It's exciting. The countdown is on to
the end of the legislative sess,
as time's up a week from tonigho
get it all done before the citin
lawmakers pack it up and go hom.
And like every single year, thes
still a lot to do before the deadline.
House lawmakers are still debating an $880
million public safety bill that includes
those background checks and red flag laws.
We've talked about other,
bigger things still on the tabl,
paid family leave and weed.
Another big question What's going to happen
to the keeping the nurses at the bedside?
Act, We told you last week the o
Clinic threatened to relocate billions
of dollars from the Rochester area unless
it gets an exemption from that ,
which creates committees made-uf
executives and nurses to staffing ratios
to set staffing ratios in hospi.
So this weekend,
word came that a compromise could be coming,
at least to give the Mayo Clinic
what they want.
So, Kent,
what's up with all this?
Well Jenna, the committee that
can make last minute changes
to the bill has yet to meet,
but during an appearance on the
politics show on WCCO yesterday,
House Speaker Melissa Hortman said this.
I believe there is a compromiset
we will be agreeing to either ty
or tomorrow that does treat Mayo
differently because Mayo is different.
Mayo is an asset known all over the world.
There are not other hospitals ie
state that have Kings and Princs
flying in to to stay to get treatment.
So that statement has raised a w
eyebrows and concerns from groun
polar opposite sides of this de.
There are plenty of signs that
nurse staffing legislation remas
up in the air in Saint Paul.
From the nurses union camped oue
the governor's office to the Hospital
Association speaking outside the Capitol.
We have a workforce crisis
over 5000 open RN positions.
We have a financial crisis for
nonprofit healthcare systems,
what we need from the legislature right now.
Life lines, not mandates.
In the middle of it all is
Representative Sandra Feist,
the author of the House bill,
who's been meeting with
all stakeholders for weeks.
My goal is to ensure that this s
the strongest possible bill that
will protect the most patients
and the most nurses in Minnesot.
For that reason,
Feist says She continues to exps
concerns about any hospital,
including the Mayo Clinic,
receiving an exception or othere
being treated differently.
What's your response to the
speaker's words than yesterday ?
Maybe the Mayo Clinic needs
to have its own carve out.
Yeah, well, those conversations
are ongoing and I am very gratel
to be part of those conversatio.
Any response specifically to wht
she said, though? Yeah. Well,
I would prefer that every hospil
in Minnesota and every nurse in
Minnesota receive the same protections,
but I am working with Mayo
Clinic with leadership.
With the nurses to just make
sure that we can get this bill
across the finish line, the mere
fact that there's an alternative being
considered just validates the pt
that the underlying bill has issues. Dr.
Rahul Quran, a president of the
Minnesota Hospital Association,
says they've spent weeks negotig
in good faith and points to a weekend
statement published in the Star Tribune
warning of trouble ahead for cos
and patient care for all hospit,
not just the Mayo Clinic, if it passes,
if there is an alternative, thas
made available to one healthcar.
That must be available to all.
I would think they'd be concern.
Mary Turner, president of the
Minnesota Nurses Association,
may be on the opposite side of e
argument, but says she knows why
the hospitals are speaking out.
I wouldn't like it if
my competitor got an unfair
advantage or unfair edge. If the
were to be a carve out for the Mayo Clinic,
do you understand why the Hospil
Association would be upset by t?
I suppose, but there's no policy reason.
Why there should be a car
but for any hospital.
But I think we know can't be nae
about the fact that like this is
politics and a lot of interest d
to be taken into account and wed
to be thoughtful and methodicald
open to compromise to get a bill
like this across the finish lin.
But that may mean it's a bill
that no group is happy with
and we thought we're in the
home stretch only to realize.
Where politics goes at this poi,
that's the part that I think is so wrong.
It defeats the whole purpose oft
we've been fighting 15 years fo.
And we were hoping the interview Speaker
Hortman directly about making changes
to this bill to accommodate theo
Clinic and what that might meanr
other hospitals and nurses, of course.
In a statement late this aftern,
she did write that they are stil
working toward a compromise.
And she added, the Mayo Clinic
is a unique World Health,
world class healthcare institut.
Any final agreement will
not make everyone happy.
That is often the nature of a compromise.
Jana,
I guess there's some truth to t.
I didn't see a lot of happy people in
your story with the way things are going.
Where's the governor and all th,
Kent? Well, we, we reached
out to the governor and to the
Mayo Clinic and neither of
them had any kind of comment.
The nurses association that was outside
the governor's office for a rea.
A lot of this pressure campaign
in the last week came right
to the governor's office.
And there's some thought that ts
is happening because the governs
feeling the pressure. Yeah,
makes sense. All right. We'll be
following in this for at least a week.
Thanks so much, Kent. We appreciated.