Bill goes to full House without recommendation

ST. PAUL -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty's 2006 education priority faces a murky future after a Thursday evening committee vote.

The House Education Policy Committee voted 15-14 to approve a bill - and send it to the full House, written by Rep. Karen Klinzing, R-Woodbury - and supported by Pawlenty to require 70 percent of school funding to be directed to classrooms. However, the committee did not recommend that the House pass the bill. Usually when a bill goes to the House, a committee includes a recommendation that it pass.

House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, admitted the issue likely will lose in the House, but on Monday he promised that it still would get a vote this week.

The proposal is not advancing in the Senate.

Democratic legislators, meanwhile, on Monday proposed using part of a $317 million tax relief account and an $88 million state budget surplus to reduce class sizes. The DFL legislation would give schools incentives to keep class sizes small.

Money promised

The key to the 2006 legislative session came before lawmakers even returned to the Capitol.

A budget forecast released Tuesday, the day before the Legislature convened for the year, showed $181 million more would be available to the state than economists predicted in November. However, $93 million already is promised to bring state payments to school districts up to date, leaving $88 million available for legislators to spend.

A slow job market is holding back Minnesota's economy, State Economist Tom Stinson said. A weaker than expected economy means less tax is being collected.

However, the $88 million surplus and a $317 million account destined for tax relief are in danger. The state Supreme Court next month hears arguments that the new cigarette fee is unconstitutional, which would put a hole of up to $400 million in the state budget.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to release his plan to divide up any available money in the next few days.

Funeral protest ban

A ban on protests that disrupt funerals could be heard by the full House this week after committees gave the proposal unanimous approval Wednesday and Friday. A Senate committee approved a similar bill Thursday.

Some legislators questioned whether banning protests violates 1st Amendment free speech rights, but no one opposed the measure.

The bill that would keep protesters 1,000 feet from a funeral was put on the fast track after a recent protest at a Minnesota soldier's funeral. Legislators originally just wanted to ban protests near military funerals, but decided it has a better chance of being constitutional if it was broadened to include all funerals.

Privacy plans

Gov. Tim Pawlenty Thursday proposed making most data Minnesotans provide the state private, contrasting with Attorney General Mike Hatch's desire to leave data generally public. Both say they want to stop identity theft.

Pawlenty would make all driver's license information private. He also would make it a crime to use private telephone records without permission and limit the use of Social Security numbers as a means of identification.

Health care plans

The House and Senate are headed in different directions in their plans to improve Minnesota's health care.

Leaders in the two chambers offered their proposals Thursday.

Democrats want to use $122 million excess in a health fund to expand MinnesotaCare, the state insurance plan for those who cannot otherwise get insurance. They also want a constitutional amendment that guarantees Minnesotans the right to health care.

Republicans propose using the $122 million to repeal a small-business surcharge so those employers would better be able to afford health insurance for their workers.

Eminent domain

Minnesota local governments' authority to take public property from private landowners should be limited if the land is to be used for business, two House committees have decided.

Committees passed the bill Wednesday and Friday. It has more committee stops, although House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said he expects the bill to receive a full House vote in a few days.