Legislative Roundup

04/06/2006

Source: Pioneer Press
April 6, 2006

Looser voter ID rules clear chamber

Voters could come to the polls with a broader array of identification to register on Election Day, under a measure that cleared the Senate on Wednesday.

Minnesota’s same-day registration law requires proof of residency, which often is done with a driver’s license combined with a current utility bill. The bill that passed the Senate on a 39-26 vote extends the list of acceptable IDs to those issued by colleges and high schools, and adds cell-phone bills to the list of utility records.

Republican senators argued that it’s easy to make fake student IDs or manufacture a cell-phone bill, raising the chance for voter fraud.

But sponsoring Sen. John Hottinger, DFL-St. Peter, said laws already discourage fraud.

The bill’s prospects are uncertain because it hasn’t had a House hearing.

— Associated Press

Committee urges contingency fund

A top budget committee in the Minnesota House on Wednesday recommended setting aside about $370 million in a contingency account in case the state Supreme Court strikes down a new 75-cents-a-pack cigarette fee that lawmakers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty enacted last summer.

If the court upholds the fee, most of the contingent money would be available for short-term tax relief.

On a voice vote, the Republican-dominated Ways and Means Committee approved targets for splitting up a projected $88 million budget surplus and $317 million in a tax relief account. The full House is scheduled to vote on the targets today.

Pawlenty recommended a $159 million contingency.

The House resolution calls for much less spending than Pawlenty proposed, and more than six times the tax relief he recommended. The Senate has not yet set spending targets.

— Pioneer Press

Plan would protect victim’s addresses

Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer on Wednesday proposed a new program, run out of her office, to help victims of domestic violence keep their mailing addresses confidential.

Under the program, which Kiffmeyer said is already in effect in 18 states, the secretary of state’s office would establish a central address where enrollees would get all their first-class mail sent. The state then would forward it while keeping home addresses confidential.

“Many domestic violence victims can’t feel safe in their own homes,” the Republican secretary of state said at a news conference. “They want to make a fresh start, but it’s difficult if they are constantly worried about being found.”

The proposal comes too late in the legislative session to move as a separate bill, but Kiffmeyer said she’s hoping it will be attached to a larger public-safety spending bill.