Minnesota education spending: A tale of two budget bills
Lawmakers dealt with education funding in two different ways. The higher-ed bill was the only finance bill to finish before the regular session ended.
State Government
After ending ‘with a whimper,’ Legislature leaves plenty of work for special session
Legislative leaders want a Thursday special session, and they want it done quick. Not so that members can enjoy the Memorial Day holiday, but also because leaders fear they will hear from lobbyists and activists.
‘It was a draw’: State budget deal includes extension of provider tax, no gas tax increase
Announced Sunday evening, the deal triggers a frantic week — or perhaps longer — for Minnesota lawmakers.
Special session looms as budget impasse continues at the Legislature
Each hour that passes without a deal makes it more difficult to go through the tasks needed to consider and adopt legislation in time — and increases the possibility that a special session will be necessary.
How big an issue is the cost of prescription drugs? So big that the 2019 Minnesota Legislature actually managed to pass a bill addressing it
The bill sets up regulations on Pharmacy Benefit Managers, which serve as a middlemen between drug makers and insurance companies.
Legislators keep debating early learning programs. How do we know what works best?
House DFLers and Gov. Tim Walz propose renewing funding for 4,000 volunteer preschool slots in public school districts. Senate Republicans want to use those funds for early learning scholarships instead.
The Legislature’s big opioids bill suddenly looks like it’s in serious trouble
In recent days, the legislation’s fee structure — especially how fees on opioid makers would sunset should the state win settlement against the companies — have emerged as the main threat to the bill.
The long-simmering fight over wolf hunting in Minnesota is political — and emotional
As the federal government prepares to cut wolves from the Endangered Species Act again, the debate over wolf hunting in Minnesota is emerging anew.
How Senate Republicans’ ‘no new taxes’ stance became the driving force of the 2019 Legislature
DFL leaders continue to expect Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka to meet them somewhere between zero and the billions in tax increases they’ve proposed. Gazelka has refused to do that.
In a divided Legislature, the push to make issues ‘bipartisan’ has become increasingly popular
The approach has become so common — if so far unsuccessful — that when someone says “this shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” at the Capitol, it usually means the issue has already become just that.
New metro BRT lines could be DOA without a little TLC from the Legislature
Several BRT projects are currently on regional leaders’ funding wishlist, but much of what happens with those priorities will depend on what happens at the Legislature.
Legislature chooses four new University of Minnesota regents
House DFL delayed the process for months while they wrangled votes, and it paid off: They voted together on a slate of candidates and filled three of the four seats with their selections.
Funding for MinnesotaCare is already complicated at the Legislature. The Trump administration may be about to make it slightly worse
$24 million isn’t a huge amount in the scheme of health care funding, but it is part of a much bigger conflict over the future of MinnesotaCare.
‘Help us’: Minnesota school officials plead with lawmakers to fix special education cross-subsidy
Special education costs a lot more than what either the state or federal government has been willing to pay for it.
Why a Minnesota environmental group is pushing new legislation based on a bill written by the mining industry in Montana
The measure would put new restrictions on certain waste storage dams for future copper-nickel mines in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s community solar program has been wildly popular. Why some want to limit it
Critics say the program has disproportionately benefited business and governments — at the expense of the average energy customer.
Why can’t Minnesota’s legislative leaders compromise? Because their disagreement isn’t (only) about money. It’s about a philosophy of governing
Meeting in the middle can sometimes resolve policy differences. But it’s rarely helpful in resolving philosophical ones.
Among the DFL’s big legislative priorities, addressing wage theft is one of the few that have a good shot of becoming law. Why?
The Department of Labor and Industry estimates that 39,000 Minnesota workers aren’t fully paid what they’re owed each year, and labor and social justice advocates have waged a campaign to address the issue.
The Walz administration wants to conduct two major environmental studies in different parts of Minnesota. An unlikely coalition is pushing back on the idea
Democrats in the House may be aligned with Gov. Tim Walz’s administration on many environmental issues. But they have split with Walz on studying the karst and Pineland Sands regions.
The health and human services bill now includes an emergency insulin assistance program
DFLers were surprised by Republican Sen. Michelle Benson’s move to amend her own bill to include the benefit.
