Education & Childcare Votes of MN Legislative Incumbents in Contested Primary Elections

INTRODUCTION: As the Minnesota legislative primary election rapidly approaches on August 14th, we thought it would be helpful for our supporters to have some idea of how legislative incumbents involved in primaries voted on bills and amendments important to academic excellence, state’s rights, and parental autonomy.  Although Education Liberty Watch followed many other bills in the last biennium other than these, the others were mostly included in large complicated omnibus bills where the impact of votes on individual components by individual legislators was much more difficult to explain.  The omnibus bills  contained provisions that our organization both opposed and supported.  Therefore, only bills or amendments that showed clear support or opposition to Education Liberty Watch principles were included.

SYMBOLS:

+ = Education Liberty Watch preferred vote

– = Education Liberty Watch opposed vote

? = Legislator was either absent or did not vote

N/A = Legislator was not elected at the time of the vote

* = House incumbent running for a senate seat

HOUSE VOTES:

EXPLANATION OF HOUSE VOTES:

1)      SF 1656 (HJ 9351) to require legislative approval of new standards adoptions – Authored in the House by Rep. Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton), this bill required legislative approval of new academic standards.  This is very important given both the lack of constitutionality and poor quality of the common core national standards already adopted in Minnesota in English, as well as the state developed social studies standards that are very non-academic and revisionist especially in history.  For more details, see our reviews of the social studies standards (here and here) and our discussions of this legislation (here).  Sadly, although this legislation was passed by both chambers of the legislature, it was vetoed by Governor Dayton. The Education Liberty Watch preferred vote on this legislation was “yea.”

2)      HF 1766 (HJ 5493) to prohibit union dues or fair share fees from being taken from childcare subsidy payments – Authored by Rep. Kathy Lohmer (R-Woodbury), this legislation was offered  in light of a huge push to unionize childcare workers by designating those that receive childcare subsidies as state employees, then subject to unionization.  The bill would have prevented union dues or fair share fees from being taken from these childcare subsidies for poor families, therefore keeping the cost of childcare from increasing.  Although opposition to unionization had wide polling support and this commonsense legislation was passed by both chambers of the legislature, it was vetoed by Governor Dayton, a big supporter of unionization.  The Education Liberty Watch vote on this amendment was “yea.”

3)      Petersen Amendment to the Garafolo  Amendment of SF 1755 (HJ 9336) to require a unionization election of childcare workers – In response both to the governor’s veto of HF 1766/SF 1630 to prevent union dues and fair share fees from being taken out of childcare subsidies  and to St. Paul Judge Dale Lindeman’s ruling that the Dayton executive order for a unionization election of less than half of the affected child care providers was “an unconstitutional usurpation of the Legislature’s constitutional right to make and or amend laws,” the House Republicans gave the Democrats a chance to go on record regarding the governor’s plan.  Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) offered an amendment to a bill by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) dealing with state employee layoff policy.  The Garofalo amendment set up a childcare unionization election.  Before this was debated, Rep. Brandon Petersen (R-Andover) offered an amendment to the amendment that would have put the entire Dayton childcare union election executive order into law verbatim.  In the end, only 14 legislators, all Democrat, voted to uphold the governor’s plan, thus providing a potential appeals court with clear legislative intent that it did not support the unionization scheme. The Education Liberty Watch preferred vote on this amendment was “nay.”

4)      Buesgens Amendment to HF 934 (HJ 1638) removing the quality rating system from the omnibus education bill – This amendment to the omnibus education finance bill in 2011 offered by Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) was to remove a statewide childcare quality rating system that would have imposed sometimes radical and indoctrinating government curricular standards on private and religious preschools, decreased parental choice for families that receive childcare subsidies, and greatly increased costs and bureaucracy for independent childcare workers and programs.  See some of our extensive discussions on this legislation and program here and here.  The Education Liberty Watch   preferred vote on this amendment was “yea.”

SENATE VOTES:

EXPLANATION OF SENATE VOTES:

1)      SF 1656 (SJ 4084) to require legislative approval of new standards adoptions – Authored by Senator Carla Nelson (R-Rochester), this bill required legislative approval of new academic standards.  This is very important given both the lack of constitutionality and poor quality of the common core national standards already adopted in Minnesota in English, as well as the state developed social studies standards that are very non-academic and revisionist especially in history.  For more details, see our reviews of the social studies standards (here and here) and our discussions of this legislation (here).  Sadly, although this legislation was passed by both chambers of the legislature, it was vetoed by Governor Dayton. The Education Liberty Watch preferred vote on this legislation was “yea.”

2) SF 1630 (SJ 5858) to prohibit union dues or fair share fees from being taken from childcare subsidy payments – Authored by Senator Ted Lillie (R-Woodbury), this legislation was offered  in light of a huge push to unionize childcare workers by designating those that receive childcare subsidies as state employees, then subject to unionization.  The bill would have prevented union dues or fair share fees from being taken from these childcare subsidies for poor families, therefore keeping the cost of childcare from increasing.  Although opposition to unionization had wide polling support and was passed by both chambers of the legislature, it was vetoed by Governor Dayton, a big supporter of unionization.  The Education Liberty Watch vote on this amendment was “yea.”

3)      Bonoff Amendment to SF 1030 (SJ 1136) to implement a statewide government controlled quality rating system – This amendment to the omnibus education finance bill in 2011 offered by Senator Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) would have implemented a statewide childcare quality rating system that would have imposed sometimes radical and indoctrinating government curricular standards on private and religious preschools, decreased parental choice for families that receive childcare subsidies, and greatly increased costs and bureaucracy for independent childcare workers and programs.  See some of our extensive discussions on this legislation and program here and here.  The Education Liberty Watch   preferred vote on this amendment was “nay.”

House Passes Standards Bill & Strongly Rejects Dayton Unionization Plan

Realizing the very sad state of both the social studies standards that are being totally rewritten instead of revised as per the law, and the English standards after the state’s very unwise decision to adopt the Common Core described in our last alert, the House wisely passed SF 1656.  Sadly, none of the DFL House members participated.  The vote was 71-61. All of the Republicans except Rep. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka) voted yes and all of the Democrats voted no.  Thanks very much for your involvement!!

On the childcare unionization front, since our last alert on that subject, Governor Dayton vetoed HF 1766 authored by Senator Ted Lillie and Rep. Kathy Lohmer, both Republicans from Lake Elmo.  That bill would have prohibited the raiding of childcare subsidies for union dues and fair share fees.  Because the unions are not slowing down in their intensity to unionize private childcare businesses whether they want it or not, and the governor is still contemplating an appeal of Judge Lindman’s April 6th ruling, these business owners are still rightly concerned.

In response both to the governor’s veto and to the judge’s ruling that the Dayton executive order for a unionization election of less than half of the affected child care providers was “an unconstitutional usurpation of the Legislature’s constitutional right to make and or amend laws,” the House Republicans gave the Democrats a chance to go on record regarding the governor’s plan.  Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) offered an amendment  to a bill by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) dealing with state employee layoff policy.  The Garofalo amendment set up a childcare unionization election.  Before this was debated, Rep. Brandon Petersen (R-Andover) offered an amendment to the amendment that would have put the entire Dayton childcare union election executive order into law verbatim.

The debate went on for almost two hours (here starting at approx. 1:15). DFL legislators mostly offered criticism of the process, with members calling it a “mockery,” accusing the Republicans of “playing games” and saying it “made him sick” (1:26 – Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights).  Leader of the early childhood nanny state forces, the retiring Rep. Nora Slawik (DFL-Maplewood) (1:22) could only argue about the need for a vote and how the amendment was just “messing around.”  She had no substantive arguments whatsoever for why the governor’s executive order was constitutional or why an election that only involved less than half the affected childcare providers even being able to vote was proper. In fact she lauded the fact that other states had gone around their legislatures and unionized childcare workers by executive order.  Neither did Rep. John Persell (1:32:50 DFL-Bemidji), who whined about the cost of running the House during the debate.

Continue reading »

New Developments in the Childcare Unionization Battle

Since our last childcare union update, much has happened in the battle to preserve the rights of parents and independent private and religious childcare providers.  First, Ramsey County District Judge Dale Lindman turned his temporary injunction against Governor Mark Dayton’s executive order for a childcare union election from November of 2011 into a permanent one.

In a beautifully written April 6th order that restores some hope that constitutions still matter, Judge Lindman wrote:

Executive Order 11-31 is null and void because it is an unconstitutional usurpation of the Legislature’s constitutional right to make and or amend laws and as such is a violation of the Separation of Powers doctrine

The brave group of group of childcare providers; the dedicated attorneys – Thomas Revnew and Douglas Seaton; the Childcare Freedom Coalition led by the excellent work of Dan McGrath of Minnesota Majority; the amicus brief by the Minnesota Senate; and the support of the Minnesota House all deserve great credit and deep gratitude.  Education Liberty Watch was honored to be a part of this strong team and heartily thanks you, our supporters, for your help and encouragement on this important issue of business, fiscal and parental freedom.

The other major development is that the Minnesota Senate passed HF 1766 on April 16th, authored by Senator Ted Lillie (R-Lake Elmo), which is identical to the bill authored by Rep. Kathy Lohmer (R-Woodbury) in the  House.  This bill adds one simple sentence to statute forbidding union dues or fair share fees from being taken out of childcare subsidies.   While the House bill passed on February 9th with bipartisan support (p. 5493), the Senate vote(p.5858) was completely party line. [Democrat Representatives John Benson, Patti Fritz, Mindy Greiling, Kory Kath, Kim Norton, Gene Pelowski joined all of the Republicans except for Rep. Steve Smith, who voted “nay,” in supporting the bill.]

The bill is now being sent to Governor Dayton who, given his strong alliances with unions and the amount of union contributions he has received, would probably veto it on his own. However, he may consider signing it as part of other end of session negotiations.

Continue reading »

Judge Strikes a Blow for Freedom – Dayton to Challenge

As mentioned in our last alert, a lawsuit was filed in Ramsey County by a group of childcare providers trying to stop the unionization of home based childcare providers via an election ordered by Governor Mark Dayton using an executive order.  This has been seen as a payback to two major public employee labor unions.  Only about 4300 of the state’s 11,000 childcare workers would have been able to vote, but the decision made by the union in negotiations with the state would have affected the entire group.  The suit was supported by the MN Senate which filed a friend of the court brief.  This was after an excellent letter was sent by the House leadership asking for the election to be stopped and then rejected by the governor.  On Monday December 5th,  Judge Dale Lindman issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) that stopped the mailing of ballots scheduled for December 7th.

There were two major legal and freedom issues underlying  the judge’s decision.  The first was the separation of powers issue.  Although the judge was not trying to interfere with the governor’s power to issue an executive order even to order a unionization election, he apparently saw that that power only extended to authorizing the election for public employees.  Since even those childcare providers that receive government subsidies are still private sector employers and business owners, not state employees, he seems to rightly understand that a change of law would be required that cannot be accomplished merely by an executive order.  Judge Lindman stated,  “If unionization of day care is to become the law of Minnesota, it must first be submitted to the lawmaking body of the state.”

The other major issue involved in the decision to issue the TRO was the unequal implementation of this election.  Unionization opponents rightly argued that all childcare providers in the state should be able to vote in the election, not just the 4300 that receive government subsidies, because decisions on regulations and standards negotiated by the unions would affect all of the providers.  The judge agreed when he said that he was “bothered” by the unequal implementation and that conducting the election in that manner would have been “very harmful to all parties involved.”  It is very ironic that the governor still thinks that his methods are proper, saying after the judge’s decision, “”I continue to believe that in a democracy, people should have rights to elections to determine their own destinies,” when in fact this lack of equal protection would have had a minority of providers “determining the destiny” for the majority.

Thankfully, the judge understood the assault on freedom and good government that this executive order and the election represented.  On a much different scale, his wise decision kept December 7th from becoming a new kind of “Day of Infamy” with regard to government and union tyranny that would have increased government and union control resulting in increased regulations and cost and decreased quality, choice, and access. Freedom for parents to raise and educate their children, including childcare, as they see fit and for these independent businesses to continue are among the many freedoms that the brave men killed 70 years ago and the many others before and since died to protect.

However, although this battle is won, the war is not over.  This was only a temporary restraining order and another hearing is scheduled for January 16th.  Although it seems that the judge is sympathetic to the views of those opposing unionization, there is more that needs to be done. Just as this alert is being prepared, the governor’s office has announced that he will contest the issuance of the temporary injunction next month.

In addition, as the legislature prepares to reconvene in January, a related issue needs to be discussed.  The governor’s unilateral expansion of the quality rating system (QRS) that is supported by the big business groups combined with the legislature’s ill-considered decision to spend money on early childhood scholarships will create more providers receiving subsidies.  This will feed into the Dayton/union view that any business or individual that has customers that receive government subsidies are subject to unionization, therefore creating a bigger pool of providers that would be in favor of unionization.  It will be very important for the legislature to not only continue their brave fight against childcare unionization and pass right to work legislation in this state, but also to resist the Dayton/big business plans to further expand the QRS either in the state or as part of the Race to the Top initiative.

Here is what you can do:
1) Support the freedoms of independent childcare business, the families they serve and all of us as overburdened taxpayers by contributing to the legal costs to stop this vote.

2) Keep informed about this situation by continuing to follow alerts at Education Liberty Watch, Child Care Freedom and www.childcareunioninfo.com and please tell your friends, especially if they are childcare providers.

3)  Please thank the House and Senate leadership and other legislators for their efforts to stop this vote.

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch 651-296-5981 sen.amy.koch@senate.mn

Senate Health & Human Services Chairman David Hann 651-296-1749 sen.david.hann@senate.mn

Senate State Government Chairman Mike Parry 651-296-9457 sen.mike.parry@senate.mn

House Speaker Kurt Zellers  651-296-5502  rep.kurt.zellers@house.mn

House Majority Leader Matt Dean 651-296-3018 rep.matt.dean@house.mn

Rep, Mary Franson 651-296-3201 rep.mary.franson@house.mn

4) Please remind the leadership and your own legislators that the quality rating system and Race to the Top will make stopping the union efforts more difficult as well as unnecessarily expand the role of both the state and federal governments in children’s lives and providers businesses.