I’m posting this at 5:50 pm on the Senate Floor. We’ve been sitting here for almost 2 and 1/2 hours visiting and discussing everything except the bill we started out debating, which was the Omnibus Public Safety Budget bill.

The bill became controversial because of a provision relating to “bad faith” claims by insureds against their insurance companies. The provision was supported by the Minnesota trial lawyers. The Insurance industry and the Governor opposed this policy provision and a veto of the entire Public Safety bill was likely. So, I made a motion to send the bill back to conference committee. It failed by 2 votes. But the discussion caused the majority leader to call for a 10 minute recess to discuss the issue further. The 10 minute recess lasted more than 2 and 1/2 hours.

So, as I was sitting in the Senate retiring room, eating popcorn with colleagues, I recalled the song about sitting on the dock of the bay ….. wasting time. Actually, the time out was a good opportunity for Senators to reconnect with each other. This doesn’t occur often enough around here during the hectic final days.

Good News ( now 6:10 pm)! The Senate just re-considered my motion to send the bill back to conference committee and passed it. We will remove the controversial provision from the conference report, and consider the issue as a separate bill. I will assist in crafting the compromise language between the trial lawyers and the insurance lobbyists. I hope that we can reach agreement which is fair to all sides.