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.
The building code measure passed amid a wave of climate and clean energy proposals that also includes major investments in weatherization, public transit, and electric vehicle incentives.
It was the second-costliest civil uprising in U.S. history, and there’s still a backlog of unfinished redevelopment projects.
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 legislators have thrown around the word “historic” for quite a lot of their bills this year. But two infrastructure bills definitely were.
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.
Democrats who control the Legislature also plan to cut grant funding for pregnancy centers advocating against abortion.
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.
That means significantly more money will be available for upgrades to things like water treatment plants, college buildings, roads, bridges, parks, trails, police departments, ice arenas and more, and the deal ensures the infrastructure plan is spread more evenly across Minnesota.
Supporters of an urban farm in the East Phillips neighborhood still have a long way to go, but the appropriation of $6.5 million could break an ugly, years-long impasse with city officials.
The spending follows two other consequential energy bills adopted earlier in the legislative session: a law requiring a carbon-free electric grid by 2040 and a $115 million fund to match federal dollars for climate and energy projects in Minnesota.
Worldwide combined reporting would have required corporations with foreign subsidiaries who owe income taxes to the state to include earnings of overseas subsidiaries.
Those fees are part of a larger package of legislation that includes a massive $670 million infusion of new state spending from Minnesota’s general fund for the environment and natural resources.
The bill sponsors said they think they still have enough DFL votes to approve the final bill and expect some Republicans to support it.
Sen. Sandra Pappas, a St. Paul DFLer who chairs the Senate’s Capital Investment Committee, last week said “it’s only fair that we focus on funding the projects for members that are willing to be partners and that are voting for the bill.”
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.
DFL lawmakers who control the Minnesota Legislature have cleared their toughest obstacle for approving two major gun regulations, paving the way for new limits on firearms to reach the desk of Gov. Tim Walz and become law.
