Locals land on conference committees

Mankato-area freshmen named to panels

By Mark Fischenich

South-central Minnesota will be well-represented in the Capitol-complex meeting rooms where a final state budget will be negotiated during the next four weeks.

From brand-new freshmen to the dean of the region’s legislative delegation, area lawmakers are getting picked to serve on the crucial conference committees charged with bringing the House and Senate together.

“Being on a conference committee is like nothing else,” said Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm, who has served on dozens during his 27 years in the Legislature.

Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, will be serving on just her second major conference committee and she’s looking forward to it.

“That’s where the real action starts and is finished,” said Rosen, who will be on the panel that will develop a compromise budget for public safety and judiciary programs. “It’s where you can really make something happen. It’s exciting.”

The region won’t have a lawmaker on every conference committee in St. Paul, but area legislators will be on the panels assigned to develop compromise budget bills to fund colleges and universities, courts and prisons, highways and transit, jobs and economic development programs, and natural resources and energy.

Frederickson, one of the Legislature’s leading environmentalists, has been chosen by Senate leaders to serve on the conference committee on natural resources and energy. Frederickson gladly accepts the assignment despite knowing that it could mean 20-hour workdays in the final weeks of the legislative session.

“The large conference committees, it means long hours,” he said. “... Sometimes all of the members need to get very, very tired before they’re willing to compromise.”

Despite the endurance-test nature of serving on the committees, the three freshmen members of the region’s delegation were thrilled to be appointed to key conference committees — positions that often go to more senior members.

Sen. Kathy Sheran and Rep. Kathy Brynaert, both Mankato Democrats, will be among the 10 lawmakers — five each from the House and Senate — who will forge a compromise bill between the differing high education funding bills passed by each legislative body. Rep. Terry Morrow, DFL-St. Peter, is on the committee dealing with the omnibus transportation bills.

The freshmen know the basics of conference committee work. An equal number of senators and representatives are appointed, three each for the smaller bills and five each for the big bills.

Legislative leaders tell each committee how much they’ll be allowed to spend. House and Senate members of the committees make countless offers and counteroffers. When a compromise is reached that’s acceptable to a majority of both the House and Senate members of a conference committee, the compromise bill is sent back to the full House and Senate for final approval — no changes allowed.

Then it goes to Gov. Tim Pawlenty to be vetoed or signed into law.

Beyond that, the first-termers say they are ready to learn.

“As a freshman, it’s all new to me,” said Brynaert, who thinks it’s a coup for area colleges to have both herself and Sheran on the conference committee. “... It feels a whole lot like a compliment, in a very humbling way. It’s an honor.”

Sheran and Brynaert said it’s particularly useful to have the Mankato area well represented on the higher education conference committee.

“This is really good for us and the district I represent,” Sheran said. “It’s one of the anchors of the area — higher education.”

Morrow said he stressed regional issues in making a sales pitch to House leaders about being a good choice for the transportation conference committee. Morrow said the committee needed a member who understood the needs of farmers attempting to get corn, soybeans and livestock to market; one who grasped the transportation demands of a growing ethanol and biodiesel industry.

“I said we need someone on the committee who will be attentive to those needs,” Morrow said.

Other area lawmakers who have received appointments to key conference committees are Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, who will serve on the jobs and economic development panel and Sen. Tom Neuville, R-Northfield, who will join Rosen on the public safety and judiciary committee. Gunther and Neuville couldn’t be reached for comment Monday afternoon.