LEGISLATIVE PROCESS 101 by Kip Sullivan

With the state legislature back in session, and our first hearing in the offing (tomorrow at 12:30 in the Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee), I thought I'd present some very basic information about how the legislature works. For those of you who've been over there, you can skip this email. I welcome corrections and additions to this little primer.

Like most small states, Minnesota's legislature does not meet year round (as Congress does). Our legislature meets for the first five months in the odd-numbered years, and for about three months in the even-numbered years. This year's session will run from Feb 12 to mid-May.

The longer sessions in the odd-numbered years are the ones in which budgets for the biennium are adopted. Bills costing substantial amounts of money typically get heard and, if they're going to be enacted, enacted during the long sessions, not during the short sessions. The collapse of the I-35 bridge is forcing an exception to that rule this year. We're in a short session now, but we have some very serious transportation funding issues that must be dealt with.

Why this convention of long and short sessions got started I don't know. I've heard that legislators want the session in even-numbered years to be short because those are the years all reps and some senators have to run for re-election in the fall, and they don't want the session dragging into the summer and interfering with their re-election campaigns.

Minnesota is divided into 67 Senate districts, which means the state Senate has 67 Senators (tah dah!). Each senate district is divided into two House districts, which means ..... we have twice as many reps as we have senators, 134 to be precise.

Both the House and the Senate have "standing committees." Because the House is bigger, it tends to have more standing committees (more than two dozen, now, I vaguely recall). Bills typically start their journey toward law by being passed in the relevant "policy committee." Thus, agriculture bills start their journey in the House and Senate ag committees, and health bills start in the health committees. Ultimately, any bill that costs money has to go through money committees. These committees are large, and everyone wants to be on them. The key legislators, then, are those who chair the relevant policy committee and the relevant money committee. In the health realm, those key legislators are Senator John Marty (health policy) and Linda Berglin (health money), and Reps. Paul Thissen (health policy) and Tom Huntley (health money).

Committee chairs are very powerful. If they don't like the way you comb your hair, they can deny you a hearing. On the other hand, if they like a particular bill, as John Marty likes the Mn Health Act, committee chairs can guarantee a hearing, which means guaranteeing exposure and education about the bill. Tomorrow's hearing will be only the fourth time the Senate health committee has heard a single-payer bill since single-payer legislation was first introduced in Mn in 1991.

Committee chairs these days are all DFLers. That's because the DFL controls both the House and the Senate. So all the committee chairs are DFLers, and each committee has a majority of DFLers on it.

When committees hold hearings, the chair of the committee typically presides. But at tomorrow's hearing on the Mn Health Act (SF 2324), Senator Marty will hand the gavel off to someone else (I presume the Vice Chair, Sen Patricia Torres Ray) because he's the author of the bill being heard. (Every bill has a chief author and numerous co-authors. In Congress, these people are called "sponsors," not authors.) Chief authors don't sit with the other committee members. They sit at the witness table facing the committee. John will make introductory statements, including, perhaps, explaining the bill in some detail. Then other witnesses, typically non-legislators, speak. These witnesses are usually approved in advance, usually by the author of the bill. We are going to give high priority tomorrow to having people from various walks of life speak in favor of the MHA. Doctors are going to play a prominent role.

Then opponents are allowed to come up to the witness table and speak. Witnesses are often asked questions, some times aggressively, in the course of their remarks.

Bills need majority votes to pass out of committee (either to the entire house or to another committee). Most of the 3,000 bills introduced in any given two-year session die, and those that die typically die in their policy committee. I believe we have the votes to get the MHA out of John's committee tomorrow, but I'm not the vote counter and could be wrong.

We have no illusion that the MHA will pass this year. But holding hearings is the first step in getting bills passed -- they get heard in session after session and each time they get a little farther down the path to enactment.

We (meaning MUHCC, GMHCC and the legislators with the Mn Health Reform Caucus involved in planning the campiagn for single-payer) are still figuring out what other bills we might seek to get hearings on this year. We call these other bills "stepping stone" bills because they aren't the full-blown single-payer bill, but they are significant steps toward single-payer. Thus, for example, a bill to remove HMOs from the state's big three insurance programs (MnCare, MA and GAMC) would be a significant step toward single-payer. So too would a bill that makes it easier for counties to act as the single-payer for the big three state programs (what we've variously called county-based purchasing and county-direct contracting). Bills to set up a state agency to negotiate with the drug companies on behalf of all Minnesotans, and a bill to cover all kids through a single-paye program are other examples. So you'll no doubt be hearing about other bills and other hearings over the next three months, and in the coming years.

Of course, the Legislature is not the only arena in which social change occurs. We have plans to continue to build our base and our various organizations over the coming years, to educate the public through the precinct caucuses and the candidate nomination process, and we make use of the media every chance we get. Any of you on this list who would like a speaker to speak at your church, union, political group, whatever can help us build our base. MUHCC and GMHCC both have speakers who are willing to travel. This is a classic fight between big money and people power. We will win it with lots of people. We'll need your help. Thank you for being on this listserve.

Kip