Just before I plant more vegetables and melons--and begin slapping paint on my home--here's a digest of news about the just-finished Minnesota legislative session.
Though it's late, I'll be putting cabbage plants for sauerkraut, so best to start with headlines from conservative Alpha News. The latest? There's Legislators finalize HHS bill that expands MinnesotaCare to illegal immigrants. And DFL-controlled legislature hands $8 billion transportation bill to Walz for signature.
Not to mention Legislature passes bill that will increase state government operations by 40 percent and Democrats sneak abortion provisions into omnibus bill.
Moving to MinnPost, Peter Callaghan and Walker Ornstein take a broad look in ‘Transformational’ and also ‘bonkers:’ Minnesota Legislature ends its session of historic spending, policy changes:
If someone built a word cloud of all the DFL floor speeches of all their bills during this year’s legislative session, the dominant words would be “transformational,” “generational” and “historic.”
“Transformational is definitely on the bingo card,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman said when asked for a one-word descriptor. “Transformational and historic.”
DFL Gov. Tim Walz called it “the most successful legislative session, certainly in many of our lifetimes and maybe in Minnesota history.
“A lot of folks at the beginning were very skeptical that we could get the big, bold vision of transforming Minnesota,” Walz added.
With a DFL trifecta and more money to spend than any Legislature ever — even adjusted for inflation — nearly every plank of the DFL platform was fulfilled. While their surprise majorities were attributed to a campaign built upon abortion rights and democracy following the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, DFL lawmakers and Walz moved forward on dozens of issues beyond those.
For Republicans, the gigantic words on their word cloud might have been more like: “partisan,” “overreach” and, as became quite popular, “bonkers.” . . .
Read the rest at MinnPost. Alsoo worth a look: Orenstein's Details on Minnesota $2.6 billion bonding, infrastructure package came late. Here they are.
Moving to the Minnesota Reformer, editor J. Patrick Coolican weighs in with Democrats made a big bet on themselves:
There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.
This insight has been attributed to figures as varied as Marx, Lenin and Steve Bannon, and I heard it from a shrewd lobbyist at the Capitol last week.
Whatever the provenance, this is what we’ve experienced around the Minnesota Legislature this year.
Many Minnesotans experienced something similar in May and June of 2020, but the change didn’t reach the Legislature until this year, when Democrats ignored the slimness of their majorities and enacted nearly all of their agenda in about 100 days.
In the coming years, we will spend more money on schools and universities, roads, housing, transit, health care and social services. In some cases, a lot more.
Undocumented people will be able to sign up for public health insurance, and get a driver’s license.
Incarcerated people will be able to vote as soon as they’re released.
Marijuana will be legal, and drug paraphernalia too, even if it has residue on it.
The right to abortion and other forms of reproductive and gender affirming health care are now codified in law.
If you have a baby, you’ll be able to get paid time off to nurture the child during those important first months of life.
If you make below the median income, the state will provide a tax credit to help defray the cost of raising children.
You’ll be guaranteed sick time if you work at a job for a sufficient period.
For those who believe government can be an important catalyst for human flourishing — put a man on the moon, develop the COVID-19 vaccine and all that — this has been an exhilarating session.
Will Stancil, a scholar of housing and education discrimination at the University of Minnesota Law School, compared it to a state version of the New Deal. . . .
Dana Ferguson at Minnesota Public Radio reports in Rebates, cannabis and abortion safeguards: What lawmakers got done in the 2023 legislative session:
The Minnesota Legislature adjourned Monday night after a historically productive session that saw the passage of a $72 billion budget, along with dozens of new policies long pushed by DFLers.
With all three levers of power at the Capitol under their control, Democrats spent the nearly five months of the legislative session passing new measures on health care, the environment, taxes and employment that had long been on their wish list. And they said they were responding to what they heard from voters last fall.
Before the governor signs many of the measures into law on Wednesday, here’s what you need to know about what the Legislature did. . . .
Minnesota readers should head to MPR to read what they need to know.
At the Star Tribune, Jessie Van Berkel, Ryan Faircloth, Rochelle Olson and Briana Bierschbach report in Minnesota Legislature ends landmark session by passing largest infrastructure package in state history:
Minnesota lawmakers passed the largest infrastructure package in state history Monday, capping a legislative session where Democrats pushed through some of the most monumental spending and policy changes in a generation.
They sent a $2.6 billion infrastructure package, with $1.5 billion of borrowing and nearly $1.1 billion in cash, to DFL Gov. Tim Walz for his signature. In the final hours of session, legislators signed off on the last piece of the infrastructure deal that directs $300 million to distressed nursing homes and approved a sweeping human services funding bill.
"The investment that we're making here — whether that's in local communities here in the metro area or in greater Minnesota — we are making a significant impact into everybody's lives," said infrastructure bill sponsor Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis. "Whether that's the road that we drive on, the drinking water that we have, or the community centers and the cultural centers that we have around the state."
While the infrastructure bills passed the two chambers with bipartisan support, Republicans continued to raise concerns about the scale of spending in Minnesota's next $72 billion two-year budget. A projected $17.5 billion surplus enabled Democrats to expand state programs and aid in many areas, though much of the money is one-time cash.
"As we congratulate and pat each other on the back for what is an unprecedented, explosive amount of government spending in our state, and now record borrowing, what does this mean for the future of Minnesota?" Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, asked. "What we are seeing right now in the state of Minnesota is an unprecedented migration of people, wealth and investment out of our state to other communities."
Leaders wrapped up the session a couple hours ahead of their midnight deadline. They left open the possibility of a special session later this year to give the University of Minnesota time to come up with a plan to preserve its health care facilities owned by Fairview, which is proposing to merge with South Dakota-based Sanford Health. . . .
Read the entire piece at the Strib.
John Myers reported in Overflowing natural resources legislation passes at Minnesota Capitol for the Duluth News Tribune:
You can legally light up that joint starting Aug. 1, your new tax rebate check will be in the mail this fall and there won’t be any price increase for a fishing license or state park permit for the foreseeable future.
That’s just some of the news Minnesota lawmakers provided residents from the 2023 legislative session that ended Monday at the Capitol, with outdoor and natural resources funding raised to unprecedented levels thanks in large part to the state’s nearly $18 billion budget surplus.
But lawmakers also passed a bevy of natural resources policy changes, from addressing chronic wasting disease to transplanting elk to eastern Minnesota and requiring boat operators to obtain safety training certificates.
In fact, no matter what you love to do outdoors, the 2023 Minnesota Legislature probably had an impact on it.
The state is pumping some $1.6 billion over the next two years into clean energy, environmental, climate change, invasive species prevention, wildlife habitat, parks, fisheries and outdoor recreation — by far the largest such investment in state history, said Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
“There’s never been anything close to this,” Hansen said Monday.
Much of the money and policy changes were in the omnibus environment and natural resources bill, with more money in the bonding package that lawmakers approved Monday, the last day of their 2023 session. Other provisions, like renewing the state’s environmental trust fund, passed as separate bills.
The natural resources money goes to programs administered by the Pollution Control Agency, Department of Natural Resources, Board of Water and Soil Resources and other agencies dealing with issues like climate change; protecting pollinators like bees and butterflies; fighting aquatic invasive species; managing the spread of emerald ash borer; tens of millions of dollars for conservation easements to protect sensitive soil, prevent erosion, save wetlands and capture carbon; and working on ways to keep cancer-causing PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” out of the environment. . . .
DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen, DNR said most every Minnesotan should notice improvements not just in the facilities they use outdoors — parks, trails, wildlife management areas, boat landings and more — but also in how they are staffed, maintained and operated and how they are accessible to more people. . . .
Red the rest at the Duluth News Tribune.
The Rochester Post Bulletin's Matt Stolle reports in The Minnesota Legislature will have far-reaching impacts: A list of local and statewide changes:
Love it or hate, the recently concluded Minnesota legislative session was a big deal.
The DFL-led Legislature and DFL Gov. Tim Walz used its one-vote Senate majority to go big in many policy areas and in spending. It included far-reaching health care measures, billions for public infrastructure, new laws legalizing recreational marijuana use and providing paid leave for workers and an increase in the gas tax.
Here are the items, big and small, that will impact residents in Rochester, Southeast Minnesota and statewide for years to come. . . .
Go check out the local list at the PB. At the Brainerd Dispatch, Forum Communications capitol reporter Alex Derosier reports in Minnesota lawmakers finish $72 billion budget:
Minnesota lawmakers raced against the clock Monday, May 22, to get their final bills passed before the adjournment of the 2023 legislative session.
All the bills forming the $72 billion two-year budget backed by Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz have passed in the Senate and House, as well as a $2.6 billion infrastructure investment bill — the first in nearly two years.
It's been a whirlwind of legislation at the capitol since Jan. 3, as DFLers in control of state government for the first time in nearly a decade scored many major victories.
Bills passed this session that have either become law or are on their way include legal adult-use recreational marijuana, new protections for abortion rights, gun control laws, universal free school lunch and the creation of a paid family and medical leave program.
Walz on Sunday called 2023 the “most successful session of our lifetimes.” DFLers won control of state government in November, and with no Republican Senate majority in the way have moved swiftly to enact many of their priorities. . . .
House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, told reporters Monday that this session will be consequential for Minnesotans as they'll see their taxes go up.
While DFLers delivered billions in tax relief to many Minnesotans through child tax credits and direct rebate checks, they also introduced billions in new fees and taxes. Demuth called the 2023 session "very quick and very disappointing" and asked why DFLers didn't do more to return the historic budget surplus.
"With a $17.5 billion surplus, we delivered none of that back to Minnesota," she said. "None, it's nothing for the Minnesota taxpayers."
Minnesota's last two-year budget was $52 billion, and the upcoming budget represents a 38% expansion. But Hortman pointed out that much of that spending is one-time and will not all carry into the following years. . . .
Read the punchlist at the Dispatch.
And there was this wonderful bipartisan tweet:
I know a lot of people are surprised, but working with @ANeuBrindley and getting to know her better was one of the highlights of this session for me. #BipartisanFriendships #mnleg #bonkers https://t.co/bMOng2YMsh
— Athena Hollins 🔥 (@AthenaHollins) May 23, 2023
Bluestem can't top that close. I don't even know how to embroider.
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- Fact check: Legal experts say change to MN Human Rights Act won't protect pedophiles
Photo: House Speaker Melissa Hortman and House Majority Leader Jamie Long meet with the media following adjournment of the 2023 legislative session May 22. (Photo by Catherine Davis/Session Daily).
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My state rep voted the bonding/cash bill, but my senator did not. The other two reps whose districts cover parts of my county did not also. But I'll not at all be shocked when they pat themselves on the back for the funding that will come into the area in the bill.
Posted by: Mike Worcester | May 24, 2023 at 07:07 PM