By Rep. Paul Anderson
The new legislative session opened on Tuesday of last week, and the day was marked with ceremony as members took the oath of office to uphold both the state and federal constitutions.
It’s an especially big day for new members, as they had family and friends on hand to witness the pageantry. It was right to work and just two days later, on Thursday, the House passed legislation to conform with the federal tax code. This may be the earliest this type of bill has been done, and it allows tax preparers to get their software updated in a timely fashion so early-filers won’t have to go back and re-file. It’s expected the Senate will act on the same conformity bill this week and, if all goes well, it should be on Gov. Mark Dayton’s desk by the end of the week.
Another major bill was taken up by the House last week, but its fate wasn’t as successful as the tax conformity bill. It was officially called the 2017 Health Care Emergency Aid and Access Act. Now, to act on legislation that hasn’t gone through the formal committee process, an emergency must be declared and suspension of the rules must be approved by at least 90 members of the body in order to immediately take up a floor vote. The DFL members were concerned about taking the bill through so urgently, and were also more supportive of legislation proposed by the governor. As a result, the vote to suspend the rules and act on the bill did not get the required number of votes to pass.
The bill supported by the Republicans also provided state funding to help those hit with huge premium increases this year. But it also did more such as provide for continuity of care, which would help those on the individual market and who are currently receiving care for an acute condition to continue receiving that care. Someone taking cancer treatments at Mayo, for example, who has seen that facility no longer part of his or her network could be helped by this provision.
There were other good provisions that start the process of making the system better, such as “stop loss” requirements for small business, allowing for-profit HMOs to operate in Minnesota, along with provisions pertaining to surprise billing, and insurance market options.
The Dayton-backed bill did none of these things; it only provided funding to help with premium increases. We all know that is a one-time Band-Aid and doesn’t do anything to address the overriding problem. Our bill will now start the committee process and be back on the House floor for action in the coming weeks. We need to take action on this situation as the enrollment period ends shortly and these higher premiums take effect.
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Sympathies to the family of Sylvester Uphus, a former state legislator who passed away last week at the age of 89. Sylvester served in the Minnesota House for ten years, from 1983 to 1992. A family man and also a people person, Sylvester’s life was marked by service to others. He was a World War II veteran, a farmer, and a township officer. And, following his service to the state, he worked for ten years as an overseas agricultural consultant.
Sylvester was also a mentor to me when I decided to run for office eight years ago. He and I drove around the area, and we talked about politics and stopped to visit folks. Sylvester would introduce me to people, and I remember thinking that he must know everybody! Blest be his memory.
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