Good morning, and welcome to another Monday.
The DFL majorities at the Minnesota Capitol have been moving quickly to pass parts of their agenda. Republicans don’t have the votes to stop them, so what can they do? MPR’s Brian Bakst reports: They’re pushing for recorded votes on numerous amendments, if nothing else to get swing district legislators on record and provide fodder for ads to come. That has extended some debates — 15 hours in the case of the Senate’s consideration of the abortion bill. Slowing the process has long been a tool of the minority. “To me, it's a very disappointing session right now. What's really splitting us between the Democrats is about 160 votes at the end of the day,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks. “That's what the difference is. If we would have flipped one district, we would have been in majority control. Now, we've been cut out of the process.” There are hard votes to come — more on abortion, some on gun restrictions and a lot connected to taxes and the budget. DFLers will do all they can to sort things out behind closed doors before bills get aired publicly. But Republicans will do all they can to expose fractures and lean on weak links. It’ll be something of a cat-and-mouse game the rest of the way. In the absence of achieving meaningful input on bills, Republican legislators are working hard to frame for the public what they see as overreach by the DFL majorities. They’ve gravitated toward a single word to capture it: "Extreme."
The vice president is coming to St. Cloud. Kamala Harris will be in Minnesota Thursday as part of the post-State of the Union Biden administration push to highlight its record. Harris will travel to St. Cloud to highlight how the administration’s investments in electric vehicles are creating good-paying, union jobs, the White House said. Republicans are not thrilled. "While the vice president takes a victory lap, inflation has outpaced wage growth for 21 straight months and everyday Minnesotans are still struggling to make ends meet,” said Republican Party of Minnesota spokesman Michael Lonergan on Friday.
June 19 is now a state holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the day that slavery was outlawed in Texas in 1865. It has been celebrated by Black Americans for decades because it marks the day that the final enslaved African Americans learned that they were free. At a Capitol event Friday , where Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill and ceremonially signed the CROWN Act, those who worked to pass the Juneteenth legislation noted the importance of celebrating the history and experiences of Black Americans. “I am the great-great-granddaughter of enslaved peoples,” said Rep Ruth Richardson, DFL-Mendota Heights, who sponsored the bill in the House. “I am the great-granddaughter of a traditional Black midwife, granddaughter of sharecroppers. And I am the daughter of a mother and father who grew up picking cotton in the fields of Mississippi and Alabama having their labor exploited. It is not lost on me that I am in fact my ancestors’ wildest dreams.” Richardson noted that a bill to recognize Juneteenth was first introduced in the Minnesota House by the late Rep. Richard Jefferson in 1996, and said she was standing on the shoulders of those who came before her.
Also on Friday, Black business owners filled the Capitol rotunda to lobby lawmakers for more resources. MPR’s Nina Moini reports Sheletta Brundidge organized the first Black Entrepreneurs Day event to help around 250 Black business owners connect directly with their representatives. "I didn't realize that there were no active lobbyists or advocates for Black business owners at the Capitol,” Brundidge said. “We need to know what the budget surplus is and when they are going to make decisions, if we don't know about stuff until it is already in the paper then it is too late." Walz is proposing $2.5 million toward Launch Minnesota, which focuses on helping startups and implementing more tax credits that are intended to spur investment in companies led by people of color. Speaking to the group, Walz also highlighted the DFL proposal for paid family leave that would allow workers to take up to 12 weeks of medical or family leave. “For the state to truly be the best place to raise children and raise a family, every family and entrepreneur should feel they have a chance to thrive,” Walz said.
State lawmakers are again discussing reviving passenger rail service to Duluth. MPR’s Samuel King reports the current bill calls for the state to allocate $99 million in fiscal year 2024 for what’s called the Northern Lights Express or NLX, which would make more than $300 million in federal funding available. Supporters say it is one of the “most shovel-ready” projects to be eligible under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that became law in 2021. More than $16 billion is allocated for intercity rail projects. “We know that this federal money is going to go to projects across the country, so we say let’s bring it here, let’s bring it to Minnesota and connect all these people along the route,” said Sen. Jennifer McEwen, DFL-Duluth, during a Senate Transportation Committee hearing last week. A number of business leaders and officials from the corridor also testified during the hearing, touting benefits beyond just transportation. “If approved, the NLX would provide a cost-effective way to bring tourist and other business opportunities to Hinckley and the rest of our region,” Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin told the committee. "Our hope is that this would stimulate other businesses from retail to industry.” But during that same hearing, Republicans indicated their opposition to funding the plan will continue. Their concerns include the cost of the project and whether service would be reliable. Sen. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville, cited the Northstar Line, which cut service during the COVID-19 pandemic. "As we go forward and we're starting to look at this, ridership on the commuter rail, that's one of the reasons it's plummeted on the Northstar rail, because it wasn't reliable,” Howe said.
It’s by no means a new question, but it’s getting new attention at the Capitol: Should Minnesota have a new state flag? The latest effort is to create a committee to redesign the flag, as the Star Tribune reports: There's a lot packed into the seal at the center of Minnesota's state flag, including a painful reminder for many Indigenous Minnesotans. Legislators have long contemplated an overhaul of the flag to bring it in line with the simple, bold designs of states such as Colorado and Maryland. But 2023 appears likely to be the year they jump-start that work, creating a committee to come up with Minnesota's new emblem. "This seal is outdated. It does not portray our state in a positive light. I think this is the year that we will get it done," said Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, who is pushing a bill to change the flag and seal, which dates to 1858.
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