According to DFL Reps. Marion Greene of Minneapolis and Erin Murphy of St. Paul, Republicans have pulled a repeal of pay equity from the omnibus state government operations bill. The controversial provision, termed the Local Government Pay Equity Act, would have eliminated a mechanism that ensures equal pay for women working for local government units.

“Pay equity for women is a serious issue that unfortunately still needs to be addressed,” Greene said in a statement. “This year, some legislators have addressed the issue by moving us backwards. Since HF7 was introduced my DFL colleagues and I have fought this bill and stood for equal pay for women.”

HF7 passed the Government Operations and Elections committee on Wednesday by a party line vote, but the provision that would have repealed pay equity was pulled. HF7 was the original bill containing the repeal and is now the larger omnibus state government bill.

“When white women earn 76 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts in 2011 and the disparity is even worse for women of color, we cannot be idle,” Greene added.

The Minnesota Independent first reported on the bill in February when it was included in a larger bill which repealed a variety of local government mandates. Later that month, a series of greater Minnesota newspapers came out strongly against the measure.

“The Senate author called the bill to repeal pay equity ‘really stupid’ when he pulled the legislation,” Greene said, referring to Sen. John Carlson, R-Bemidji, who dropped the bill in the Senate and said it “would not see the light of day.”

“Women and girls across the state waited too long for Rep. [Steve] Drazkowski, the House author, to listen to our call to pull his bill,” she said. Drazkowski apparently heeded that call on Wednesday when the repeal was eliminated.

“Equality is not a partisan issue — it is an American ideal,” said Rep. Murphy. “We are glad we have removed this backwards provision, however work remains. In terms of equal pay for equal work, women in Minnesota are not yet equal. This issue demands our continued diligence. Minnesota’s pay equity law is one form of that diligence.”

Members of the DFL House caucus chastised Republicans Tuesday for introducing legislation in the House that would eliminate the 1984 Pay Equity Act. At a press conference, Democrats said the law is still necessary to ensure women are paid the same as men in local government units. But just as they were rallying against the bill, Republican Sen. Mike Jungbauer introduced a bill — the third GOP bill on the issue — to repeal the law in the Senate.

Rep. Erin Murphy of St. Paul said that during tough economic times, it doesn’t make sense to eliminate protections for women.

“Republican leaders want to make it much harder for working moms and women, harder for them to earn an equal salary,” she said. “We are here to demand that Republicans stop trying to take steps backward.”

Rep. Kate Knuth

Rep. Kate Knuth of New Brighton echoed Murphy. “Women for generations have fought for equality in this country and around the world, and I think all the women you see standing here are the results of this equality,” she said. “We are making progress in equality but despite the progress, women still only earn about 77 cents on the dollar of what men make. They are still not earning an equal amount to men.”

She added, “It doesn’t really make any sense to me that the Republicans would repeal legal protections that help us make this progress.”

The bill, HF7/159, contains a series of repeals of mandates on local governments including a repeal of the Pay Equity Act. It has 22 sponsors in the House and Senate, all of whom are Republicans.

Rep. Lyndon Carlson of Crystal was serving in the House when the bill was passed in 1984. He voted for that bill and authored another one that added state employees to the Pay Equity Act. “I have a long history of being an advocate for equity in pay for our women employees in the state of Minnesota and local units of government,” he said.

He added, “For those who wonder if this is still needed, just last year as a result of a review there was an adjustment of $1.59. The point is: it’s still needed. It’s still actively being utilized to bring about pay equity.”

Rep. Terry Morrow of St. Peter said the act need to stay in place for the future women of Minnesota, including his teenage daughters who are just entering the workforce.

“I am deeply disturbed that HF7 sends a threatening message about Minnesota’s commitment to equal pay,” he said. “Bills send messages, and as a dad I reject the misguided message that equal pay is no longer a right in Minnesota.”

He added, “My daughters and my wife are equal contributors and they deserve equal pay for equal work.”

As DFLers were speaking out against the bill, Jungbauer, an East Bethel Republican, announced a third bill to repeal the Pay Equity Act. SF 282 will be introduced in the Senate on Wednesday morning.

Rep. Kim Norton of Rochester told reporters at the press conference, “The only reason to remove this mandate when we have a deficit like this is to cut the pay of women and save money.”

—RT Rybak, Minneapolis Mayor

—Rep. Tony Sertich, House Majority Leader, D-Chisholm, District 5B

—Tony Sutton, state GOP chair

—Tom Freeman, House Republican Caucus

—Tom Horner, Independence Party candidate for governor

—Rep. Erin Murphy, D-St. Paul, District 64A

Got a politician you think we should be following on Twitter? Let us know at @MnIndyLIVE.

Photo: Lavverue, Flickr

The Minnesota Legislature has passed a bill that would give same-sex couples more end-of-life rights in the event of a partner’s death, but Gov. Tim Pawlenty has threatened to veto the bill. It passed in the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday and the House on Tuesday, despite the argument from Republicans that the bill discriminated against opposite sex couples.

The bill would allow a surviving domestic partner to sue for wrongful death and also give the survivor the power to execute the final wishes of a deceased partner, including making funeral and burial arrangements. In hearings at the Capitol this year, same-sex couples testified about instances where those wishes were not honored even when legal documents had been drawn up.

Rep. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, who authored the measure in the House, said the bill should pass “because we should never tolerate discrimination in Minnesota.”

But House Republicans on Tuesday called the bill “divisive” and said that eliminating discrimination for same-sex couples would discriminate against opposite-sex couples.

“I’m not sure why you are singling out same-sex couples. Why we wouldn’t allow it for opposite sex couples?” Rep. Paul Kohls, R-Victoria, said. “I’d suggest that your bill discriminates against those those individuals that choose not to get married.”

He added that he has a “very strong personal convicted belief that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman.”

Rep. Keith Downey, R-Edina, added, “This would in fact discriminate against a man and a woman trying to operate in this framework.”

Murphy responded that the bill is to “correct discrimination against couples that don’t have access to marriage.” She said that opposite-sex couples have access to the same rights through marriage; same-sex couples do not.

Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, got some laughs when he said, “To call this bill divisive is sooo 2005.”

He said public opinion has shifted greatly in the last five years and that young people especially support rights for same-sex couples.

And Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, the only LGBT member of the House, spoke. “This is not a divisive social issue, this is a coming together of families,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine losing my partner of 21 years. I can barely bear to think of that.”

After a vote of 78 to 54 in favor of the bill, Clark said, “I thank all of you for voting for it. It’s just basic human decency.”

On Wednesday the bill passed the Senate and is headed to Pawlenty’s desk.

Ann Kaner-Roth, executive director of Project 515, a group that is promoting the legislation, pushed the governor to sign the bill. “These bills, which support same-sex families in their darkest hours, move Minnesota in the right direction. We encourage the governor to choose equality and fairness, as have the majority of Minnesotans, and sign this important legislation.”

Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, the Senate author of the bill responded to indications from the governor’s office that he would veto the bill. Here’s her full statement:

“This is a simple matter of fairness. Under current law, married couples are granted the right to carry out the final wishes of their deceased spouses, and to recover damages in wrongful death lawsuits. Same-sex, committed couples, however, have no such rights. This is a very narrow bill that ensures loving, caring partners are afforded some very basic rights when their loved one dies.

It’s important that we look at the two issues in this bill separately. In terms of allowing a domestic partner to carry out their spouses final wishes, the Governor’s spokesman is correct to suggest that couples can have legal documents drawn up to reflect who is authorized to make these types of decisions. However, these legal documents are not fail-safe.

In one instance, a couple paid considerable amounts of money to draft powers of attorney, health care directives and other documents to ensure their relationship would be legally recognized in the case of one partner dying. Then, after one partner passed, a small error was discovered in their health care directive. That small error left the surviving partner without any rights in determining what happened to his loved ones’ remains. By recognizing their rights in state law, we can ensure something like this never happens again.

The other issue in this bill cannot be handled by drafting legal documents. In the case of a wrongful death, the surviving spouse of a married couple is allowed to sue the wrong-doer to cover medical and funeral expenses. Same-sex partners cannot, and are left to bear the costs themselves if their partners are wrongfully killed. Our bill would ensure that surviving partners and their families will no longer suffer financially after a wrongful death.

I urge the Governor to reconsider his opposition to this bill. These are simple, common-sense measures we can take to provide some comfort to those who have lost loved ones.”

Tim Reardon with Eric and their daughter Tess. Photo: Project515.org

As the legislative session nears its end at the Minnesota Capitol, advocates of rights for same-sex couples are giving legislators a last minute push on a key piece of legislation. Project 515 held a press conference on Tuesday to urge the House take a vote on a bill sitting on the House floor: the Final Wishes and Wrongful Death bill. On hand were individuals who, at a profound time of grief, found that the law afforded them no recognition in making arrangements for their deceased partners.

The Final Wishes portion of the bill would allow same-sex couples to honor the final wishes of their deceased partner in terms of burial or cremation or other arrangements at the time of death, and the Wrongful Death section would provide a surviving same-sex partner to seek justice in the event of a wrongful death.

“Last year, we promised Minnesota families we would correct the discrimination that exists during the most difficult time in their lives — the loss of a loved one,” said Rep. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, who is the House author of the bill. “Now it’s time to pass this legislation and sign it into law.”

At the press conference, Randy Miranda told reporters and legislators about the experience he went through when his partner Tom died of esophageal cancer. He recalled the Cremation Society telling him that Minnesota law didn’t recognize their relationship — even though the couple had drawn up power-of-attorney documents.

“All of a sudden, you’re an outsider,” Miranda said. “For hours each and every day for five months, I was there as Tom’s partner [while he battled cancer]. Yet I’m not allowed to take on the final responsibility and carry out Tom’s wishes. We need to turn that around so no other families have to face this painful reality.”

Miranda’s story echoes that of Tim Reardon and his late partner Eric; as the Minnesota Independent reported last year, Reardon wasn’t able to make final arrangements after his partner Eric died from brain cancer.

“I had no right to make decisions about Eric’s remains. I felt betrayed and angry. After all, we had lived out our commitment to each other and commitment to Tess,” said Reardon, referring to his young daughter. “We had done what we were supposed to do to protect our family.”

They had arranged for Reardon to have power of attorney, but it was not honored.

Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, called for an end to the discrimination.

“Eight out of 10 Minnesotans agree that government should not treat people differently because of their sexual orientation,” she said. “Committed same-sex couples and their families are our friends, family members, colleagues and members of our faith communities. They deserve the same rights and responsibilities we all expect but only some of us actually receive.”

Ann Kaner-Roth of Project 515, a group advocating for the bill, told the Minnesota Independent it’s vital that people call their representatives and urge them to call for a vote on the bill.

While she’s concerned that Gov. Tim Pawlenty may veto the bill, Kaner-Roth said the issue is a winning one in Minnesota — even if same-sex marriage is not.

“The majority of Minnesotans are on the side of equality with this issue,” she said. “There’s a lot of constituent interest.”

Ominous news about job losses and financial woes at Minnesota hospitals over the last week coincide with Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s line-item veto of $381 million in General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) grants and his vow to make even more cuts by unallotment. But as bad as the doomsday scenarios are, they shouldn’t include St. Paul’s Regions Hospital closing — a prospect that the DFL warned of over the weekend.

Here are some headlines from the last week that, to some at least, read like plot lines for a series-ending episode of TV’s “House” doctor drama, if not a medical prequel to the post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” movies.

» Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis will lay off 100 staffers.

» Park Nicollet Health Services lays off 240 and closes a clinic in Hopkins. The owner of Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park has already laid off more than twice that number over the last six months.

» Willmar’s Rice Memorial Hospital continues to shed staff. Layoffs have left the city-owned hospital with its smallest workforce in a decade.

» In rural areas of the state, doctors are scarce. Health care organizations must dangle bonuses to attract debt-laden med school grads to the hinterlands.

» St. Peter bucked the trend by expanding a local clinic of Mayo Health System, but Mayo’s flagship facility in Rochester will lose $30 million from Pawlenty’s GAMC veto alone.

» Losing patients, North Memorial Health Care is cutting 100 jobs. A 6-percent decline in stays at the Robbinsdale hospital hides one area in which business is up by 22 percent: charity care.

» Two metro hospitals that care for the poor — Regions in St. Paul and HCMC in Minneapolis — will make deep cuts. HCMC Medical Director Michael Belzer says revisiting state cuts during the 2010 Legislative session will be too late, as hospitals will have set budgets and take actions necessary to meet them by then.

But Regions is not in danger of closing its doors, contrary to a DFL Party announcement (see below) from the closing days of the legislative session.

“That’s not going to happen,” Regions spokesman Vince Rivard told the Minnesota Independent on Monday, adding that a hospital expansion financed with St. Paul municipal bonds is still set to open this summer.

Still a variety of program cuts at Regions and even imposition of new, restrictive geographical boundaries are possible, Rivard said. The hospital sees patients from as far away as Montana but is only obligated to provide Ramsey County residents with non-emergency services.

And Rivard agreed with HCMC’s Belzer that fixes the Legislature next year makes to the governor’s vetos would come too late to forestall drastic cutbacks.

Here’s the press release from the DFL House DFL Caucus that asserted that Regions Hospital could close. It was sent out Saturday, midway between Pawlenty’s Thursday night line-item veto of GAMC and the end of the Legislative session Monday night.

NEWS STATEMENT
Minnesota House of Representatives

May 16, 2009

PAWLENTY VETO MAY RESULT IN FULL OR PARTIAL CLOSURE OF REGIONS HOSPITAL

Local lawmakers speak out against Governor Pawlenty’s deep cuts to
Regions Hospital

After announcing Thursday he plans to make billions of dollars in
budget cuts alone without public or legislative input, Governor Tim
Pawlenty eliminated General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) in Minnesota.
With one line item veto late Thursday night, the governor cut $381
million that was dedicated exclusively to treat the poorest people in
the state – including veterans, senior citizens, and the mentally ill.

Those cuts may result in the full or partial closure of Regions
Hospital in St. Paul. By eliminating GAMC, the hospital will face a $46
million budget cut – 10% of its gross revenue. Regions Hospital employs
roughly 5,000 people and serves nearly 23,000 patients every year.

The following is a statement from local state lawmakers deeply
concerned about these devastating cuts to Regions Hospital and the
potential impact on residents of St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs:

“Governor Pawlenty’s veto pen single-handedly put Regions Hospital in
St. Paul at serious risk of significantly cutting back critical services
or potentially closing its doors. This is a devastating blow to tens of
thousands of citizens in St. Paul and the surrounding communities who
rely on Regions Hospital for quality, expert medical care. It has
threatened thousands of jobs, and the health and safety of our
communities.

This deep and devastating cut could have been avoided. Lawmakers
offered a responsible alternative that would have cut Regions Hospital
only $5.7 million – a budget reduction the hospital could have sustained
without significantly drawing back critical medical services to our
community.

By eliminating GAMC, Governor Pawlenty has cut 30,000 of Minnesota’s
poorest, sickest citizens off health care. Many are veterans, senior
citizens, people with mentally illness, or those who are homeless. 70%
have expensive mental health or chemical dependency challenges, and 40%
have chronic disease that leads to frequent hospitalization. Without
care, these Minnesotans will be at risk of devastating health
implications.

Finally, these cuts have made the state’s budget shortfall even
worse. Eliminating GAMC in Minnesota costs the state $100 million in
federal matching funds. It also requires that inmates in county jails
and sex offenders who are constitutionally required access to medical
care must now be paid for in general fund dollars.

We are deeply disappointed in Governor Pawlenty’s decision to balance
the budget with jobs and deep cuts to hospitals. In the final days of
session, we’ll keep fighting to protect jobs and keep Minnesota’s
hospitals whole.”

Officials whose names appeared at the top of the release are State Reps. Joe Atkins, John Lesch, Karla Bigham, Leon Lillie, Paul Gardner, Tim Mahoney, Mindy Greiling, Carlos Mariani, Rick Hansen, Erin Murphy, Alice Hausman, Michael Paymar, Sheldon Johnson, Bev Scalze, Kate Knuth and Cy Thao.

Tim Reardon (right) with Eric and daughter Tess (Photo: Project515.org)

Tim Reardon thought he and his partner, Eric, had prepared everything they needed in the event one of them died. But when Eric lost his struggle with brain cancer, Tim discovered that a single mistake in the expensive legal documents the couple had drafted meant that Eric’s dying wishes would not be granted. Because marriage is prohibited for couples like them, Tim and Eric didn’t get the rights regarding end-of-life decision-making automatically granted to legally married couples.

“I had no right to make decisions about Eric’s remains. I felt betrayed and angry. After all, we had lived out our commitment to each other and commitment to Tess,” he said, referring to his daughter, who turns 6 this year. “We had done what we were supposed to do to protect our family.”

Minnesota legislators are introducing legislation to fix that inequality. Spearheaded by Project 515, a group dedicated to shining a light on the 515 ways it says Minnesota discriminates against same-sex couples, the Final Wishes Act would give same-sex couples equal opportunities to carry out the desires of their partners. Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, and Rep. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, introduced the legislation on Thursday.

Rep. Erin Murphy discusses the Final Wishes bill at a Thursday press conference.

“This proposed legislation focuses on real issues that affect Minnesota families every day,” said Murphy. “Particularly at a time when families are struggling, our laws should not unduly add stress, financial hardship or even homelessness to the problems families face.”

Laura Smidzik, executive director of Project 515, said the bill would give same-sex couples the automatic right to make end-of-life choices for each other. “Same-sex couples often try to replicate these rights with legal documents that are sometimes ignored. This bill eliminates a costly and often ineffective legal document to make an after death decision.”

Project 515 is also drafting legislation to address other areas where Minnesota law presents challenges for same-sex partners. When a partner in a same-sex couple is wrongfully killed, for example, the surviving partner would have the legal recourse, as lawfully married couples in Minnesota automatically do, to sue the wrongdoer. When a partner in a same-sex couple passes on and there is a lien on the couple’s shared property, the state can seize the property. A widowed spouse can legally maintain that residence so long as the couple were married.

“Minnesota families need to know that our laws will treat them fairly, especially during times of sadness and mourning,” said Project 515′s Smidzik. “Pursuing revisions to some of the 515 laws that discriminate will help us build stronger families and households in our state.”

With a DFL-majority supportive of these issues, the bill has a shot in the Legislature. Bill supporters say they will be working with Gov. Tim Pawlenty to persuade him to sign the bill should it pass. “We do believe that he does value equality for Minnesota citizens,” said Smidzik.

Mayor Coleman introduced the Illinois senator to each individual and gave a brief talk about the bitter presidential campaign, evoking the seven stages of grief. Obama then thanked everyone for showing up at the rally and stressed the importance of Democratic unity in November. “He understood that this is a raw spot for a lot of people who had been supporting Senator Clinton,” says St. Paul Rep. Erin Murphy, who was among the attendees. “He promised to reach out and listen carefully to what the Clinton supporters were talking about and what they were interested in. It was a very classy and purposeful effort to begin to unify Democrats on the ticket.”

There was at least one apostate in the group: St. Paul City Council President Kathy Lantry, who says she’s a longtime Obama believer. “I said I don’t have lie, do I?” Lantry recalls, when Coleman invited her to the event. “And they said no.”

After the meeting Obama offered to pose for individual pictures with all of the Clinton supporters. Murphy instead cajoled him into talking on the cell phone with her 17-year-old daughter, an ardent Obama supporter. “That was pretty cool,” she says.

Lantry understands that some Clinton devotees may find it difficult to switch political allegiances. “Some of the women in that room have worked their entire lives to see the day of a real possibility of a woman president,” she notes.