Looking for anybody who knows about these things…I am a newbie.
It seems that the 1st two bills, most recently, got in front of the Transportation Finance & Policy Division Committee. That committee is chaired by Minneapolis Rep Frank Hornstein. But, they have been through a number of committees.
But, now they cant get into the Senate. Anybody know who to talk to? Is there someone in charge of the Senate? I think its the Majority leader. That would be this guy? Senator Paul E. Gazelka. Oh, shoot. He owns an insurance agency. Perhaps thats the hold up.
They have run out of time to discuss the third bill, but have promised to bring it back next year.
The first two bills have lots of bipartisan support, so our odds were good. Is the hold up just from that one guy? The insurance agency guy?
One problem seems to be that they schedule this stuff on the fly. There is rarely more than 12 hours notice that something is going to committee. Sometimes we only find out a couple hours in advance.
There are no diabetics, that I know of, on committee, or in the senate, for that matter. I think that one gentleman has close family members with diabetes. He is an administrative assistant to one of the senators. He has done a whole bunch to help. I ask him questions sometimes. He is super helpful.
We have lots of support in the Senate. But, I think we reach a bottleneck if we cant get the senate chair to allow us in for committee. I think that one guy might be the hold up. ???
You said president of the Senate so the answer is no, there is nothing to do.
the president of the senate is elected by the majority of senators of the dominate party. Lets call it party Z. Now the members of party Z of the senate meet each year and they elect a president. Then the president does many things, like assign committees, appoints legislative staff, and negotiates for the abacus (members of the Senate in party Z). The president schedules floor votes, assigns bills and appoints committee members.
It is number one and most important a scheduling function. All bills must be scheduled for floor action and many bills become eligible but few actually make it to the action step.
When you say is there something you can do? Contact your senator and ask them why it is not being called. It is doubtful they will know. Sometimes bills like this are traded at the last minute. You want yours considered, I want mine considered, lets figure out how to get them considered.
The bottom line however, if the senate president does not want it considered it will not be, If they want a trade it might be. If they dont care then maybe, but most likely not.
As we say in politics, better luck next year or the year after or after. There is a reason thee things happen, elections matter, and they matter most at the local and state level.
Thats helpful information and perspective, Rphil2. Thank you. I’ll have to think about it more. I am not alive today from not trying to solve problems that seem unsolvable, LOL.
This guys from a very small town where he likely doesn’t face any opposition. That doesn’t mean he’s got a lot of support. Small towns are just small towns.
