Guest Blogger, U of M student Brian Peterson
Today’s Blog Post is brought to you by Brian Peterson, a HECUA student (Higher Education Consortium on Urban Affairs) and heckuva good writer. Brian’s been a half-time Public Policy Intern with HOME Line since late January. Brian (and Addison … another intern who comes in on Mondays and Wednesdays) spend much of their time running me through the inquisition. “What would this proposal do? How many tenants will be helped by this idea? Why would legislators oppose this? What do elected leaders say about us when they are alone with their colleagues?”
To any legislator reading this, there are few questions you’ve asked me that I haven’t heard in some iteration from my public policy interns first.
And now, Brian Peterson’s, Musings of a political newcomer
Before I began interning at HOME Line, I knew absolutely nothing about local politics. As a Economics and Urban Studies major at the University of Minnesota, I had only ever set foot in our State Capitol once in my college career. I knew that a guy named Pawlently was governor, and that Minnesota’s legislative districts were numbered and divided into “A” and “B” sections, but that was about it. I don’t remember if I voted for the legislators who represent me now, but I do remember doing my civic duty by voting every two years since I turned 18. Needless to say, my experience in working with the folks at HOME Line and spending time at the Capitol learning about the political process have been quite an eye-opening experience for me.
The first time I saw the Tenant Bill of Rights, I couldn’t believe that the items in the bill were not already part of the State’s housing laws. A right to a receipt for rent paid, heat-codes requiring that apartments be heated in the winter, the right to move if your doctor tells you that you need to move into assisted-living… none of these were already law? This all seemed like common sense to me.
I suppose that coming from a non-political background means that my notion of “common sense” might be more all-encompassing than that of most politicians, but the immediate “common sense” connections that I made to the Tenant Bill of Rights were what ended up pulling me in to work with HOME Line. Before I knew it, I was sitting in committee meetings, meeting with legislators, talking to lobbyists, spreading the word about tenant rights, and using my Blackberry for more than just updating my Facebook status.
As Michael explained it to me, there are several different types of legislation that advocates can work on. In the case of the Tenant Bill of Rights, the legislation is “consensus” legislation. That is, both HOME Line and its major critics, the Minnesota Multi Housing Association (MMHA), came to an agreement on items to include in the bill before the bill made it out of its respective House and Senate committees. Coming to a consensus with them meant that the bill would receive bi-partisan support upon agreement. Reaching an agreement is necessary, HOME Line believes, to win the support of the Governor. If HOME Line had tried to push for the advancement of the bill before coming to an agreement, they suspect that the Governor would strongly consider vetoing the bill.
The Committees in the House and Senate that heard the Tenant Bill of Rights initially heard the full-fledged un-agreed-to version of the bill. After lining up testimony from tenants and having a short debate with MMHA in front of the committees, the committee chairs asked both sides to come back when an agreement had been reached by both sides. I was a little bewildered by how little debate the committees allowed and was surprised to learn that almost all of the “politicking” around the bill occurred outside of the committee. Since the Tenant Bill of Rights was full of common sense, HOME Line was able to come to get an agreement without waging a full-scale grassroots campaign — they held a lobby day and identified tenant rights issues through documenting calls on the hotline and by sending organizers out to problematic buildings to inform tenants of their rights.
(Michael is, in fact, itching for the year true grassroots pressure can be utilized.)
After reaching an agreement, the “consensus” version of the bill was introduced into both committees and was unanimously recommended for passage. The bill was then passed in the House by a vote of 133-0. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill next week. Cinching the deal, MMHA has agreed to go to the Governor and ask him to support the legislation.
I have to say that this process has been very exciting to be a part of, and things have gone a LOT smoother than I would have ever expected. While not everything was included in the final version of the Tenant Bill of Rights, the legislation still represents a giant leap forward for tenants.
Throughout the process I have been discussing the bill, as well as my personal experiences, with my colleagues. A few days ago, one of them told me “Brian, I feel like we’ll be voting for you in a few years.” Although it might be a little ambitious to announce my future candidacy at this point, I was quite flattered by my co-worker’s observation. As an intern, I don’t think I have ever had the opportunity to be a part of something with such real-world implications. There isn’t much that is as invigorating as reflecting on the successes that this campaign has brought to HOME Line and to tenants across the state. As a renter myself, I am very excited to see HOME Line excel in the current and future fight to protect and advance tenant rights across Minnesota.
