May 6, 1975 - Department of Public Welfare called on the carpet to do more for welfare with food stamps. However, only 30 percent of eligible recipents of food stamps have claimed them. The department of public welfare instituted a food stamp hotline. The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee sent the minimum wage bill to the study committee, thus killing it for this session. The bill would increase minimum wage from $1.80 to $2.10 and to $2.30 in 1976. The committee turned down workmen's compensation increases. However, a bill increasing unemployment compensation was passed.
May 6, 1975 - Steve Dean says we have to remember that the first time women got the human rights act they only got it under employment, the same with the disabled, and are only now getting included in public foundations and services. A lot of time it?s a step at a time, we?re dealing with political reality. Public accommodation section was dropped. Rather than let the basic things, the most important things, of employment and housing go down the drain thought it best to delete sections of public accommodations and public services. We don?t consider adoption and marriage the highest priority of gay rights at this time.
May 6, 1975 - Steve Dean says antics that have been going on with press conferences, restrooms, hunger fasts, transvestite parades just reinforce people?s ignorance and change what is a civil rights issue into a laughing matter. Protest have endangered the legislation. Several votes who previously supported the bill now say can?t support this three ring circus. Explain to legislators that have been active in politics for some time, have been active in the DFL. The DFL state party is strongest supporter of gay rights in the state, has sent letters urging passage. Bulk of support from DFL although number of strong supporters from Republican party.
May 7, 1975 - Committee meetings, low pay, and growth of legislature are all singled out, among other issues, by the Citizen's League as to why the service life span of many legislators is markedly low.
May 7, 1975 - While the Minnesota State Senate and House of Representatives come together to discuss amendments to the year's omnibus tax bill, other committees meet to work on new DNR regulations, tax credits, and the issue of tools used in the act of shoplifting.
May 7, 1975 - The hotly contested amendments to the tax bill are discussed here, in terms of their passage in the Minnesota State Senate. Senators Perpich and Stassen addresss the closure of a state hospital, while Robert Brown pushed for maximum security status to Stillwater Prison.
May 7, 1975 - Are those who are benefitting from exempt status when it comes to property taxes abusing the system? That question is debated here in a discussion including Ramsey County Assessor William Carlson, who would like to push for stronger limits on what constitutes an 'exempt' property. On the other side is Alan Boyce of the Citizens' League who argues that exempt status increases the value of properties adjacent.
May 7, 1975 - Debate over the Berglin bill, a bill that would change evidentiary hearings in rape cases, is debated here. While agreement was generally seen over the main focus of the bill, debate ensued from the Republican side over whether or not removing codes regarding sodomy and adultery would contribute to the further decline of the nation's moral standing.
May 7, 1975 - Jerome Blatz, a Republican Minnesota State Senator from Edina, voices his displeasure with the 1975 tax bill under debate on the Senate floor. Reporter Dulcie Lawrence adds that Blatz proposed amendments to the bill, but minority requests would probably be rejected.
May 9, 1975 - Property tax increases average 15 to 20 percent across the state and substantially higher in some cities. John Weston, Duluth city assessor, thinks his city is absorbing all the property tax it can, around 6 percent. He doesn?t think the tax was ever designed to carry such things as welfare, it was meant to take care of a municipality, it has been overused. U of M extension economist Arlee Waldo says for autonomy local governments need their own source of taxed revenue. State law prohibits local sales and income tax. A tax other than property tax would be worse because of variability. The property tax provides a smaller portion of government revenue than it used to. In 1971 it accounted for 47 percent, last year it dropped to 34 percent.Allen Boyce of the Citizen?s League Committee favors a gradual decrease in revenue from property tax to 25 percent. He says the overall level of tax is determined by how much money govenment spends. Every man?s tax break is another man?s tax burden. One problem facing cities is inflation and government method of funding projects.