A few hundred people filled the halls outside of the Minnesota Senate chambers Friday morning both in support of and opposition to three polarizing bills dealing with gender and abortion.
Protesters opposing the bills held signs saying “Vote no” and “We don’t co-parent with the government.” The bills being voted on included SF23, a conversion therapy ban, SF63, the “trans refuge” bill, and HF366, the “Reproductive Freedom Defense Act.”
Read the full story
Children in the Hastings Public Schools district can easily get their hands on a book titled “Gender Queer” that includes illustrations of sexual acts, a school board member said.
In an interview conducted by Minnesota Senate candidate Tom Dippel, Hastings school board member Carrie Tate confirmed that the controversial graphic novel by Maia Kobabe is available to schoolchildren in the district. The book depicts oral sex and masturbation.
Read the full story
New discrepancies were revealed during an ethics hearing Wednesday centered around Democratic Sen. Omar Fateh.
Fateh is under investigation by a Minnesota Senate ethics subcommittee for what Republican legislators describe as a “quid pro quo relationship between Sen. Fateh and Somali TV” that saw the senator introducing a bill to give taxpayer dollars to the news station after it helped his campaign. Specifically, he is accused of receiving free advertising on the channel during his campaign, then apparently repaying the favor by fielding a bill to give half a million taxpayer dollars to the outlet.
Read the full story
The Minnesota Senate on Thursday passed a bill to reduce certain environmental restrictions and grow Minnesota’s tourism industry.
The legislation, S.F. 4062, blocks the state Department of Natural Resources from implementing new rules without being adopted under Minnesota law.
Read the full story
The Minnesota Senate passed what Republicans are calling the largest permanent tax cut in state history on Thursday.
SF 3692, passed in a bipartisan 42-24 vote, eliminates state income tax on Social Security benefits and reduces the first-tier rate from 5.35% to 2.80%, according to a press release.
Read the full story
Proposed legislation in the Minnesota Senate would establish a searchable public database on criminal sentences, if passed and signed into law.
The chief author of SF 3356, Sen. Mark Koran of North Branch, introduced the bill on Monday. Its co-sponsors as of Tuesday afternoon include President of the Senate David Osmek, Deputy Majority Leader Mark Johnson, and Sens. Andrew Mathews and Paul Utke.
Read the full story
Minnesota taxpayers will spend about $1.1 billion to keep individual insurance rates five more years if a bill the Senate passed Monday becomes law.
The legislators passed the bill, SF 3472, in a 42-24 vote.
Read the full story
The Minnesota Senate on Thursday approved two pieces of legislation that are connected to the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that lawmakers introduced last month.
The two pieces of legislation aim to ensure a parent’s right to privacy when they participate in school board meetings and transparency in school curriculum.
Read the full story
Lisa Hanson, a small business owner who was jailed for violating COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Governor Tim Walz, will run for a Minnesota Senate seat.
She will campaign in a new district that covers Freeborn County and parts of Mower, Faribault, Waseca, and Steele counties.
Read the full story
According to Minnesota State Senator Gene Dornik, the Senate Democrats asked Republicans to remove their Thin Blue Line lapel pins that symbolized their support for police officers. The Democrats made the request under the Senate rule that prohibits advocacy. The Thin Blue Line symbol has been criticized in other public venues as well. In Maryland, a judge banned court employees from wearing Thin Blue Line face masks, citing “bias.”
Read the full story
The Minnesota Senate voted 45-21 to pass a public safety bill that included police reform. The reforms are part of a bigger public safety budgeting bill. The omnibus bill had Republican support in both the House and the Senate, but some Democrats who said it didn’t go far enough voted against it.
Read the full story
State Sen. Scott Jensen (R-Chaska), a practicing physician, revealed Sunday that anonymous complaints were filed against him with the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice for his public comments on the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is one of the most important videos I’ve made and one of the hardest,” Jensen said in a video posted to Facebook. “Less than a week ago, I was notified by the Board of Medical Practice in Minnesota that I was being investigated because of public statements I had made.”
Read the full story
Nine more Republican lawmakers have joined a lawsuit against Gov. Tim Walz regarding his use of emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic.
Read the full story
Yet another resolution to end Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency declaration was rejected Friday, but this time the proposal received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
The resolution passed the Republican-controlled Senate in a vote of 38-29, with three Democratic senators joining Republicans in voting to end the governor’s emergency powers, which first took effect March 13 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Read the full story
A state senator warned of a “major crisis” in Minnesota’s long-term care facilities in a letter sent last week to Gov. Tim Walz.
State Sen. Karin Housley (R-St. Mary’s Point), chair of the Senate Family Care and Aging Committee, applauded the governor for releasing a “five-point plan” earlier this month on addressing the crisis, but said she has seen “few indicators the trend is reversing.”
Read the full story
The Senate Republican Caucus expressed concern over the governor’s “alarming” interpretation of executive authority in a letter sent this week to Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison.
“Your interpretation of the scope of the Governor’s authority under Minnesota Statutes, section 12.45, is incorrect and inconsistent with legislative intent and with a more measured reading of the law. Most importantly, it is an infringement on the Legislature’s fundamental and exclusive authority to define and prescribe the punishment for a crime,” states the letter.
Read the full story
The Minnesota Senate passed a bill last week that would require the governor to obtain legislative approval before extending any future peacetime emergencies.
The bill, authored by Sen. David Osmek (R-Mound), passed Friday in a vote of 36-31, but failed to advance in the DFL-controlled House before the legislative session expired Sunday night.
Read the full story
Several small business owners called for reopening the economy during a Monday press conference at the Minnesota Capitol.
“We desire to honor our God, and our government and governor. We think we can do both. But we have no idea how to get a plan approved, to whom to submit it, or if anyone needs to or will consider it. The church needs to gather, we are more the church when we gather than at any other time. Please, Gov. Walz, help us by providing clear ways for plans to be approved and for us to meet,” said Rory Martin, pastor of the Liberty Baptist Church in Eden Prairie.
Read the full story
A legal organization said members of the Minnesota Legislature are holding committee meetings in small groups in order to avoid triggering the state’s “Open Meeting Law.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota said legislators have been deliberately meeting in small groups so they can bypass the law, which generally requires that all meetings be open to the public.
Read the full story
An executive order from Gov. Tim Walz bans evictions, foreclosures, and lease terminations for the duration of the state’s peacetime emergency, but one Democratic lawmaker wants to take things a step further. State Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) recently called for a “rent and mortgage moratorium” in Minnesota, an idea championed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) in the U.S. Congress. “Every Minnesotan deserves to have a safe, reliable place to call home. Right now, communities across the state are facing loss of income and increasingly exacerbated economic hardships during this public health emergency, while their rent and mortgage obligations continue to pile up,” he said in a statement. Without the “suspension of these payments,” the state will continue to see “devastating consequences both during this public-health emergency and after,” according to Hayden. “Our priority should be to provide the immediate relief Minnesotans so greatly need in a timely manner, and that includes a moratorium on rent and mortgage payments,” he concluded. The Minnesota House is currently considering a bill that would appropriate $100 million from the general fund for housing assistance grants. Under that bill, Minnesotans who are unable to pay their rent or mortgage because of a public-health emergency…
Read the full story
Minnesota’s Senate Republican Caucus said it received more than 1,600 responses in just two days from small business owners across the state on their ideas for how to safely reopen the economy.
The Republican Caucus created a new online portal Wednesday for “businesses and workers to share feedback on reopening Minnesota’s economy.”
Read the full story
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called a press conference Friday afternoon to discuss the modeling the state is using in its coronavirus response, but faced harsh criticism for closing the briefing to the public.
Read the full story
Some Republican lawmakers were disappointed in Gov. Tim Walz after he announced Wednesday that his stay-at-home order will be extended until May 4.
Read the full story
Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) apologized Tuesday after a video showed him flipping off his Republican colleagues.
Read the full story
State Senator Karin Housley (R-St. Mary’s Point) said the Minnesota Department of Health’s decision to withhold information about the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on nursing homes “only brings unnecessary grief and frustration to many Minnesota families.”
Read the full story
The Minnesota Legislature passed a $330 million omnibus bill this week to address the coronavirus pandemic, but some Republican lawmakers were frustrated with the unprecedented lack of transparency in the process.
Read the full story
A doctor in the Minnesota Senate warned leaders Monday that the reaction to the coronavirus pandemic could be more harmful than the virus itself.
Sen. Scott Jensen (R-Chaska), a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and founder of Catalyst Medical Clinic, said that the disruption to everyday routines could have devastating consequences for people with underlying medical conditions.
“Scaring people to death isn’t helping us. We are going to in short order, if not already now, have supply chains get interrupted and some of these are critical supply chains. We need to be careful,” Jensen said in a video posted to Facebook.
Read the full story
Republican lawmakers said they appreciate Gov. Tim Walz’s leadership in responding to the coronavirus outbreak, but think his executive order closing most private businesses is “an overreach that will be devastating.”
Read the full story
Minnesota Democrats have proposed an amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing the right to “free, fair, and equal” elections in response to Republican efforts to pass a voter ID law.
Read the full story
Minnesota Management and Budget’s annual February economic forecast projected a budget surplus of $1.513 billion for the 2020-21 budget cycle.
Read the full story
A Democrat-backed bill making its way through the Minnesota Legislature seeks to repeal the state’s informed consent laws for abortion.
Read the full story
House DFLers announced a package of one-time appropriations last week totaling more than $190 million for “solutions that address the climate crisis.”
Read the full story
Minnesota Senate Republicans unveiled their “Get Your Billion Back” plan Thursday, a package of tax cuts worth more than $1 billion.
Read the full story
The Minnesota Legislature kicked off its 2020 legislative session Tuesday, but the House began with an unexpected debate about whether or not it should even be meeting.
Read the full story
A Minnesota Republican thinks his Democratic colleagues are sending “mixed messages” to Minnesotans on the impact of substance use.
Read the full story
Sen. Susan Kent (DFL-Woodbury) defeated Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) for the role of Senate DFL minority leader during a Saturday meeting, a move Republicans think signals the party’s shift to the left. Kent (pictured above) emerged victorious Saturday evening after the 32-member caucus met at the Carpenters Union Hall in St. Paul for nearly six hours. Bakk had served as leader of the Senate Democrats for seven years and often faced criticism for breaking with his caucus on the issues of gun control and mining. He spent eight years in the Minnesota House prior to his election to the Senate in 2002. Kent was first elected to the Senate in 2012 but Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan thinks her leadership role will be short-lived. Republican Giuliani Stephens, the former mayor of Woodbury and a 2018 candidate for governor, announced a campaign for Kent’s seat in January. “You know the Democrats are in trouble and scrambling when they oust leadership midstream,” Carnahan wrote on Twitter. “Susan Kent may be in leadership now, but it’ll be short-lived. She’ll be defeated on Nov. 3. Woodbury is ready for a change.” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) said Kent’s ascent to power shows…
Read the full story
Gov. Tim Walz announced Friday that he raised more than $1 million in 2019 for his reelection, but he won’t face voters again until 2022.
Read the full story
A state senator is intervening after the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) told a Waseca high school hockey team that it couldn’t wear jerseys honoring a wounded police officer.
Read the full story
Minnesota Senate Republicans unveiled their “2020 Vision” agenda during a Monday press conference, highlighting their priorities for the upcoming legislative session.
Read the full story
A Minnesota lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would reverse the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission’s recent decision to cap probation for most felonies at five years.
Read the full story
A Minnesota senator said he is “deeply disturbed” by House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler’s (DFL-Golden Valley) threat to cut state aid from Beltrami County after it voted to opt out of refugee resettlement.
Read the full story
Minnesota Senate Republicans said they plan to introduce a “Clean Energy First” bill during the upcoming legislative session that will “prioritize clean energy” and “modernize Minnesota’s energy resources.” According to the Associated Press, several different versions of the “Clean Energy First” legislation were introduced during the last session, but all were intended to change how the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) analyzed the long-term plans of utility companies. Senate Republicans say their bill will require Minnesota utility companies to “prioritize carbon-free technology” and will direct the PUC to “consider whether utilities’ new energy projects are in the public interest.” The legislation will include nuclear, solar, wind, hydropower, carbon sequestration, and municipal solid waste as clean energy sources. “In the next two decades, most fossil fueled power plants will likely be retired and replaced – representing more than 40 percent of our current capacity. As we plan for our state’s future energy needs, we have the opportunity to do so in a way that prioritizes efficiency and carbon-free energy,” Sen. David Osmek (R-Mound) (pictured above), chair of the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee, said in a statement. “‘Clean Energy First’ addresses our long-term energy needs in an affordable and reliable…
Read the full story
Minnesota’s largest teachers union has named “defeating Trumpism” and getting out 100 percent of the educator vote as some of its goals for the 2020 election cycle.
Read the full story
A Republican state senator recently suggested using Minnesota’s estimated budget surplus of $1.3 billion to give a rebate “directly to taxpayers.”
Read the full story
An omnibus transportation budget bill is on its way to Gov. Tim Walz’s desk without any gas tax increase. After clearing the DFL-controlled House Friday evening, the bill passed out of the Senate later Friday night in a 54-13 vote. It’s official…no gas tax increase in Minnesota. Senate just passed transportation bill after House passed earlier. On its way to the governor. pic.twitter.com/Yk81S8lq3j — Tom Hauser (@thauserkstp) May 25, 2019 The transportation bill was one of 13 bills state lawmakers passed during their marathon 21-hour special session that wrapped up Saturday morning just before 7 a.m. “This year we drove down the cost of health care, gave tax relief to the middle class, made historic investments in education, and funded roads and bridges. This is a budget that all Minnesotans can be proud of,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) said Saturday morning. “This year we drove down the cost of healthcare, gave tax relief to the middle class, made historic investments in education, and funded roads and bridges. This is a budget that all Minnesotans can be proud of.” #mnleg pic.twitter.com/IiBzkg1Og0 — Paul Gazelka (@paulgazelka) May 25, 2019 Sen. Scott Newman (R-Hutchinson), chair of the Senate Transportation Finance…
Read the full story
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) had some harsh words for his Democratic colleagues in the Minnesota House after the 2019 legislative session came to an official close Monday at midnight. Party leaders and Gov. Tim Walz agreed on a $48.3 billion biennial budget on Sunday, giving lawmakers hardly a day to wrap things up. By Monday’s midnight deadline, the Minnesota House and Senate had sent just one major budget bill to Walz’s desk—a higher education finance bill. A special session is inevitable, but nobody seems to know exactly when it will start or how long it will take. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) has been telling reporters that he hopes to have a special session on Thursday and possibly Friday, before Memorial Day weekend. Just ran into Sen Gazelka, he says he’s still feeling good about a Thursday/Friday special session #mnleg @TPT #tptAlmanac — Mary Lahammer (@mlahammer) May 21, 2019 One thing is for sure: Daudt was not pleased with how the 2019 session transpired. “This has been the least productive, least transparent session in the history of this state. Minnesotans should be ashamed of the process at the end of this legislative session. They passed one…
Read the full story
Three bills in the Minnesota Legislature would divert a total of $8 million in taxpayer money to Somali programs over the next two fiscal years. House File 985, for instance, would develop an “east African community economic development pilot program,” which would receive $2 million in both fiscal year 2020 and 2021. “$2,000,000 in fiscal year 2020 and $2,000,000 in fiscal year 2021 are appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of employment and economic development for a grant to Youthprise to give grants through a competitive process to community organizations to provide economic development services designed to enhance long-term economic self-sufficiency in communities with concentrated east African populations,” the text of the bill states. Youthprise is a local nonprofit focused on supporting “youth-serving organizations and systems throughout Minnesota.” The bill has 22 cosponsors in the House and four in the Senate, including Republican State Sen. Jerry Relph (R-St. Cloud) (pictured above, left). A similar bill, House File 463, would provide a grant of $2 million for the African Economic Development Solutions program. The money would act as a “revolving loan fund” and provide “technical assistance services to support new and existing African immigrant entrepreneurs in order to…
Read the full story
Minnesota’s Republican legislators called a press conference Thursday in the lobby of the Minnesota Capitol to oppose the radical pro-abortion measures being passed across the country. As was widely reported, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) signed the Reproductive Rights Act into law last week, clearing the way for abortions up to the moment of birth. In Virginia, State Del. Kathy Tran introduced The Repeal Act, a similar bill that would appeal restrictions on third-trimester abortions. Discussing Tran’s legislation on WTOP, Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) hinted that the bill could allow for letting newborn infants die. “So in this particular example if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam said. It’s unclear precisely what Northam was suggesting, but many took it to mean that The Repeal Act would legalize what is essentially infanticide. With a Democratic governor and a new Democratic House majority, Minnesota’s Republicans made it clear Thursday that they would oppose any similar legislation in the…
Read the full story
The Minnesota State Senate plans to introduce 92 new pieces of legislation Monday, several of which are backed by the DFL, and focus on LGBT or race issues. Senate File (SF) 95, for instance, urges President Donald Trump and Congress to direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “revise its current blood or plasma donor deferral policy related to men who have had sex with a man and to women who have had sex with a man who has had sex with another man within the previous 12 months from the most recent contact.” The resolution, co-authored by five DFL senators, argues that the United States is “facing a critical shortage of blood donations,” which could be offset by revising an FDA donor deferral policy that “prohibits approximately 19 million American men and women from donating blood and plasma.” “Advances in HIV donor testing have reduced the risk of HIV transmission from blood transmissions to about one in 1.47 million transfusions,” the bill continues, calling for a revised policy “based on individual assessment of the risk posed by the donor.” SF 107, meanwhile, calls for the establishment of a “Council on LGBTQI Minnesotans,” which would consist of “two members…
Read the full story