Is Our Water Safe? And Other Hot Topics

The recent drinking water scare in West St. Paul had me reflecting on a decision we made back when I was mayor. That, and other hot topics, are the subjects of this update.

DON'T DRINK THE WATER. I was feeling smart—and little lucky—as news stations reported earlier this week that West St. Paul officials were asking residents not to drink the water, due to possible contamination. When I was Mayor of Inver Grove Heights, we made a decision not to connect to the West St. Paul and St. Paul water system. Giving up control of our community's water system just didn't seem wise. That said, I applaud West St. Paul officials for their prompt warning and handling of their recent situation. I suspect many other communities are taking a look at their own systems this week to ensure they are protected against what happened in West St. Paul, i.e. complications from a weather-related power outage.

BRINGING GERMAN BUSINESSES TO MINNESOTA. Together with two other legislators, I had a chance to meet earlier this week with Philip Murphy, the United States Ambassador to Germany. With German businesses actively looking for places to expand in the United States, Ambassador Murphy and his economic advisors were quite complimentary of Minnesota and offered practical insights on making Minnesota an attractive location for German business expansion. Our local area already has a history of successfully attracting German businesses: Holkolter Lighting brought hundreds of good-paying manufacturing jobs to nearby South St. Paul.

NATURE PRESERVE PROPOSAL IN SOUTHERN INVER GROVE. Vance Grannis, who served as Mayor of IGH in the 1960's, is continuing to pursue efforts to change a large part of his property in southern Inver Grove into a nature preserve. The wooded site has a number of trails and is home to the Marcotte chain of lakes, one of the metro area's most unspoiled water bodies. Mr. Grannis has been eyeing up opportunities for outdoor education on the property, which has proven a bit controversial recently. Offering DNR gun safety courses on the land has some neighbors concerned about noise and other potential issues. Notably, local officials are planning a demonstration on Saturday morning to test noise levels.

OBAMA HEALTH CARE PLAN PREDICTION: WILL IT BE UPHELD? In the next few days, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, President Obama's signature piece of health care reform. Dogged by controversy since its passage, I believe a majority of the court's members would prefer to find it unconstitutional. HOWEVER, the challenge for the high court is that if they find the federal government overstepped on health care, then they would eventually have to find several other, similar federal laws also go too far. The Supreme Court really likes some of those other laws, placing them in a rather awkward position.

My prediction: the Supreme Court will either uphold the Affordable Care Act, or they will call the legal equivalent of a "timeout," ruling that the case isn't ripe for a decision yet, because key pieces of the new law haven't gone into effect.

The Supreme Court decision will have a major impact in Minnesota, regardless of the ruling. Efforts to create an online marketplace for consumers and small businesses to shop for health insurance hinge on the outcome. Other changes, though, like allowing children to stay on the parents' health coverage until age 26 have proven popular, and would likely be continued by insurance companies even if the law is struck down.

NURSES. Speaking of health care, thank you to Minnesota's nurses for their kind recognition of my efforts at the Legislature this session. The letter and complimentary comments from the Minnesota Nurses Association made my day.

As always, I welcome input, questions or comments on these or any other legislative or local issues. Feel free to email me, or call me at the Capitol at 296-4192. I also post frequent survey questions at www.JoeAtkins.com and www.facebook.com/State.Rep.Joe.Atkins. Thank you.