The Builders Association of Minnesota obtained fire death data from the Minnesota State Fire Marshal, a division of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Minnesota has collected data on fire deaths including the street address of the fire and whether or not working smoke alarms were present since 1998. The data show there have been 187 civilian fire deaths from 1998 through 2010. BAM staff obtained the year of construction of all single-family houses in which deaths occurred from county assessors.

See the data here.

The graph below show Minnesota civilian fire deaths 1998-2010 in single-family homes by decade of construction. The second graph is of civilian fire deaths by year of construction overlaid with changes to the Minnesota State Building Code. In 1995 the State Building Code started requiring the installation of smoke alarms that are hardwired with battery back-up. In 2003 the State Building Code began requiring smoke alarms that are hardwired with battery back up and are interconnected, meaning when one detects smoke all alarms are activated.

Click on graph thumbnails below for full images.

As predicted, the looming debt ceiling deadline produced a bipartisan debt-limit compromise this weekend.  This morning, the details of the deal were released, and Congressional Democrats and Republicans are being briefed throughout the day.  As Congressional leaders build support for the deal, the exact timing of House and Senate votes is fluid.  At this point, I expect the House to vote sometime this evening after the markets close.  That means the Senate probably will not vote until late tonight or tomorrow.

Up to 100 House Republicans may oppose the deal, which means 90 to 100 House Democrat votes will be needed.  In the Senate, Senators on both sides have promised not to obstruct the bill. The expectation is the deal will pass and be signed by the President.

Like the bill passed last week by the House, it creates a two-step process for lifting the debt limit.  The second step focuses on a newly-created Select Committee of six Democrats and six Republicans, which is charged with finding an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit savings.  Unlike the Select Committee that was created under Harry Reid’s proposal, the final deal does not explicitly authorize the Select Committee to consider tax reform or revenue increases; however, it does not explicitly prohibit them from doing so either.  So, there is some debate about whether tax hikes will be part of the Select Committee’s focus.  Not surprisingly, the President is already calling for the Select Committee to include tax measures in their proposal, which is consistent with his position the past several weeks.  That said, while it is unlikely that tax reform will play a role in this Select Committee, it is looking more and more likely that the Finance and Ways and Means Committee will press tax reform next year instead of waiting for 2013.

A breakdown of the deal is included below.

Budget Control Act of 2011

Basics

• Upon passage, the President can request an immediate $400 billion increase in the debt limit, to be followed by a further $500 billion increase if a resolution of disapproval is not enacted.
• This $900 billion increase comes with over $900 billion in CBO scored savings through discretionary caps , enforceable with across-the-board spending cuts that Congress would have to affirmatively vote to turn off.
• The bill establishes a Joint Select Committee that is tasked with reducing the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion.  The Committee is made up of 12 members of Congress, equally divided with 3 each of House Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats.  By November 23 of this year, the Select Committee must vote on legislation (simple majority for passage).
• Any legislation reported from the Select Committee will receive expedited consideration in both Chambers and will be voted on by December 23.  If the Select Committee produces a bill enacted into law that achieves $1.2 trillion or greater in savings, that would trigger the President’s authority to request a debt limit increase of equal amount (subject to disapproval & veto), capped at $1.5 trillion.
• The bill requires Congress to vote on a balanced budget amendment (BBA) no sooner than October 1, 2011, and no later than December 31, 2011.  If one chamber passed an amendment, the other chamber would be required to consider it.
• If a balanced budget amendment is sent to the states, that would trigger the President’s authority to request a debt limit increase of $1.5 trillion, subject to disapproval and veto, regardless of the success or failure of the Select Committee.

Trigger

• If the Select Committee does not produce enacted savings of at least $1.2 trillion, and a balanced budget amendment has not been sent to the states, then the President is given the authority to request a $1.2 trillion debt limit increase (subject to disapproval and veto).
• That $1.2 trillion would be recouped by a combination of whatever savings were enacted pursuant to the Select Committee process, if any, and an across the board spending cut (sequester).  If the Select Committee process fails to enact any savings at all, then the full $1.2 trillion would be recovered via the sequester.  The sequester process would remain in place even if a BBA were sent to the states.
• The sequester would hit defense and non-defense spending in equal dollar amounts.  The non-defense category is comprised primarily of non-defense discretionary, a limited amount of Medicare and some mandatory spending.  To the extent that the Select Committee succeeds in enacting any savings, these would reduce – or entirely obviate – the sequester.

Bottom Line

• The maximum the debt ceiling can be raised is $2.4 trillion (if the Select Committee has enacted at least $1.5 trillion in savings or if a BBA has been sent to the States).  The minimum the debt ceiling can be raised is $2.1 trillion (if the Select Committee fails to meet its target).  In both circumstances, there would be dollar for dollar cuts coupled with the debt ceiling increase.
• The trigger does not allow for increased revenues.  The trigger can only result in spending cuts through caps and sequesters, not tax increases.
• The sequester is designed to dig deep enough into programs cherished by both parties that the Select Committee would have a significant incentive to succeed.
• Because of CBO scoring conventions, the Select Committee would not be able to achieve deficit reduction through individual rate increases.
• If the Select Committee fails, then the total debt limit increase is capped at $2.1 trillion, which raises the prospect of having to raise it again before the election (depending on the health of the economy).
• As a practical matter, if the full amount of the sequester were to be triggered, it would force a debate on what spending cuts could replace amounts being proposed to be sequestered during the course of the annual appropriations process.

This morning Governor Mark Dayton signed into law 12 budget and spending bills 57 days after the close of regular session May 23, bringing an end to the 20-day government shutdown that was the longest in state, history.

After a budget agreement was made between Governor Dayton and Republican leadership last Thursday July 14th the bills were drafted and agencies began preparing to reopen.

Tuesday July 19th the Governor called a special session that began at 3:00 p.m. and after 13 hours both the House and the Senate passed all 12 bills including budget bills, a pension bill, a bonding bill and the Legacy bill and adjourned at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The bills were signed into law by Dayton this morning, officially ending the shutdown.

Restart of Government
It will take a day before the appropriated money will officially flow to state agencies and operation will begin to get back online, said Dayton. State workers have been called back, and state parks, he said, could reopen as soon as tomorrow.

According to the state’s agreement with its employees, workers have up to three days to return to work, but Dayton said he expects most will be back Thursday. A full resumption of services could take weeks administration official explained in a conference call Tuesday. A website is set up for information on which agencies are open: www.bereadymn.com

“Restarting the state’s operations now will be no small task… calling for patience — more patience — from Minnesotans… Still, the prospect of reopening Minnesota was cheered by many.” – New York Times article on Minnesota’s government shutdown.

The budget deal was a compromise between the Governor and GOP legislative leaders Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers and was finally agreed upon after months of wrangling over the best way to balance the budget. Dayton wanted to increase income taxes on Minnesota’s top earners and Republicans said the deficit could be erased through spending cuts alone.

Even though Dayton negotiated the deal, his DFL colleagues in the Legislature criticized it. Not a single Democrat voted for the tax bill the K-12 bill or the Health and Human Service bill.

“While the budget agree[ment] was not the most ideal to anyone, it was time to compromise, end the shutdown and put Minnesota back to work,” Deputy Majority Leader Geoff Michel said in a statement.

Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers said, “This budget accomplishes what we set out to do: it does not raise taxes, cuts projected spending by $2.5 billion and bends the cost curve of unsustainable state spending. Our economy will be stronger as a result of not increasing taxes  on business and job creators.”

All special session bills can be found here:

Transportation

Public Safety/Judiciary

Legacy

Jobs

Higher Education

Environment

Pensions

Bonding

Education

State Government

Tax

Health and Human Services

Governor Mark Dayton called a special session today to begin at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. The official proclamation was posted summoning members of the Legislature to convene.

Terms of the special session were agreed upon and a document was signed by the Governor, Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers, Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk and House Minority Leader Paul Thissen.

The document states the Special Session will place all bills before the senate and house on their third and final reading, which is a suspension of House, Senate and State Constitution rules. No amendments will be permitted, the session will conclude within two session days and the bodies will adjourn. The session will be limited to the following items:

1. Taxes Omnibus Finance Bill
2. Education Omnibus Finance Bill
3. Capital Investment Bill
4. Health and Human Services Omnibus Finance Bill
5. State Government, Innovations and Veterans Omnibus Finance Bill
6. Transportation Omnibus Finance Bill
7. Judiciary and Public Safety Omnibus Finance Bill
8. Jobs and Economic Growth Omnibus Finance Bill
9. Environment/Energy/Commerce Omnibus Bill
10. Higher Education Omnibus Finance Bill
11. Pensions Bill
12. Legacy Bill

To watch the special session at 3pm visit: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/htv/schedule.asp and follow the link listed next to “Watch.”

Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesota legislative leaders, Senate Majority Leader, Senator Amy Koch and Speaker of the House, Representative Kurt Zellers announced Thursday July 14th they’d reached a budget deal to end the 14-day government shutdown. After more than three hours of meeting behind closed doors the Governor and Republican leaders emerged at about 5:30 p.m. and addressed the press stating they’d agreed upon a framework to close the $1.4 billion gap. Video of the press conference is available here.

Earlier on Thursday Governor Dayton submitted a letter to the Republican leaders outlining a compromise solution based on a June 30 set of counter-proposals the GOP had submitted to Dayton, which he had rejected at the time. Read the letter here.

The Deal
The deal is based on tobacco bonds and delayed school payments. $700 million to be borrowed against future payments from the tobacco industry by issuing tobacco bonds and the other $700 million is to come from delaying payments to school districts.

Senator Koch said, “this is an agreement that is… difficult for both sides.” The budget framework is more than the $34 billion budget the Republican legislature submitted in their budget bills, but the solution does not raise taxes, which was a sticking point for the Republican majorities.

Governor Dayton’s letter also outlined conditions for the acceptance of a deal including a bonding bill of at least $500 million for construction projects throughout the state, dropping plans to cut the state workforce by 15 percent and dropping policy changes included in the omnibus bills such as requiring photo identification at the polls, a ban on cloning and ending taxpayer funding of abortions. Questions and answers on the budget deal provided by MPR here.

Next Steps
The details will be worked out in the coming days and new bills submitted to the Revisor’s office for drafting. The Governor will call a special session and bills will be voted upon. “We’re going to turn all the lights on when we get all these bills passed,” Dayton said. “That’s going to be in just a very few days, and so that’s where our focus will be and our priority, and I’ve said all along that a comprehensive agreement is what I insist upon and we’re going to get that done very, very quickly.”

New York Times Politics published this article today, Friday, July 15th, about Minnesota’s shutdown and budget deal.

Star Tribune’s article published today on the budget deal.

New residential fall protection rules are being required by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as of today June 16, 2011.

Last December, OSHA rescinded its Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction (STD 03-00-001 – STD 3-0.1A), which had been in place since 1995. Effective June 16, employers must provide conventional fall protection systems to protect all employees engaged in residential construction activities six feet or more above a lower level.

June 16 marks the beginning of a three-month “phase in”  period for the new residential fall protection rules. Between now and September 15, 2011 federal OSHA has stated that if an employer is in full complaince with the old directive (STD 03-00-001), a citation will not be issued.

Causing confusion about when enforcement will begin is the information posted on the Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) website which states:

Effective June 16, 2011, Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) will no longer accept the Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction and will enforce 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13). Employers will no longer be able to use the alternative fall-protection measures found in the rescinded 1999 Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction.

The Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction was rescinded for the following reasons.

• It was never intended to be a permanent resolution.
  
• Conventional fall-protection is safe and feasible for the vast majority of residential construction activities.
  
• Federal OSHA received recommendations to rescind the interim directive.
  
• The residential fall-protection requirements have always been established in Subpart M at 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13). The new policy directive implements the standard as it was originally intended.

BAM will be following up with MNOSHA to determine whether or not Minnesota will be honoring the federal OSHA’s three-month phase-in process.

Resources For Contractors

National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has compiled a set of resources for members found at:
http://www.nahb.org/reference_list.aspx?sectionID=620

NAHB Webinar on the new rules – free for members, available for purchase for non-members:
http://www.nahb.org/showpage_details.aspx?showPageID=5084&fromGSA=1

Federal OSHA Resources:
http://www.osha.gov/doc/residential_fall_protection.html

Federal OSHA Fall Protection Record Keeper Tool:
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/OSHARecordkeeping.htm

MNOSHA Resources:
http://www.dli.mn.gov/OSHA/ResFallProtect.asp

MNOSHA Slideshow Explanation of New Rule published June 15:

http://www.dli.mn.gov/OSHA/PDF/ResFallProtect_mnosha.pdf

Guest blog by BAM Lobbyist, Lisa Frenette

The difference between 34 and 37 seems minuscule unless the numbers are actually reflected in billions of dollars.

Thirty four and thirty seven are the budget numbers separating GOP held legislature and Governor Dayton from reconciling a $5 billion debt and the next biennium’s budget.

Here is how it plays out. Minnesota’s budget deficit is a whopping $5.1 billion. The shifts and gimmicks to balance past shortfalls aside; Minnesota needs to reduce its debt. The numbers 34 and 37 represent how much each side is willing to spend on state approved expenditures.

The House and the Senate are willing to spend close to $34 billion on healthcare, state government spending, the environment and everything in between. The Governor wants to raise taxes and increase spending to resolve the state’s debt keeping programs affected by House and Senate cuts intact.

May 23^rd is the constitutionally designated day to adjourn for the year.

At this point, neither side is “blinking.”

Governor Dayton presented House Speaker Representative Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Senator Amy Koch with a letter today regarding the state budget and proposing Minnesota’s $3.6 billion dollar deficit be remedied with $1.8 billion in spending cuts and $1.8 billion in additional tax revenue.

In his letter to Senator Koch and Speaker Zellers the Governor refers to the $3.6 billion deficit and states, “You propose to eliminate that deficit entirely through spending reductions. I have proposed to eliminate it through a combination of tax increases and spending reductions. I am willing to meet you half-way: $1.8 billion in spending cuts and $1.8 billion in new tax revenues.”

In response to the letter both the House and Senate majorities held a press conference

We stand united against any tax increase proposals. We believe government should live within its means. In November historic majorities were elected in both the house and senate on holding the line on taxes and spending. That’s what we came here to do and we intend to do that.”

With one week left in the session the legislature must balance the budget by the constitutional close to the session which is Monday May 23rd.

Read the letter from the Governor here:

http://bamn.org/images/documents/gov-dayton-budget-letter.pdf

Video of the press conference is available in Windows or Flash format:

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/media/media_video_popup.php?flv=pc_leaders_051611.flv

mms://stream2.video.state.mn.us/Senate/pc_leaders_051611.wmv

In the last three weeks of session three constitutional amendments are being discussed. Republicans in both the house and senate have introduced and heard bills that would be before voters in the 2012 election. The first bill addresses a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Senate File 1308 was debated for four hours on the Senate floor Wednesday, May 11 before passing 28 to 27.

The second addresses the constitutionality of abortion in the state of Minnesota and disregards a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The third bill asks voters to decide whether or not there should be a super majority voting on tax increases in both the House and the Senate. The language also requires that any increase include a corresponding decrease.