Committee update - Minnesota State Legislature

Committee update
plan reimbursements. Hiendlmayr said
he believes the level of regulation is
appropriate and that reimbursements
are made by medical plan providers
when the system is understood.
Health and Family Security
Budget Division
Budget overview heard
When the Health and Family Security
Budget Division met Tue., Feb. 8,
presentations explaining capitol budget
requests filled the agenda. Sen. Don
Samuelson (DFL-Brainerd) chaired the
division, which heard testimony from
representatives of Veterans Homes, the
Dept. of Health, and the Dept. of
Human Services (DHS).
Minnesota Veterans Home Board of
Directors Chair Steven O’Connor,
explained the requests for Veterans
Homes funds. The $13.4 million request
is for the maintenance and preservation
of existing facilities and assets, said
O’Connor. Executive Director Steve
Musser said homes in Hastings and
Minneapolis need roofing and ventilation
repairs, and the home in Sliver Bay
has no garage to house its vehicles.
Leaving vehicles outside during Minnesota
winters is very detrimental to them,
said Samuelson.
Samuelson also invited State Commander
of Veterans of Foreign Wars
Dave Adams and former Commissioner
Al Loehr to come before the committee.
Dave Johnson, from the Dept. of
Health, and Assistant Commissioner
Kath Ouska, from the Dept. of Administration,
explained the $4.3 million
request by the department for asset
preservation at 717 Delaware SE. The
30 year old facility current houses
public health laboratories and disease
prevention and control programs,
Johnson said, but ventilation in the
laboratories and computer network
capacity are severely outdated, creating
health and usability complications.
Assistant Commissioner Aggie
Leithieser said that the building’s
location facilitates the Dept. of Health’s
joint grant programs with the University
of Minnesota and the employment of
graduate students.
Elaine Timmer, assistant commissioner
for DHS, spoke about the
department’s request for $49.5 million.
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The majority of the requested funds,
about $26 million, are earmarked for
repairing and remodeling buildings that
the department plans to continue using,
Timmer said. $22 million is requested to
begin the design of a new facility.
Timmer stressed that, like the two
departments who testified before her,
many of the maintenance and renovation
costs in the DHS would be less
should the matter have been addressed
earlier. The costs will only rise while
the buildings are neglected, she said.
Higher Education Budget
Division
MnSCU capital budget heard
Members of the Higher Education
Budget Division, chaired by LeRoy
Stumpf (DFL-Thief River Falls) heard
the Minnesota State Colleges and
Universities’ (MnSCU) capital budget
request for $230 million at a hearing
Tues., Feb. 8.
“We’re much better prepared to talk
about bonding proposals now than we
were two years ago,” said Chancellor
Morrie Anderson, adding that the overriding
theme in the 2000 proposal is a
system-wide investment in science and
technology - programs and facilities.
The capital budget proposal is slashed
from $724 million requested by the
system’s presidents in July 1998. The
reduction came after a lengthy and
sometimes painful priority review and
re-evaluation process conducted in the
interim, according to Anderson.
MnSCU’s $230 million capital budget
proposal is broken down into two
components.
One is $130 million for capital
improvements projects, such as additions
for current programs, new construction,
design, infrastructure and
land acquisition. This portion of the
budget focuses heavily on science and
technology. For example, 18 of 23
proposed projects for science and
technology improvements and 11 of 23
projects designed to update existing
space in science and technology facilities,
according to Laura King, vice
chancellor, finance.
The other component is $100 million
for asset preservation projects, including
Higher Education Asset Preservation
and Renewal (HEAPR) projects.
Such projects include safety and statutory
projects, such as implementation of
ADA requirements, building exterior,
mechanical, and space restoration.
“We consider our facilities one of our
greatest assets,” said King. According to
condition assessment data collected
since 1998, the average age of buildings
in the system is 28 years old, indicating
repair and maintenance projects will
become increasingly necessary, she said.
Jobs, Energy and Community
Development
Intellectual ownership bill heard
The Jobs, Energy and Community
Development Committee, chaired by
Sen. Steven Novak (DFL-New
Brighton), heard a bill concerning
“intellectual ownership” of employee
inventions Fri., Feb. 4. The committee
took no action on the bill.
S. F. 363, the so-called “Creative
Freedom Act,” is authored by Sen.
Charles Wiger (DFL-North St. Paul).
The bill regulates employee invention
agreements commonly signed by
research and development employees
and employers. It provides that an
employer who agrees to develop or use
an employee’s invention or proposal
“must make a decision to do so within
one year of submission, and must make a
substantial investment in the invention
within one year of that decision.”
Failure to do so forfeits all rights and
interests in the invention or proposal
back to the employee.
Robert Nepper, a North St. Paul
inventor who has worked as an engineer
for 30 years for three Minnesota Fortune
500 companies, spoke in support of the
bill.
“I hold five patents - all of which are
assigned to my former employers,”
Nepper said. “These firms are great
assets to our community, but I feel that
changes are needed to their policies
concerning how they treat creative
employees in developing and protecting
‘our’ intellectual assets that are now
being squandered on a grand scale.”
The problem is that some employers
suppress for years - or even decades -
development of inventions that don’t fit
company business plans, he said.
Instead, employers should “return clear
title” to employee inventions within a