Apparently an “unsession” doesn’t equal an uneventful session.

Heading into the 2014 Legislative Session, Gov. Mark Dayton and state leaders outlined plans for pruning Minnesota’s duplicative, outdated or problematic laws.

But that hasn’t limited work on other bills, as lawmakers have addressed a host of issues.

“This has been the most fast-paced session that I’ve been a part of,” said Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin.

The session will close in about a month, capping off a year where legislators have debated everything from medical marijuana to minimum wage increases. Minnesota lawmakers have managed to repeal costly business-to-business taxes, raise the minimum wage, and created measures to bridge the pay gap between men and women in the workplace.

“Looking at, really in six weeks here, how much we have accomplished, it’s very satisfying,” said Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin.

Lawmakers are off on Easter break until April 22, and unsession work will pick up in the Senate when work resumes.

“When we come back we have all the unsession bills kind of teed up on the floor,” Sparks said.

Sparks is all for taking the old, outdated language off the books, especially when some even address telegraph reporting. Sparks authored multiple unsession bills in the Senate.

“Obviously if they’re obsolete and we’re not using them anymore they should not be in law any longer,” Sparks said.

Poppe believes the unsession has produced many positive results for Minnesotans through examining state departments and eliminating outdated laws and policies.

That includes the so-called disaster contingency fund legislators put in place earlier this session, a $6 million relief fund to be used when disasters strike Minnesota and the legislature isn’t in session. State officials can use the funding without requiring the legislature to go into special session.

Poppe was part of the committee that worked on the bill throughout 2013 and praised the fund for cutting down on legislative expenses.

“It’s really a good government piece of legislation,” she said.

Though the session doesn’t end until mid-May, Poppe said this is one of the busier sessions in recent memory, especially since it was condensed. Legislators met at the end of February instead of beginning in January.

After the break, Sparks expects the focus to shift toward one this session’s biggest priorities: the bonding and capital investment bill.

The bonding bill

Poppe was pleased $2.5 million to fund the last stretch of the Shooting Star Trail from Rose Creek to Austin was included in the nearly $1 billion House bonding bill. That was an increase from the $1 million she had originally asked for the trail. Vision 2020 and Prairie Visions volunteers met with Poppe earlier this year to discuss how much money it would take to finish the decades-old project.

“[Trails] usually has a lot of local support and can be done throughout the state,” she said.

The Senate bonding bill is still in the works, but Sparks is hopeful funds for the Shooting and Blazing Star trails and for a dredging project on Albert Lea’s Fountain Lake will move forward.

The Senate’s version could be released the first week back from break and the financial scope could be similar to the House version, though Sparks noted there are differences.

“I think transportation’s going to be a key factor,” Sparks said.

Sparks said there’s an opportunity to use bonds and one-time tax dollars to address road repairs. Locally, Mower County officials are looking for bonding dollars for projects like the Oakland Place Southeast Bridge over Dobbins Creek near East Side Lake. However, some locals fear much of the $31.7 million for bridges proposed in the House will go to Twin Cities projects.

“We’ll make sure that we fight to get some of those dollars down here,” Sparks said.

The Senate bill will likely include funds for flood mitigation efforts in Austin. Though it’s not specifically marked for Austin, local officials can apply for the flood funds. Sparks said local watershed officials are starting to eye objects upstream to address and slow the water coming into Mower County.

“Hopefully they can take advantage of some of those dollars,” Sparks said.

Despite progress on the bill, Republicans say they won’t go for a bill larger than $850 million, and their support is needed because bills authorizing borrowing require supermajority votes.

 Tax bill

On Thursday, the Senate approved another $101 million in tax breaks, but the array of relief differs from a House version.

Sparks voted for the bill, which passed 57-6.

The Senate bill expands a sales tax exemption for local governments to those that coordinate services across boundaries.

It adds to city and county tax exemptions approved a year ago. The sales tax exemption will include agencies like the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority and Port Authority, according to Sparks.

The bill also provides tax credits for volunteer veterans, firefighters, credits for parents who hire reading tutors and assistance to counties on the front-lines of the aquatic invasive species battle.

“It was a good bill,” Sparks said.

The Senate bill would extend a local option sales tax in Albert Lea for water quality in Shell Rock Watershed District, as the watershed hasn’t recouped the approved $15 million due to the recession.

The House and Senate versions differ, so final tax negotiations are expected after the break.

The House bill focuses tax relief on beefing up refund programs connected to the property tax. That chamber’s bill has a similar size.

 Minimum wage

On Monday, Gov. Mark Dayton plans to sign a bill that pushes the hourly wage rate to $9.50 by 2016 and enables automatic increases in the future.

The bill has received a mixed local reception.

Poppe supported the bill and touted the increase as a way to help families with minimum-wage jobs increase their spending power as well as increase their quality of life.

“That’s another significant thing to help working people,” she said.

While Sparks supports raising the minimum wage and voted for previous increases, he was one of only three Senate Democrats to vote against the bill.

“I agreed that we needed to raise the minimum wage; I just think that $9.50 may be a little too high and might be implemented a little too fast,” said Sparks, who noted it’s always hard to vote against his party.

Several area business owners and leaders told Sparks they fear the bill will raise the wage too quickly, and Sparks is concerned about the provision for an automatic wage increases.

He called the escalator a “dangerous road to go down.”

Sparks prefers more frequent, modest wage increases as a better approach.

“It would be fair not only to the workers, but also to the employers,” Sparks said.

Dennis Schminke, the Republican challenger to Poppe’s District 27B seat in this year’s election, sees the minimum wage increase as detrimental to the state’s economy, though he said it will be several years before Minnesotans see the effects.

“There is no free money tree out there that funds this,” he said. “Employers will be forced to cut hours and as a consequence, you’ll see more automated dispensers at McDonalds.”

Schminke takes issue with the forced increase in wages, which he said could cut job opportunities for Minnesotans.

“The surest way to reduce the demand for anything is to raise the price, and that’s what’s going to happen,” he said.

Poppe dismisses the wage increase’s critics, however.

“There’s always people that will just draw the line in the sand,” she said. “But when you look at it and understand it, it’s not just college students or high school students that take these jobs. We have become more service industry oriented. It is going to be significant as people get more money, to be able to spend and be able to save.”

Women’s Economic Security Act

On Wednesday, the House passed a bill aiming to narrow the pay gap between men and women, expand access to affordable child care and increase unpaid parental leave from six weeks to 12 weeks.

Poppe strongly supported the bill when it came before the House last week and praised Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing, for bringing the measure forward.

“She did just an awesome job to be able to talk about the needs of that, and how we all benefit,” Poppe said. “Women … are a big economic factor.”

The bill was amended in Senate committees, and Sparks was pleased with the changes.

“The original bill was rather burdensome in some of the areas,” Sparks said.

To Sparks, those troublesome areas include a provision on required sick pay and some enforcement pieces. Sparks plans to support the bill — if it retains the changes made in Senate committees.

Anti-bullying bill

Dayton signed the anti-bullying bill last week after it cleared the House and Senate, but Poppe and Sparks both voted against it.

Sparks voted against the bill after superintendents, Community Against Bullying leaders and local parents voiced their concerns.

“That’s ultimately why I voted that way,” Sparks said.

Sparks feared the bill could equate to an unfunded mandate requiring more work and filing of school districts, which could take money out of the classroom.

Though Poppe voted “no,” she was supportive of Senate amendments that took many regulations away from the law. She supported changing Minnesota’s anti-bullying law, which was the weakest in the country, but she had hoped for even less regulation and even more local control over anti-bullying efforts, similar to the Community Against Bullying’s efforts in Austin.

“We have had a good effort locally and I don’t want to do damage to that effort,” she said. “I think it’s important for families to work with the school system.”

Schminke agreed, saying the regulations could hinder educators. He also took issue with what could be unintentional costs to districts who have to send more reports to the state Department of Education,

“I haven’t met a single person in local government, schools, boards or anything that doesn’t grit their teeth when they hear about unfunded mandates,” he said.

E-cigarettes

Last Monday, the Austin City Council passed a one-year ban on the use of e-cigarettes in public places and businesses.

A state bill was moving through the legislature before it hit a roadblock when Dayton voiced opposition to e-cigarette regulations last month, noting tobacco users had already been hit hard by the 2013 cigarette tax increase.

Both Sparks and Poppe are undecided on whether to add e-cigarettes to the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act, but Poppe encouraged more municipalities to consider the issue.

“I think it’s helpful for us to get more and more cities to get us to make decisions and react to that,” she said. “This is one of those areas I think we’re going to be reactive rather than proactive.”

Sparks wants to see more studies and information on e-cigarettes, but he’d be open to a compromise on the issue. He also said he’ll be watching how Austin’s ban works.

 Broadband

The Jobs, Agriculture and Rural Development committee — which Sparks chairs — passed a $100 million proposal to expand broadband infrastructure in rural Minnesota.

“It’s a very important piece of economic development,” Sparks said.

However, the $100 million proposal from Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, is unlikely to move forward since the House proposal is for $25 million.

Sparks expects the Senate version will be lowered to match that, noting Schmit’s proposal was intended to highlight the need.

Poppe said it’s encouraging the legislature is looking at broadband issues, as Internet access is becoming more vital in rural areas throughout Minnesota.

As attention on broadband increases, Poppe believes the state will have a larger role to play in broadband. The state’s broadband office was only created last year, but Poppe believes lawmakers will have to address the issue soon.

“We will have to come up with a plan to say we’re going to pay for this, and pay for this into the future,” she said.

Medical marijuana

The bid to make marijuana a legal medicine has opened up a sharp rift between advocates and Dayton, who has sided with law enforcement against a broad proposal. Supporters want access to the drug now to ease suffering. Dayton has suggested researching the plant’s medicinal qualities.

The proposal is stalled in the House but has shown new life in the Senate after the governor dared legislators last week to try to pass something if they didn’t like his approach.

The bill allows licensed practitioners to prescribe pot to patients for maladies including cancer, epilepsy and extreme pain. Talks will resume after the break.

Poppe has previously supported medical marijuana in a controlled setting and said the issue could come before lawmakers by the end of the session as bipartisan support for the issue grows.

“It is helpful to the people that need it for medical reasons, and it’s something we’ll probably consider,” she said.

On Thursday, the Senate heard from patients affected by the issue.

Sparks has supported the measure in the past and he’d like to see relief for those patients, as long as there are safety nets in place.

“I’m very sympathetic,” Sparks said.

Still, he’d like to hear from local law enforcement officials.

Sparks sees legalization of marijuana — like in Washington and Colorado — as unlikely in the near future; in fact, he said some issues that have surfaced in those states make such efforts less likely.

 —The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 Jason Schoonover can be reached at jason.schoonover@austindailyherald.com

Trey Mewes can be reached at trey.mewes@ austindailyherald.com