STATE OF MINNESOTA FORTIETH MEETING
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTY-FIFTH SESSION
June 23, 2008
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, REFORM, TECHNOLOGY
& ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
MINUTES
Representative Gene Pelowski, Chair of the Government Operations, Reform, Technology and Elections Committee, called the meeting to order at 10:00 A.M. on Monday, June 23, 2008, in Room 200 of the State Office Building.
The Committee Legislative Assistant noted the roll.
Members present:
Pelowski, Chair
Morgan, Vice Chair
Anderson, S.
Emmer
Kahn
Kalin
Olson
Peterson, N.
Poppe
Simon
Members Excused: Brod, Hilty, Howes, Nelson, Winkler, and Wollschlager
Other house members in attendance:
Scalze
Hortman
Murphy, E.
Loeffler
McFarlane
Greiling
Garofalo
Benson
A quorum was present.
The presentation on legislative process reform continued.
Mark Shepard, House Research, gave an overview of the document entitled: Committee Structure and Procedures: Policy Considerations and Potential Changes.
Geoff Bartsch, President, Minnesota Government Relations Council and Director of Government Relations, HealthPartners, provided testimony on legislative process and provided comments and suggestions of how the current process could be improved upon. The list of recommendations were:
Increase cooperation between House/Senate committees;
Reduce the number of committees;
Pertaining to re-referrals, limiting committee action to matters of jurisdiction of the secondary committee;
Establish an expectation that in most cases, committees will not recommend bills to pass until technical, policy, and political issues have been resolved;
Establish stricter germaneness rules for bills in committees;
Impose stricter standards for public notice of committee agendas;
Impose stricter standards for making amendments to be offered in committee publicly available in advance; and
Finance committees having final fiscal notes before passing legislation and not including language in finance bills that have not received hearings.
June 23, 2008
Page Two
Jack Davies, former State Senator, provided testimony regarding the constitutional limit on the number of legislative days in a legislative session.
Rich Neumeister, private citizen, testified about the need for citizens to have more input, openness, and access to the political process.
Discussion was held and suggestions were made by members.
Chairman Pelowski stated that the focus of the next meeting would be related to floor procedures.
The next committee hearing date was set for 10:00 AM on July 10, 2008.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:01 PM.
____________________________________
REP. GENE PELOWSKI, CHAIRMAN
____________________________________
Kathy L. Anderson, Committee Legislative Assistant