Advertisement
The ball drops, bartenders eventually stop pouring and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” can be turned off. But new laws passed by the Minnesota Legislature are not a one-day affair.
Here’s a local look at a handful of laws effective today:
No more foreign-made American flags
Joann Ziegeweid and her husband Lyle built their Winona-based business, Flags & Poles International, on American ideology.
“That’s our flag. It belongs here in the United States and it should be made here in the United States,” Ziegeweid said.
Minnesota joins four other states — Arizona, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey — with a restrictive law against foreign-made flags. Starting today, American flags sold in the state must be manufactured in the U.S.
It’s uncertain how the law will be enforced, especially with online flag sales from out-of-state vendors. Some lawmakers have voiced concerns over closing Minnesota’s borders to foreign-made flags sends the wrong message and could violate free-trade agreements.
To Ziegeweid, the new law does send a message.
“It’s the biggest honor you can give the flag is to have it made by American workers in the U.S. It’s a replica of freedom,” she said.
Carnival ride inspections required
From the Tilt-a-Whirl to the Ferris wheel, all of Winona’s Steamboat Days favorites — and all other Minnesota carnival rides — will be required to have annual and daily ride inspections.
“It is a good thing for ride safety,” said Jean Engler, president of the Winona County Fair Board. “They have to be inspected after they’re up and ready to go.”
The new safety law was passed in response to a Hinckley, Minn., incident in which two teenage girls fell out of an amusement ride due to operator error.
Covering the medical gap
With three colleges in Winona, new legislation could cover the medical gap for people without insurance in the 18 to 24 age group.
A new law requires some insurance companies to include coverage under family medical plans to unmarried children ages 19 to 24, even if they’re not full-time students.
“This is a group that when not covered under a parent’s policy tend to go without insurance coverage for reasons such as inability to afford the premiums on their own or a feeling that they are young and don’t need insurance,” said Randy Benson, director of patient accounts at Winona Health.
The change applies only to insurance products under state regulation and not self-insured plans. More than half of the state’s residents who get health insurance through an employer are covered by a self-insured plan, according to research by the Minnesota House Research department.
Insurance carriers and agents have mixed views about what this will mean for premiums.
“I think the more people that gets covered the lower the premiums will go,” said Robb Wunderlich, owner of American Family Insurance.
It could lead to increased rates employers and employees will have to share, said Jan Northam, employee benefits department manager and vice president of Winona Agency.
Updated school bus seats
Using a tape measure, Tim Spring measured a 7-year-old school bus seat’s width and height:
Seventeen inches across the leather cushion, 26 inches for the back.
The numbers for this Minnesota City Bus Company’s yellow-and-black transporter are well above new safety standards for school bus seats passed by the Minnesota Legislature. It requires a minimum cushion depth of 15 inches and a seat back height of at least 20 inches.
The seat’s measurements are designed to encase a child like an “egg in a carton” in case of an accident, said Spring, assistant manager at Minnesota City Bus Company.
The cushions act like buffers — the seat back height prevents a child from flipping over and the seats staggered to prevent movement during a crash.
Serving 4,000 students in 23 area schools, manager Bob Koch said the company must be proactive about safety.
Mercury-free products
John Roche remembers his mom using an antiseptic called mercurochrome and tincture merthiolate to clean his scratches and scrapes.
“I’m sure a lot of mothers did,” he said. “It came in a little glass bottle with an applicator. It usually stung and made you cry.”
Roche, a pharmacist at Goltz Pharmacy for 34 years, said all sorts of products used to be made with mercury, including cosmetics and thermometers doctors stuck under tongues and told patients to bite down on.
A new mercury-free law starting today restricts the sale of products that contain mercury. It includes stoves, barometers, cooking thermometers, over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances. Any products with mercury in it must adhere to a new labeling law that notifies consumers and offers disposal information.
Roche was not aware of any product on the shelves that still has mercury in it.
Car buyers’ bill of rights established
Sometimes that new car comes with more than the eye can see. Rust proofing. Fabric sealant. Theft deterrent.
Add-ons get added on to the buyer’s monthly loan payments. Often, without the buyer noticing.
A new law now requires dealerships to disclose price costs for vehicle add-ons and give buyers the purchase option. It also allows consumers to know if a dealer used a credit report to complete the loan.
“It’s really a good thing for the consumer,” said Jon Nienow, owner of Lewiston Auto. “It’s going to expose the dealerships that add things after the deal is complete.”
Dealers have called the practice “packing the deal” or “payment packing.”
Most dealers don’t do it, said Walz Buick general manager Ron Albrecht.
“There’s a bad apple in every industry and there were a couple that got caught in the metro area and made the rest of us look bad,” Albrecht said.
Contact reporter Amber Dulek at amber.dulek@lee.net or (507) 453-3513.
