MDE FROM THE ARCHIVES: KISCADEN ATTACKS DFLer DOUG JOHNSON
Health-care provider tax bill stalls in Senate
ST. PAUL -- Sen. Sheila Kiscaden complained to Senate leaders Friday that her proposal to eliminate the health care provider tax is being ignored, despite the fact that committees have passed the bill.
"I don't really understand why we can have some members whose bills die but are still alive, but other members' bills are still alive but are not considered," Kiscaden said on the Senate floor.
Kiscaden said she knows of another senator's bill that was voted down in committee, but was granted a hearing next week. She accused Tax Chairman Doug Johnson, DFL-Tower, of only considering DFL bills.
Johnson said he has a more far-ranging health-care tax elimination bill than Kiscaden's, and it will not get into the overall tax bill. The chairman suggested Kiscaden offer her health-care provider tax bill as an amendment to the overall tax bill.
"You've never been shy about offering amendments before," he told Kiscaden.
However, he also offered little hope for Kiscaden's bill.
"There is not room in (the DFL) budget for the proposal Sen. Kiscaden has made," Johnson said.
The Kiscaden measure would use money from the state's lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies to fund MinnesotaCare, a health insurance program. The health-care provider tax provides funding now.
Johnson's Tax Committee plans to discuss the tax bill at 4 p.m. Tuesday. In the House, where eliminating the health-care provider tax has more support, several tax meetings are scheduled next week, with public testimony scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
If the House votes to eliminate the tax, but the Senate doesn't, the matter will be decided in a conference committee near the end of the legislative session. Source: Rochester Post-Bulletin, March 18, 2000
ST. PAUL -- Sen. Sheila Kiscaden complained to Senate leaders Friday that her proposal to eliminate the health care provider tax is being ignored, despite the fact that committees have passed the bill.
"I don't really understand why we can have some members whose bills die but are still alive, but other members' bills are still alive but are not considered," Kiscaden said on the Senate floor.
Kiscaden said she knows of another senator's bill that was voted down in committee, but was granted a hearing next week. She accused Tax Chairman Doug Johnson, DFL-Tower, of only considering DFL bills.
Johnson said he has a more far-ranging health-care tax elimination bill than Kiscaden's, and it will not get into the overall tax bill. The chairman suggested Kiscaden offer her health-care provider tax bill as an amendment to the overall tax bill.
"You've never been shy about offering amendments before," he told Kiscaden.
However, he also offered little hope for Kiscaden's bill.
"There is not room in (the DFL) budget for the proposal Sen. Kiscaden has made," Johnson said.
The Kiscaden measure would use money from the state's lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies to fund MinnesotaCare, a health insurance program. The health-care provider tax provides funding now.
Johnson's Tax Committee plans to discuss the tax bill at 4 p.m. Tuesday. In the House, where eliminating the health-care provider tax has more support, several tax meetings are scheduled next week, with public testimony scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
If the House votes to eliminate the tax, but the Senate doesn't, the matter will be decided in a conference committee near the end of the legislative session. Source: Rochester Post-Bulletin, March 18, 2000
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