would give the school districts the latitude to hire back teachers who were rated effective or highly effective in their evaluation before teachers who were rated ineffective. The Department of Education is in the process of developing a new teacher evaluation system which will rely on a combination of measures of teacher effectiveness. We can use these evaluations as one of the factors when calling back teachers.

Senate Education Committte just tabled a bill to use Racino Gambling Revenues to pay back the shift. The bill may be included in the Education Omnibus Bill later in the session.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing for Senator Wolf's bill Senate File 1402. The bill was passed by the Judiciary Committee and will be heard in the Health and Human Services Committee next.