Peter Callaghan covers state government for MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter or email him at pcallaghan(at)minnpost(dot)com.
The new effort is in response to rising crime on light rail and at stations. It is also aimed at increasing ridership levels, which have not fully recovered after the pandemic.
To receive a citation, a law-enforcement officer only has to see the phone in either hand — or both hands even — and doesn’t have to prove that the phone-holder was also engaged in any of the illegal activities covered by the existing law.
The Legal Marijuana Now Party plans to evolve, but a new state law makes it more difficult for political parties to gain major party status.
For just the eighth time in 40 years, a budget session did not require a special session to finish its work. There were many policy changes, too.
DFL Gov. Tim Walz called it “the most successful legislative session, certainly in many of our lifetimes and maybe in Minnesota history.”
By putting a deadline on when the Senate must confirm a governor’s senior appointees, a Senate controlled by a different party than a governor can no longer hold up confirmations as a threat.
Taken together, the transportation tax and fee increases would raise an additional $1.48 billion for roads, bridges, transit and other transportation needs in the next two years.
Worldwide combined reporting would have required corporations with foreign subsidiaries who owe income taxes to the state to include earnings of overseas subsidiaries.
The bill sponsors said they think they still have enough DFL votes to approve the final bill and expect some Republicans to support it.
While 22 states have legalized growing the plant for medical or recreational uses, it remains illegal federally, and moving marijuana products across state lines is banned in most states.
It would seem that DFL control of the House, Senate and governor’s office would improve chances for an early finish. But as one longtime observer points out, “Nobody fights like family.”
The tax hike, which would raise $200 million a year for housing projects and programs in the seven-county area, is part of a $1 billion investment in affordability that sponsors and advocates are calling historic. It would be the first-ever tax dedicated to affordable housing.
With two DFL senators opposed to legalized sports betting, sponsors have tried to get a few Republicans on board. It’s a tough sell without support from the horse racing tracks.
The governor has cited disturbing test scores — 58% reading proficiency for white students in Minnesota, with a 30-percentage-point disparity between white students and some racial groups — in arguing that the state must transform reading curricula used in Minnesota schools.
A proposal earlier in the legislative session called for stateside ranked choice voting in time for the 2026 election. What’s still alive now is a task force that would consider it among a variety of election issues.
Experts say Minnesota would be the only state to adopt a measure targeting corporations that have subsidiaries overseas.
House and Senate leaders also agree on a partial rollback of the state’s tax on Social Security benefits.
Senate DFLers are touting their new proposal as more “elegant” than a House proposal to require 10% of the vote on a statewide ballot to achieve “major party” status.
At each committee stop, a small group of people representing themselves or organizations like the trucking industry, traffic safety watchdogs, law enforcement, addiction advocates, and religious groups squeeze in concerns among the more-numerous supporters.
“Here in Minnesota, when we talk about freedom, we talk about having your children be free to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in their schools,” Walz said during his State of the State speech.
