Showing posts with label legislature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legislature. Show all posts
Monday, March 4, 2013
03/04 - IFO Contract - Bill introduced to the MN House
A bill was introduced
in the House today to ratify the IFO contract, along with three other
contracts. The bill is HF1069, authored by the three DFL House
members on the Subcommittee on Employee Relations, Rep. Leon Lillie, Rep. Ryan
Winkler, and Rep. Deb Hilstrom. The Senate bill will be
introduced later this week. Here is a link to the bill: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H1069.0.html&session=ls88
.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Legislative Update April 22, 2009: House Passes Higher Education Bill
Legislative Update April 22, 2009
By Russ Stanton, IFO Director of Government Relations
House Passes Higher Education Bill
Moments ago the House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Higher Education Bill by a vote of 86-46.
The bill would appropriate $665.8 million each year in FY2010 and FY2011 for MnSCU. This would include $65.2 million each year in federal stimulus money. This is the same funding level proposed by the governor. Where the House bill differs from the governor’s proposal is in the funding base for 2012 and 2013; the governor proposes $606.6 million for each of those years, whereas the House proposes $654.5 million for each year.
The House bill clamps down on MnSCU central office funding and prioritizes campus funding for instruction. It creates a separate line item for central office funding and then shrinks that amount. It says allocations to the campuses cannot be less than this biennium. It cuts funding for central office technology and eliminates funding for central office initiatives such as awards for excellence, salary competitiveness (IPSEL grants), technology initiatives outside the allocation model, and Board and Chancellor’s initiatives.
The bill also changes the process for selecting the MnSCU Board of Trustees. Instead of having the Governor appoint trustees, the bill would have the legislature elect the trustees in the same way they elect the U of M Regents.
The bill allows a waiver process from the policy limiting associate degrees to 60 credits and baccalaureate degrees to 120 credits. The waivers would be for emerging and innovative programs.
Amendment Attempts
The House voted down several attempts to limit student fees.
Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) offered an amendment that would have forced all higher education employees that make over $100,000 to take a 5% pay cut. After being informed that his amendment would put federal stimulus money in jeopardy, and that it violated the U of M’s constitutional autonomy, Gottwalt withdrew his amendment.
Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Wabasha) then offered an amendment to cut higher education employees making more than $100,000 by 10%. He specifically went after provisions in the IFO contract, such as the final year two step increase, supplemental retirement, and the $6000 performance bonuses (which no one has received). Drazkowski said anyone making more than $100,000 should contribute to solving the state’s budget shortfall; to which Majority Leader Tony Sertich responded, “You’ll get an opportunity to vote on that when we take up the tax bill”. Drazkowski’s amendment was defeated 130-2. Only Drazkowski and Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) voted in favor of the pay cut.
Campus Legislators’ Votes
Here is how campus area legislators voted on the final bill: Rep. John Persell (DFL-Bemidji), yes; Rep. Larry Howes (R-Walker), yes; Rep. Morrie Lanning (R-Moorhead), no; Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Glyndon) yes; Rep. Larry Haws (DFL-St. Cloud), yes; Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud), no; Rep Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), no; Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL-Mankato), yes; Rep. Terry Morrow (DFL-St. Peter), yes; Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona), yes.
All of the legislators representing Metro State campuses voted yes.
Conference Committee
The Senate passed their Omnibus Higher Education Bill last week. Now the House and Senate versions of the higher education bills will go to a ten member House/Senate conference committee that will work out a final compromise bill.
By Russ Stanton, IFO Director of Government Relations
House Passes Higher Education Bill
Moments ago the House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Higher Education Bill by a vote of 86-46.
The bill would appropriate $665.8 million each year in FY2010 and FY2011 for MnSCU. This would include $65.2 million each year in federal stimulus money. This is the same funding level proposed by the governor. Where the House bill differs from the governor’s proposal is in the funding base for 2012 and 2013; the governor proposes $606.6 million for each of those years, whereas the House proposes $654.5 million for each year.
The House bill clamps down on MnSCU central office funding and prioritizes campus funding for instruction. It creates a separate line item for central office funding and then shrinks that amount. It says allocations to the campuses cannot be less than this biennium. It cuts funding for central office technology and eliminates funding for central office initiatives such as awards for excellence, salary competitiveness (IPSEL grants), technology initiatives outside the allocation model, and Board and Chancellor’s initiatives.
The bill also changes the process for selecting the MnSCU Board of Trustees. Instead of having the Governor appoint trustees, the bill would have the legislature elect the trustees in the same way they elect the U of M Regents.
The bill allows a waiver process from the policy limiting associate degrees to 60 credits and baccalaureate degrees to 120 credits. The waivers would be for emerging and innovative programs.
Amendment Attempts
The House voted down several attempts to limit student fees.
Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) offered an amendment that would have forced all higher education employees that make over $100,000 to take a 5% pay cut. After being informed that his amendment would put federal stimulus money in jeopardy, and that it violated the U of M’s constitutional autonomy, Gottwalt withdrew his amendment.
Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Wabasha) then offered an amendment to cut higher education employees making more than $100,000 by 10%. He specifically went after provisions in the IFO contract, such as the final year two step increase, supplemental retirement, and the $6000 performance bonuses (which no one has received). Drazkowski said anyone making more than $100,000 should contribute to solving the state’s budget shortfall; to which Majority Leader Tony Sertich responded, “You’ll get an opportunity to vote on that when we take up the tax bill”. Drazkowski’s amendment was defeated 130-2. Only Drazkowski and Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) voted in favor of the pay cut.
Campus Legislators’ Votes
Here is how campus area legislators voted on the final bill: Rep. John Persell (DFL-Bemidji), yes; Rep. Larry Howes (R-Walker), yes; Rep. Morrie Lanning (R-Moorhead), no; Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Glyndon) yes; Rep. Larry Haws (DFL-St. Cloud), yes; Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud), no; Rep Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), no; Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL-Mankato), yes; Rep. Terry Morrow (DFL-St. Peter), yes; Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona), yes.
All of the legislators representing Metro State campuses voted yes.
Conference Committee
The Senate passed their Omnibus Higher Education Bill last week. Now the House and Senate versions of the higher education bills will go to a ten member House/Senate conference committee that will work out a final compromise bill.
House Omnibus Bonding Bill
The House Omnibus Bonding bill includes $67 Million for MnSCU projects (including Metro State's smart classroom project). The text can be viewed here (4/6): https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0855.3.html&session=ls86
Minnesota Audit Commission: Finalists for audits
More information on one of nine topic finalists: MnSCU System Offices and Expenditures Audit
The full list can be found here: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/ped4.htm
The full list can be found here: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/ped4.htm
Friday, February 27, 2009
MnSCU's Marble Boat - Guest Editorial
Guest Editorial: MnSCU's Marble Boat
IFO Update Newsletter: October 2007
By Professor Darrell Downs, Winona State University
In the late 1800s, China's Empress Dowager built a boat of stone. In a desperate attempt to gild the declining Qing Dynasty, the Empress diverted funds aimed for the navy and built a faux marble boat at the Summer Palace-a nice place for a picnic, but not really a boat.
In 1995, the state universities, community colleges, and technical colleges were merged into a centralized system of higher education known as the MnSCU (Minnesota State Colleges and Universities). By its own account, MnSCU has reduced and/or merged community colleges, universities, and technical colleges from 45 to 32 separate institutions. The savings produced a new administrative apparatus and multi-million dollar central edifice to higher education reform. Some would prefer something more tangible.
For the full editorial click here: MnSCU's Marble Boat
As Chinese school children learned of the Empress Dowager's fabled ploy to use the Dynasty's passion for the latest in maritime technology to obscure her more craven interest in summer palace remodeling, we stand in awe of an equally misdirected trick if "technology" becomes the raison d'être of the Imperial Guard at MnSCU. If MnSCU ever had any clear reason for being, it was to serve the educational needs of the campuses. Technology is part of that picture, but technology should never rise above the more basic instructional needs of students. Nor should technology become an excuse for central administration to impose control over the varied academic disciplines of the state's colleges and universities. If that happens, even the most strident efforts by the legislature to rebuild the state's higher education system will be fruitless . . . and such is the case today. On the heels of the legislature's 12 percent increase in appropriations for MnSCU's two-year budget, the legitimacy of MnSCU's management of these new dollars is disappearing faster than the Peking Duck at a tourist vendors' convention.
Consider MnSCU's Central's latest fetish for instructional technology. Of the $151 million increase in funding for the biennium, $62.8 million is slated for technology. If a budget is an expression of agency priority, the clearest priority of MnSCU Central is instructional technology. Of course, MnSCU has declared that instructional technology dollars are headed for the campuses. But how do those technology dollars help the students who can't afford the tuition to attend class, or how do those dollars help campuses hire faculty to offer classes to meet the student demand? On-line courses you say? Perhaps to a small degree, but $62.8 million is no small degree. Virtual learning you say? Perhaps actual learning should be a higher priority. A new multi-million dollar experiment in leading edge curiosities leads me to wonder how we're helping the campuses in any tangible way for the majority of students. Undoubtedly, a few of the system's 170,000 plus students will salivate at the thought of taking courses via Second Life or other avatar friendly virtual worlds. Most students and faculty, however, live in an actual world that relies on classroom assignments, non-avatar professors, and they must pay actual and unfortunately increasing tuitions.
Could it be that MnSCU doesn't know how to estimate needs? Certainly, this is not easy for 32 separate institutions, but there is no better indicator of campus needs than the students and faculty of these campuses, or the elected representatives that voice their needs. Last year, the MN Senate appropriation bill allocated $10 million for technology for the biennium. The MN House bill similarly allocated $30 million. In the end, the legislature decided not to micromanage technology spending, and granted MnSCU the flexibility to serve the campuses in the best way possible. A reasonable person might think that MnSCU Central would consider the spirit of the final appropriation bill to aim for somewhere between $10 and $30 million for technology, and if in doubt it would ask the campuses about their priorities. Unfortunately, nobody on the campuses really believed that MnSCU Central would double the amount and, in doing so, ensure yet another unnecessary and divisive battle over scarce higher education funding. But then again, I suppose nobody really believed the Empress was building a marble boat.
Someday soon, we'll look at the MnSCU Imperial Palace and agree that it's a nice place for a picnic, but it has done little for education. Darrell “non-avatar professor” Downs.
IFO Update Newsletter: October 2007
By Professor Darrell Downs, Winona State University
In the late 1800s, China's Empress Dowager built a boat of stone. In a desperate attempt to gild the declining Qing Dynasty, the Empress diverted funds aimed for the navy and built a faux marble boat at the Summer Palace-a nice place for a picnic, but not really a boat.
In 1995, the state universities, community colleges, and technical colleges were merged into a centralized system of higher education known as the MnSCU (Minnesota State Colleges and Universities). By its own account, MnSCU has reduced and/or merged community colleges, universities, and technical colleges from 45 to 32 separate institutions. The savings produced a new administrative apparatus and multi-million dollar central edifice to higher education reform. Some would prefer something more tangible.
For the full editorial click here: MnSCU's Marble Boat
As Chinese school children learned of the Empress Dowager's fabled ploy to use the Dynasty's passion for the latest in maritime technology to obscure her more craven interest in summer palace remodeling, we stand in awe of an equally misdirected trick if "technology" becomes the raison d'être of the Imperial Guard at MnSCU. If MnSCU ever had any clear reason for being, it was to serve the educational needs of the campuses. Technology is part of that picture, but technology should never rise above the more basic instructional needs of students. Nor should technology become an excuse for central administration to impose control over the varied academic disciplines of the state's colleges and universities. If that happens, even the most strident efforts by the legislature to rebuild the state's higher education system will be fruitless . . . and such is the case today. On the heels of the legislature's 12 percent increase in appropriations for MnSCU's two-year budget, the legitimacy of MnSCU's management of these new dollars is disappearing faster than the Peking Duck at a tourist vendors' convention.
Consider MnSCU's Central's latest fetish for instructional technology. Of the $151 million increase in funding for the biennium, $62.8 million is slated for technology. If a budget is an expression of agency priority, the clearest priority of MnSCU Central is instructional technology. Of course, MnSCU has declared that instructional technology dollars are headed for the campuses. But how do those technology dollars help the students who can't afford the tuition to attend class, or how do those dollars help campuses hire faculty to offer classes to meet the student demand? On-line courses you say? Perhaps to a small degree, but $62.8 million is no small degree. Virtual learning you say? Perhaps actual learning should be a higher priority. A new multi-million dollar experiment in leading edge curiosities leads me to wonder how we're helping the campuses in any tangible way for the majority of students. Undoubtedly, a few of the system's 170,000 plus students will salivate at the thought of taking courses via Second Life or other avatar friendly virtual worlds. Most students and faculty, however, live in an actual world that relies on classroom assignments, non-avatar professors, and they must pay actual and unfortunately increasing tuitions.
Could it be that MnSCU doesn't know how to estimate needs? Certainly, this is not easy for 32 separate institutions, but there is no better indicator of campus needs than the students and faculty of these campuses, or the elected representatives that voice their needs. Last year, the MN Senate appropriation bill allocated $10 million for technology for the biennium. The MN House bill similarly allocated $30 million. In the end, the legislature decided not to micromanage technology spending, and granted MnSCU the flexibility to serve the campuses in the best way possible. A reasonable person might think that MnSCU Central would consider the spirit of the final appropriation bill to aim for somewhere between $10 and $30 million for technology, and if in doubt it would ask the campuses about their priorities. Unfortunately, nobody on the campuses really believed that MnSCU Central would double the amount and, in doing so, ensure yet another unnecessary and divisive battle over scarce higher education funding. But then again, I suppose nobody really believed the Empress was building a marble boat.
Someday soon, we'll look at the MnSCU Imperial Palace and agree that it's a nice place for a picnic, but it has done little for education. Darrell “non-avatar professor” Downs.
Friday, February 6, 2009
We need your help: Write your Legislator (part 1)
Please consider writing a brief note to legislators that emphasizes the potential impact of budget cuts on campus and perhaps your thoughts on how the state might address could find the revenue to minimize the damage. The House and Senate have set up blogs on their web sites for public input on the budget (see links below). Further down the page (and on the right of this site) are links to the higher education committees and campus area legislators.
Legislature Blogs
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/budgetsuggestions.asp
http://budgetforum.senate.mn/?cat=5
Additional helpful links:
Senate Higher Ed
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/committee_bio.php?cmte_id=2003&ls=#members
House Higher Ed
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=86116
CAMPUS AREA LEGISLATORS 2009 - Contact Information
WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 30 (Rochester)
Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL)
State Office Building Room 553
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-0573
rep.tina.liebling@house.mn
P.O. Box 6332
Rochester, MN 55903
507/289-4664
Rep. Andy Welti (DFL)
State Office Building Room 389
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-4378
rep.andy.welti@house.mn
RR 2 Box 17
Plainview, MN 55964
507/951-8857
Sen. Ann Lynch (DFL)
Capitol Room G-24
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-4848
sen.ann.lynch@senate.mn
4479 Ettenmoor Lane SW
Rochester, MN 55902
507/281-9297
Rep. Kim Norton (DFL)
State Office Building Room 387
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-9249
rep.kim.norton@house.mn
P.O.Box 6766
Rochester, MN 55903
507-280-6273
WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 31
Rep. Gene Pelowski Jr. (DFL)
State Office Building Room 491
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-8637
rep.gene.pelowski@house.mn
257 Wilson Street
Winona, MN 55987
507/454-9500
Rep. Greg Davids (R)
State Office Building Room 283
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-9278
rep.greg.davids@house.mn
P.O. Box 32
Preston, MN 55965
507-765-4795
Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes (DFL)
Capitol Room G-24
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-5649
sen.sharon.erickson.ropes@senate.mn
978 Gilmore Avenue
Winona, MN 55987
507/454-5447
WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 28B
Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R)
State Office Building Room 247
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
651/296-2273
rep.steve.drazkowski@house.mn
14369 654th Street
Wabasha, MN 55981
651/565-3711
BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 4
Rep. Frank Persell (DFL)
State Office Building Room 529
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-5516
rep.frank.persell@house.mn
2435 Staghorn Lane
Bemidji, MN 56601
218/751-2770
Rep. Larry Howes (R)
State Office Building Room 201
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-2451
rep.larry.howes@house.mn
5340 Ladyslipper Lane NW
Walker, MN 56484
218/547-4707
Sen. Mary Olson (DFL)
Capitol Room 124
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-4913
sen.mary.olson@senate.mn
7332 Fergeson Court NE
Bemidji, MN 56601
218/444-6339
METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 58
Rep. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL)
State Office Building Room 329
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-8659
rep.bobby.champion@house.mn
Legislature Blogs
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/budgetsuggestions.asp
http://budgetforum.senate.mn/?cat=5
Additional helpful links:
Senate Higher Ed
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/committee_bio.php?cmte_id=2003&ls=#members
House Higher Ed
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=86116
CAMPUS AREA LEGISLATORS 2009 - Contact Information
WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 30 (Rochester)
Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL)
State Office Building Room 553
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-0573
rep.tina.liebling@house.mn
P.O. Box 6332
Rochester, MN 55903
507/289-4664
Rep. Andy Welti (DFL)
State Office Building Room 389
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-4378
rep.andy.welti@house.mn
RR 2 Box 17
Plainview, MN 55964
507/951-8857
Sen. Ann Lynch (DFL)
Capitol Room G-24
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-4848
sen.ann.lynch@senate.mn
4479 Ettenmoor Lane SW
Rochester, MN 55902
507/281-9297
Rep. Kim Norton (DFL)
State Office Building Room 387
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-9249
rep.kim.norton@house.mn
P.O.Box 6766
Rochester, MN 55903
507-280-6273
WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 31
Rep. Gene Pelowski Jr. (DFL)
State Office Building Room 491
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-8637
rep.gene.pelowski@house.mn
257 Wilson Street
Winona, MN 55987
507/454-9500
Rep. Greg Davids (R)
State Office Building Room 283
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-9278
rep.greg.davids@house.mn
P.O. Box 32
Preston, MN 55965
507-765-4795
Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes (DFL)
Capitol Room G-24
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-5649
sen.sharon.erickson.ropes@senate.mn
978 Gilmore Avenue
Winona, MN 55987
507/454-5447
WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 28B
Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R)
State Office Building Room 247
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
651/296-2273
rep.steve.drazkowski@house.mn
14369 654th Street
Wabasha, MN 55981
651/565-3711
BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 4
Rep. Frank Persell (DFL)
State Office Building Room 529
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-5516
rep.frank.persell@house.mn
2435 Staghorn Lane
Bemidji, MN 56601
218/751-2770
Rep. Larry Howes (R)
State Office Building Room 201
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-2451
rep.larry.howes@house.mn
5340 Ladyslipper Lane NW
Walker, MN 56484
218/547-4707
Sen. Mary Olson (DFL)
Capitol Room 124
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-4913
sen.mary.olson@senate.mn
7332 Fergeson Court NE
Bemidji, MN 56601
218/444-6339
METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY – DISTRICT 58
Rep. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL)
State Office Building Room 329
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-8659
rep.bobby.champion@house.mn
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