ST PAUL, Minn. — It's going to pass. House Democrats have all the votes they need.
The only unknown is how long will it take lawmakers to trudge through the 1,130-page document known as the Health and Human Services Omnibus Bill.
If Tuesday and Wednesday are any indication, they could be here awhile. In fact, the HHS bill was originally scheduled to hit the House floor at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, but by 10:40 p.m. members had decided to wait another day.
That's because it took two very long days to pass the Education and Jobs bills, something the House DFL majority had hoped to get done in one day. Republicans successfully put the legislative process in slow motion by offering hundreds of amendments they knew couldn't pass.
Key features
The HHS bill contains funding for all of the state's public assistance programs, covering nursing homes, subsidized health care, assistance for persons with disabilities, child care subsidies and food aid.
The bill would also raise the legal smoking aging in Minnesota to 21 and move vaping out of public spaces. It also contains protections against prescription drug price gouging, and safeguards against state health care funds being shifted to for-profit parent companies of nonprofit HMOs.
The measure also extends the tax on medical providers, which for decades has funded health care for lower income residents. The provider fee is set to end in 2019, leaving a $700 million annual gap in human services funding.
Perhaps the most controversial element of the bill is the "One Care" plan, an expansion of the state's public health program. It's aimed at covering people who are under served by the individual (non-group) insurance market but earn too much to qualify for Minnesota Care public program.
Amendment overkill strategy
Democrats had to wade through a torrent of Republican proposed amendments in order to pass both the Education and Jobs bills. Those amendments -- number more than 100 each day -- had little chance of being adopted.
But each one had to be presented, debated and voted on before House members could begin the main debate. And often there were amendments to the amendments.
"It’s irresponsible from a management of people standpoint for Republicans to adopt a tactic of just filing excessive amendments and causing delay," House Speaker Melissa Hortman told reporters.
"We have a lot of people whose health doesn’t do well on 19-hour days, consecutive 24-hour days. And I think that there no reason we can’t get our work done in daylight hours. It’s really a decision about the minority."
Republican members have already pre-filed more than 100 proposed amendments to the HHS bill. GOP leaders say those maneuvers are necessary to properly vet the issues, and make sure the public understands what's in the bills.
All of the issues will have to be debated again before the end of the session when the House and Senate are required to pass the same budget bills with identical language and spending.
But, first things first, both chambers must pass their own versions of the budget bills.