Legislators Fail the Taxpayers by Passing Unconstitutional Bills

In the 2017 Minnesota Legislature “30% of the bills passed, including nearly all of the budget bills, were large, multi-subject bills that included both new policy and spending.” ~ MN Legislative Assembly Evaluation. They go on to say it equated to 82% of $45 billion in spending last session.

It would certainly be fair to say that 30% is a conservative figure.

Article 4, Section 17 of the Minnesota State Constitution, that all elected representatives take an oath to defend and support says:
Laws to embrace only one subject.  No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.

Following this post is a list of the MSBs from 2017 session. Only 9 out of 201 legislators in 2017 voted no against one of the worst MSBs, the omnibus billion dollar bonding bill. The legislators were: Cal Bahr, Drew Christensen, Steve Drazkowski, Steve Green, Eric Lucero, Joe McDonald, Tim Miller, Marion O'neill, and Duane Quam.

So you see folks, this is living proof that our elected representatives​ have failed miserably to honor the oath they took to defend and support the Constitution.  Is it then rational to think that calling for a convention as is proposed in HF 2690 to amend the Constitution will suddenly convert elected representatives into oath honoring public servants??  The Constitution has not failed us...We the People, continually fail to honor it... on EVERY issue, EVERY time.

Many of us would certainly agree that we do in fact have an out of control tax and spend government....but let's treat the root cause rather than a mere symptom.

Leon Moe

Bill#    Pages

SF1         21      hlth insrc premium subsidies, authorizing for-profit insrc
SF1549   30      unemployment insrc eligibility and fraud penalty modifications
SF780     28      omni ag and housing appropriations and policy (superseded by later version)
HF888   142     omni envirmt and natural resources bill (superseded by later version)
HF890   147     omni E-12 finance (superseded by later version)
SF605   165     omni state govt appropriations (superseded by later version)
SF800   583     omni health and human svcs (superseded by later version)
SF1124  25      omnibus lands bill
SF482    7       clarifying title protection for medical practitioners, penalties for practicing without license, and other grounds for disciplinary action
HF861   130     omni transportation finance and policy (superseded by later version)
SF803   70      omni judiciary and public safety appropriations and policy (superseded by later version)
SF1937  211     omni jobs, energy, and econ dvlpmt finance and policy (superseded by later version)
SF2214  65      omni higher ed finance and policy (superseded by later version)
HF4      383     omni tax bill (superseded by later version)
*SF1457  21      combative sports, OSHA, and labor and industry misc changes
HF140   54      establishing the Professional Eduactor Licensing and Licensing Board, transferring authority to it from the Bd of Tchg and the MN Dept of Education
HF179   30      ignition interlock regulations and misc DWI law changes
HF1545  92      omni agriculture policy and finance bill
SF943   65      omni higher ed finance and policy
HF707   85      omni legacy funds bill
SF514   40      omni elections bill, with creation of uniform special elecion dates and coversion of county offices to appointed offices
SF844   145     omni envirmt and natural resources finance and policy bill
SF1456  214     omni jobs, energy, and econ dvlpmt finance and policy, including IRRRB reorganization
HF470   66      omni public safety finance and policy bill
SF550   38      omni LCCMR trust fund appropriations and policy bill
HF1443   4       modifying insurance fraud and identity protection regulations
SSHF1   369     omni tax bill
SSSF3   227     labor standards bill, including agreement ratification, wage theft prevention, and pre-emption of local labor ordinances
SSHF3   121     omni transportation finance and policy
SSSF1   93      omni state govt finance and policy bill
SSHF2   203     omni E-12 finance and policy, including teacher licensing restructuring
SSSF2   680     omni health and human svcs finance and policy
SSHF5   86      omni capital investment bonding bill

The Root Cause of Out of Control Spending, Why Convention Of States Would Change Nothing.

Thought it would be appropriate to follow up on previous article regarding HF 2690 for a Convention of States. Representative Matt Dean and now Representative Linda Runbeck from Washington County are co-signers on the bill. Also, Senator Roger Chamberlain authored the companion Bill SF3490. 

We do not need a Convention of States (Response to Rep. Matt Dean co-signing House File 2690) 

There is a continuing enlightenment that we do, in fact, have an out of control tax and spend federal and state governments…no arguments there.

There is also disagreement on how to address this out of control mess.

“Congress has not unlimited powers…but only those specifically

Thomas Jefferson on Enumerated Powers

enumerated”.  ~ Thomas Jefferson.   Those powers are defined in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution

In 1995 Congressman John Shadegg introduced a bill in the House called the Enumerated Powers Act.  This was a simple one page bill that says…"To require Congress to specify the source of authority under the United States Constitution for the enactment of laws, and for other purposes”.  The authority would be found in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. 

This bill has been re-introduced and ignored for over 20 years.  Why??  For all intents and purposes this says that a majority of elected representatives who took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, have turned their backs on that oath by the time they take a seat for at least a century.

It is simply not rational to think that amending the Constitution with the convention of States will be the magic bullet to all of a sudden inspire unprincipled, unethical, immoral career elected representatives to honor their oaths any more than they do now.

I submit that the Constitution is the not the problem…the Root Cause is the failure to honor the Constitution on EVERY issue, EVERY time.

When is the last time you heard a candidate for office focus their campaign on supporting the Constitution??

Leon Moe