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Time to act - no omnibus bill



Please take action on this from MMN350.org - Tim

The 2018 session is coming to a close, and many of the bills we have notified you about will soon be voted on. And what a tangled web they’re weaving! Some of these bills will be voted on individually, some in the form of an Omnibus, and some, crazily enough, will be voted on both individually and in an Omnibus.
This week, we are giving you an update on the bills we have notified you about and asking you to urge your representative to vote no on the Omnibus bills and bad bills we have been tracking.
What is an Omnibus bill?
This is a bill which bundles together a variety of bills to be voted on as one large bill. This means that some legislators believe they need to vote yes to bills that include bad things so that some good things will get passed too.  We are hearing the party in power may even combine all Omnibus bills into one gigantic Omnibus bill and present that to the Governor. Either way, we want our representatives to vote against these omnibus bills.
Bad Bills MN350 has Tracked and Omnibus Status
Over this legislative session, we have sent out actions related to several bills. Some of these bills have been attached to an omnibus and some have not. We continue to oppose the following bills and have attached Fact Sheets for each of them.
  • The Xcel Nuclear Cost Recovery bill – SF 3504 / HF 3708  
    • This is moving through as both an individual bill and also included in the House Energy Omnibus bill HF 4289.
  • The Guilty by Association bill – SF 3463 / HF 3693  
    • This is not yet included in an Omnibus. It may be included in House Public Safety Omnibus bill, HF 2856.
  • The Greenlight the Line 3 Pipeline bill – SF3510 / HF 3759  
    • As of yet, not part of an Omnibus. This bill would shortchange an existing permit process at the Public Utilities Commission and immediately give approval to Enbridge, the pipeline company, to build the new line along their preferred route. The Commission uses a judge to sort out all the facts and issue a final report to them to help them decide these complicated cases. The judge’s report was just issued and she recommended a different route, so the older, leaking line could be removed at the same time. We think the process should  remain intact at the Commission.
As a side note, the solar bill we supported, Rep Jean Wagenius’s School Solar Bill HF 3675/SF 3129, was not passed, but the Senate version was amended into the Senate Energy Omnibus Monday and language to put solar on top of hospitals is in the House Energy Omnibus bill! Maybe one or the other will make it in the final combined Energy Omnibus bill.
What’s your action?
  1. Pick one or more of these bills to focus on, but please mention your opposition to an Omnibus bill whichever one you chose.
  2. Please call your representatives and tell them to vote no on your chosen bill and Omnibus bills, specifically citing one or more of these bad bills. Bills should pass on their own merit and be voted on individually.
  3. And/or you can tag your representatives on social media, telling them to vote no. Social media allows you to communicate with your representative and to educate people in your social circle about state politics!
  4. It is important to note that the Energy Omnibus will be heard in the Senate tomorrow and in the house on Friday. This Omnibus contains the Xcel bill.

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