Jessie Diggins got dissed but Russian hackers got a pass? Here’s what didn’t happen at the Capitol.
From
This happens to some bills every year. Lawmakers just don't get to everything.
But this year was different. Almost all the big policy issues -- and a number of not-so-big ones, including those listed below -- ended up being lumped together in one huge bill -- a roughly 990-page tome that might be the most prodigious bill that ever thudded upon a
Blame whoever you want: Dayton the Democrat or the Republican-controlled Legislature. (They're blaming each other.) That's not the point of this list.
Nor are we talking here about issues like addressing the opioid crisis or protecting nursing home residents. There was universal agreement that something needed to be done on those, but there were disagreements over what needed to be done and how to pay for it. (Nothing got done with either.)
These are ideas that didn't raise partisan eyebrows. We can't say for sure that Dayton would have signed every one, but they did enjoy bipartisan support, and opposition, if any existed, was essentially silent.
This is a list of just some of the collateral damage from the vetoed fate of the Legislature's humongnibus bill, also informally known as #OmnibusPrime.
DIGGINS' WORLD CUP DREAM
Olympic cross-country skiing gold medalist and Afton native
Diggins teamed up with the
Her official request of lawmakers was for two things:
1. For Dayton and lawmakers to direct the
2. For some money to help put it on.
She got neither.
To be clear, the money was never publicly promised, but it could be raised elsewhere. As for the state's official seal of approval, that would have cost nothing.
But x-c ski fans needn't despair.
ELECTION CYBERSECURITY
There's
But Simon, a Democrat, needs the permission of the Legislature and governor to have access to it.
But it was vetoed with that big bill. Now, he says, his office will do the best it can, and the money will sit there. (It will earn interest, at least.)
SEXUAL CONDUCT AND BUTT-GRABBING
There were at least four sexual-conduct provisions -- all intended to modernize statutes that contained exceptions many today would consider odd, if not offensive -- that had widespread bipartisan support. None happened.
* Outlaw butt-grabbing once and for all. There's currently a clothed-buttocks exception.
* Prohibit police officers from having sex with people in their custody, regardless of whether the person in custody "consents."
* Ban high school teachers from having sex with students or former students during the summer after graduation. Currently, teachers can -- and occasionally do , to the frustration of prosecutors -- have sex with students who are 18 or older.
* Remove what became known as the "marital rape exception," an antiquated piece of language that some prosecutors said creates a loophole for spouses who have sex with a partner who is incapacitated and thus unable to consent.
3D MAMMOGRAMS
Health insurance would have been required to cover preventative breast cancer screening using digital breast tomosynthesis -- 3D mammograms -- for people at risk for breast cancer under a health care provision that didn't survive.
FARMERS' MENTAL HEALTH
A Dayton-backed plan that
CHILD PORN
A bill would have enacted stricter penalties for producers and sellers of child pornography if they're repeat offenders, or if the victim is 13 or younger. Didn't happen.
SAFER DRIVING
A series of provisions aimed at reducing accidents related to emergency vehicles didn't survive. One would have specifically required vehicles to slow down when passing parked emergency vehicles. Now, it will remain up to an officer to cite the person for unsafe driving, a more nuanced violation.
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS
Last year, the Legislature established a county scholarship program wherein funds could be collected, via donations or other means, for locally designated two-year scholarships at Minnesota State colleges and universities. But the counties needed legislation to establish the actual accounts. They didn't get it.
KILL FEWER TREES WITH RULES
Currently, the
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