1. In addressing health care reform in Minnesota , which of the following principles or options should be included? Include as many as you like and rank by priority level.

Eliminate pre-existing conditions to qualify for or in setting premium levels for health insurance.

2. Pharmaceutical spending in Minnesota, like America, is nearly twice the price per capita as other industrialized countries.

Please check the following initiatives to be undertaken in order to bring down the cost of pharmaceuticals in Minnesota .

Restrict or eliminate the use of doctor-prescribing information by pharmaceutical companies for marketing purposes.

3. With the prevalence of pharmaceuticals in our lives and in our homes, they are also showing up in our water supply due to the practice of flushing them into our sewer system and/or being abused by our children due to easy access in our homes.

Should Minnesota establish a uniform system of recovering unused pharmaceuticals, and should Minnesota increase penalties for the abused use of pharmaceuticals accessed in the home or workplace?

4. Over the next 20 years, another one million people are expected to move into the greater Twin Cities metro area. A host of issues relating to land use and development, transportation, and water resources, among others, will require responsive leadership with broad, long-term vision. Fair and progressive funding mechanisms will need to be championed, and communications between municipalities effectively mediated. The Metropolitan Council, a board appointed by the Governor, currently has regional jurisdiction over these issues. Over the years, changes have been suggested to the governance model of this body. Events over the past few years have revealed a need for a more responsive and accountable regional planning authority in order to meet the needs of the Twin Cities and Minnesota in the global economy of the 21st Century.

Should the Metropolitan Council include members elected by the taxpayer or should the council continue to be an appointed body only?

5. In order to relieve traffic congestion in the Twin Cities, which of the following strategies should the state pursue?

If answering yes to the final option, should Minnesota divest itself of all transportation activities or only future projects? 

6. Over the next 20 years Minnesota will have to increase its energy production, whether through renewable sources, coal or natural gas fired plants or nuclear power plants to meet current projected needs for energy. Energy efficiency efforts and meeting the renewable energy standard of 2007 would extend that timetable at least an additional 10 years. Current estimates place the price tag of a new nuclear power plant at $5 - $12 billion, and Yucca Mountain appears to be off the table as a national repository for nuclear waste.

Given the cost of construction, the toxic nature of the waste by-product, and the existing efforts under way in safe, renewable energy and energy efficiency, should Minnesota lift its moratorium on the building of new nuclear power plants next session and begin pursuing a new nuclear power plant in Minnesota ?

9. Minnesota currently has a conceal and carry gun law. The fears of increased violence have not materialized. However, in recent months, individuals in Minnesota and throughout the country have used the conceal-and-carry law as a pretext to assert their second amendment rights, attending rallies near presidential motorcades, and events carrying loaded weapons.

Should Minnesota establish a law prohibiting the carrying of weapons, except for law enforcement, within a certain pre-determined distance from the presidential routes or event sites?

10. It is abundantly clear from observation, research, and experience that early childhood education programs have a profound, and long, lasting positive effect on the development of our children; socially, emotionally, and intellectually. Art Rolnick of the Federal Reserve Bank 9th District located in Minneapolis has long argued for significant investment in early childhood programs, citing evidence of a ROI of $17/$1. He suggests that a $1.5 billion trust fund be established which could perpetually pay for early-childhood programs throughout the state for our three and four year old children.

Recently, Governor Pawlenty suggested bonding for $1 billion against future tobacco settlement receipts to balance the state budget for one year. Should the state of Minnesota consider bonding for the trust fund advocated by Art Rolnick against the future tobacco settlement proceeds suggested by Gov. Tim Pawlenty for the empowerment of our children?

11. Paint manufacturers, retailers and recyclers currently have a plan before the Legislature that would create a joint public/private collection system for leftover paint, expand the program to make it more accessible to the consumer, collect twice as much paint, and save taxpayers over $5 million.

Should the collection of unused paint continue to be solely managed by the counties and paid for with taxpayer dollars, or should the manufacturers/retailers program of paint recovery be allowed to proceed?

12. Currently, the state’s wealthiest 1% of earners pay about 2% less of their total income in taxes than middle-class Minnesotans. Some of this is due to taxable income caps on certain taxes. Some is due to tax incentives or tax breaks available primarily to the upper income earners.

Do you support restoring fairness to the state’s tax system, even if it means increasing the income tax rate on the state’s wealthiest residents?

13. Clothing currently is exempt from the state sales tax. Would you support eliminating this exemption?

15. Would you support legislation that would give Minnesota ’s same-sex committed couples the same legal protections and guarantees as heterosexual married couples?