It's spring, there's magic in the air, and language now appears suddenly in Minnesota legislative conference committee, popping up overnight like the state mushroom or asparagus.
Unlike these tasty spring delights, Minnesotans aren't hoping to find those magic policy additions to budget bills.
At the Star Tribune, Erin Golden reports in In the final stretch, it's a scramble to track Minnesota Legislature:
The last weeks of Minnesota’s legislative session have lawmakers scrambling to finalize plans for spending about $46 billion. Dozens of big decisions loom on programs and policies that affect people in every corner of the state.
But try to track that progress and you’ll find all kinds of hurdles. Millions in spending provisions and hundreds of policy changes are tucked inside massive “omnibus” bills that number hundreds of pages. Committee meetings are often called on a few minutes’ notice and frequently stretch into the evening. Major changes spring from closed-door meetings scheduled with no public notice, sometimes on weekends. . . .
Every legislative session, leaders from both parties pledge to make the process more transparent and accessible to their constituents. As this year’s session got underway last January, leaders of the Legislature’s Republican majority promised more transparency and accessibility than recent years. . . .
But a fast start doesn’t ensure a tidy finish — or a process that’s easy for everyone to follow.
Some initiatives get lengthy hearings and multiple votes before they end up in a big budget bill. Other provisions also end up in those so-called omnibus bills with little public notice or opportunity to comment. . . .
In an article for MinnPost, As legislative session enters final stretch, Dayton and Republican leaders get down to business on budget, Briana Bierschbach reports:
. . . But a fast start doesn’t ensure a tidy finish — or a process that’s easy for everyone to follow.
Some initiatives get lengthy hearings and multiple votes before they end up in a big budget bill. Other provisions also end up in those so-called omnibus bills with little public notice or opportunity to comment. . . .
She provides few examples:
. . . The Republican plan would revoke the governor’s ability to appoint members to the Metropolitan Council. Instead, the council would become a 27-member collective of local government officials. It also all but dissolves the Counties Transit Improvement Board, a five metro county joint powers agreement to raise a quarter-cent sales tax to pay for new transit projects in the region. Both changes appeared in a House and Senate transportation budget bill this week, but the issues hadn’t been previously heard in committees or voted on on the floor.
These are major changes that just popped up.
On the Rochester Post Bulletin Political Notebook, Heather Carlson reports in Negotiations ramp up as deadline nears:
The action in St. Paul has shifted from hearing rooms to closed-door meetings. . . .
At this stage of the session, Capitol reporters resort to dragging camping chairs up to St. Paul as they spend hours sitting outside of rooms waiting for the governor and legislative leaders to emerge. And the media aren't the only ones shut out from the talks. Rank-and-file legislators are also left to wonder what is happening behind closed doors.
"Whether you are in the majority or the minority, it gets frustrating because you are cut out and your constituents are cut out. And it shouldn't be that way," said Rochester DFL Rep. Tina Liebling.
All transparency is equal, but some are more equal than others in the Minnesota Legislature.
Photo: The state mushroom. We're going to look for some, since we can't see those closed-door negotiations.
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