The Minnesota Legislature is approaching the midway point in the 2021 session. The deadline for almost all types of bills to be presented in committee is coming up quickly. “We are now hearing bills during the day and somewhat in the evening,” said Representative Deb Kiel (R-Crookston). “Friday (March 12) is our first deadline, so bills must be heard in one or the other place (House or Senate) unless they are a tax bill or bonding bill.”
On Friday, Kiel presented a House File 1483 (HF 1483) to the Health Finance Committee to require that those on medical assistance have to get prescription drugs in Minnesota. “It will save us some dollars,” said Kiel. “It’s also dollars that are spent in Minnesota. Think of drugs that might be ordered long-distance that mail your medicines in. What we want to do is encourage people to use our local pharmacies. You might say we live in a border town, and go to Grand Forks or North Dakota for certain things. There is an exemption in there because not all of the pharmaceutical options are in Minnesota. Quite a few of them are, though.”
Kiel said she’s also working on getting more skills training into Minnesota schools. “There is one thing I’d like to share that I’m really excited about,” said Kiel. “I’m the lead for Industrial Education and Economics. We’re working on enhancing education in our school districts. We’re working on helping schools to have more of a career and tech direction. That’s costly programs like our housing program that Travis Oliver teaches. But more of those things help students get into a career or even help them pay for college as they go to school or out into the workforce.”
COVID-19 is still affecting proceedings at the Capitol as well. Kiel said all committee meetings are being held virtually over Zoom, and only a limited number of people are allowed on the House floor when the entire House is in session. “All of them are on zoom, so whether I’m down in St. Paul or here, they’re on Zoom,” said Kiel. “When we go to the floor, they don’t want more than 10 people on the floor when we go in session on Mondays and Thursdays. So, both of those times you’re either in your office or I’ve found I have better reception in my hotel room, so I’m often in my hotel room. We’ll soon start hearing a lot more bills on the floor. I’d really like to see us go back to the floor and meet directly because there are electronic problems. That makes it hard to hear bills and hear someone clearly. And because we do Zoom, it has to be so much time. We have to be in and out, so it really curbs our conversations, so it’s harder to ask questions and delve into detail at times.”
A lot of the recent discussion has been about being prepared if there is a need to activate law enforcement connected to the Derek Chauvin trial in the death of George Floyd. “A lot of conversation about public safety,” said Kiel. “Of course, there is real concern about having enough finance dollars to make sure we have active law enforcement ready should there be an outbreak with the Chauvin trial. There are some concerns about that. There is a lot of conversation about how do we deal with that. We’ve been talking about that as a whole.”
Kiel said they are looking at getting a correction bill for the Ag Innovation Campus in Crookston. “There was a wording change that needed to happen for that. The City Council is waiting for that bonding bill. It’s a corrections bill, and we’ve got language for that project,” said Kiel. “I’m hoping that we hear that entire bill. It originates in the House, so we have to pass it before the Senate can hear it and send it to the governor.” That is just one of the bills that need to be corrected. “We even have a project up at the Thief River Falls airport. It’s all done. I carried it in 2014, so we had to go back and adjust some things to wrap up the funding on that one so that it can be closed out,” said Kiel. “It is a little challenging. I’m a little concerned about how this (virtual meetings) is working. Like everything else, it has its good and bad points.”
Kiel also noted several ways for the public to stay up to date on what is happening at the Capitol. “There are a lot of important things going on down there,” said Kiel. “You certainly are always welcome to watch. If you have a computer, you can go to any committee and listen or watch what was said or done on those committees. You can also watch the legislature on TV to see what’s going on. I encourage people to contact me if they have a concern or a suggestion.”
