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REPORT FROM THE CAPITOL
The challenges presented by a short legislative session are in full evidence
this week, with the first committee deadline almost upon us. All bills must be
heard and approved in at least one policy committee of the House or Senate by
this Friday, March 12. As a result legislators, lobbyists, and interested
members of the public are scrambling to cover all of the bases.
Our priority this week is HF 3478, an education bill that proposes to modify
or eliminate a number of "mandates" imposed on public school districts. Among
them are several public notices that they are required to publish. The author
of the bill is Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka), who apparently is claiming
that allowing school districts to disseminate the notices only on their Web
sites will produce significant savings.
But it's a somewhat peculiar argument, because virtually all of the affected
notices would be published only rarely--for example, the requirement that before
a public schoolhouse may be closed, the school board must conduct a public
hearing and publish a notice of the hearing. Consequently, the net savings that
would be produced if the bill were enacted in its present form would seem to be
almost negligible.
At the same time, however, the notices targeted by the bill deal with
significant issues. They involve statutes addressing some of the most important
actions that school boards can take, which is why a number of them call for
public hearings and corresponding published notices of those hearings. It is by
now a well-established fact that the Web is hardly the most effective way in
which to distribute information of interest or consequence to the general
public, a point that has even more validity with respect to Web sites operated
by governmental bodies. The main argument we are therefore conveying to
legislators is not based on monetary concerns, but on the potential loss of
public awareness about important actions by public schools.
The bill is scheduled to be heard Tuesday night in the House K-12 Education
Finance Division. MNA representatives will be there to testify. We do
appreciate all the help that we've received over the past few days from MNA
members in contacting members of the committee, and in providing valuable
information about publication expenditures by school districts.
We also continue to work hard on the bill that would create a new and (we
believe) far more effective procedure for enforcing the requirements of the Data
Practices Act. The House version of the bill (HF 2899) was approved last week
by the State and Local Government Committee, and now moves to the Civil Justice
Committee, where it will probably be heard yet this week. Although the bill
continues to attract a steady stream of proposed amendments, it still appears to
have good momentum. In the Senate, the bill's (SF 2354) next stop is the
Judiciary Committee.
Another public records bill scheduled to be heard this week is causing us
some concern, though it's too early to tell what the bill's prospects might be
this session. SF 2790 would seriously dilute the long-standing presumption that
legal records pertaining to juveniles 16 or older who are accused of
felony-level offenses must be open to the public. The bill is on the agenda of
the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, March 11. We will be there to
express our concerns.
If you have any questions or issues about our legislative efforts, please be
sure to let us know. You may contact Central Office or MNA attorney Mark
Anfinson.
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