Good morning, and welcome to another Monday, just two weeks before the deadline for the Minnesota Legislature to adjourn.
Later today the Minnesota Senate is set to debate a proposal to create a statewide paid family and medical leave program. Also in the mix is another proposal to spend $1.9 billion for capital projects. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports with just a couple weeks left to wrap up their business, lawmakers will work around the clock this week to finish massive budget bills. Over the weekend, some conference committees met to try to finalize their proposals. And bills spanning agriculture, environment, commerce and veterans affairs appeared poised for passage in the Senate and House of Representatives. Still in the works are massive spending plans for schools, health, human services, public safety and taxes. Different pieces of a new state budget passed by the Senate and House have required more time for legislators to negotiate. And if they can’t reach compromises soon, policies around tax and fee increases, gun policies and sports betting could be left until next year. “It's not like if things don't get done in 2023, that they won't get done with this Legislature,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said. “So we will, as the days drift away here, get more and more focused on only the state budget. And things that are too conflict-laden, that don't relate to the state budget, will get set aside.”
One surprise from conference committees came Saturday, when Senate Tax Committee Chair Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, announced that the Senate is dropping its support for a proposed revenue raiser — a worldwide combined corporate reporting tax. Rest said the panel would try to find another way to generate more than $450 million over the next two years in its place. The Republican minority leader in the Minnesota House responded: "It's encouraging that Democrats are starting to wake up to how unrealistic and damaging their proposals would be for Minnesota's economy," said Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring. "However it's disappointing to hear that Democrats are still searching for other ways to increase taxes at a time when we have a record $17.5 billion surplus.”
It’s not just legislative Republicans pushing back on the DFL agenda at the Capitol. Officials at Mayo Clinic are threatening to pull their investments from the state if lawmakers don’t make significant changes to key provisions of a health omnibus bill — exempting Mayo from one possible requirement, and eliminating another proposal entirely, Dana and MPR’s Michelle Wiley report. According to emails obtained by MPR News, and first reported by the Minnesota Reformer , Mayo told DFL legislative leaders and the governor’s office on Wednesday that unless there are major changes to the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act and the Health Care Affordability Board, it will move its investments — which could total billions — elsewhere. Mayo Clinic is currently pursuing several investments in the state, including the development of a “Destination Medical Center” — a multi-billion-dollar project aimed at revamping the city of Rochester, where the health giant is located. “Our Board was set to move forward to consider this investment next week. Because these bills continue to proceed without meaningful and necessary changes to avert their harms to Minnesotans, we cannot proceed with seeking approval to make this investment in Minnesota. We will need to direct this enormous investment to other states,” said Kate Johansen, vice chair of external engagement at Mayo, in the email.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, told MPR News that bill authors were still working with health systems on a version of the Keep the Nurses at the Bedside Act that could satisfy hospital leaders, patients and medical providers. “Really what it gets down to is what is a safe level of staffing in a hospital and can we as a state make sure that there's not a profit motive getting in the way of providing safe staffing?” Hortman said. “I think we all want that when our loved ones are being taken care of in a hospital setting to know that there's a safe level of staff there to take care of them.” Gov. Tim Walz on Friday told reporters that he’d spoken with Mayo Clinic leaders about their concerns. And he said negotiations would continue over the health omnibus bill. “We’ve always supported making sure that our nurses are supported, have what they need. We also understand that Mayo Clinic’s a unique entity where it’s focusing globally on it,” Walz said. “So I know that's being worked on right now. We've been talking about them, I think we can get a compromise that works for everyone."
The contractor building the Southwest Light Rail line says cost overruns and construction delays are not its fault, and that a "deficient design" is to blame. The Star Tribune reports: In documents obtained by the Star Tribune through the state's Data Practices Act, officials with Lunda McCrossan Joint Venture (LMJV) also take aim at the state's Office of the Legislative Auditor, calling its critical reports on the project "inaccurately reported or incorrectly interpreted" and "lacking any apparent experience or expertise." The legislative auditor has "either misrepresented the facts or twisted them to serve an objective," wrote Dennis Behnke, CEO of Wisconsin-based Lunda Construction Co., in a March 29 letter to Metropolitan Council Chair Charlie Zelle. LMJV largely has refrained from commenting publicly on Southwest's issues since it was awarded the $800 million civil construction bid in 2018. Legislative Auditor Judy Randall declined to comment on the LMJV documents. Two additional reports on the project from her office are expected by the end of the year.
Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill Friday that automatically registers people to vote, allows 16 and 17-year-olds to preregister, imposes new penalties for people who knowingly spread misinformation about elections designed to keep people from voting and moves up the effective date of another law that restores voting rights to about 50,000 people who have been convicted of felonies and completed their incarceration. Supporters call it the Democracy for the People Act. Legislative Republicans note it was passed without their support. Secretary of State Steve Simon talked about it with MPR’s Tom Crann.
Hundreds of people gathered at the State Capitol on Friday to mark a national day of action for missing and murdered Indigenous women, MPR News reported. Organizers set up tepees, tables and art on the Capitol lawn. Attendees dressed in bright red, some with red handprints over their mouths, a symbol of the movement for missing and murdered Indigenous people. The day’s events gave speakers and attendees a chance to mourn the missing, but speakers also noted steps towards solutions. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan praised the work of Minnesota’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Office, which the state created in 2021 to address violence against Indigenous people. “We are now implementing all of the things that people have been working on for so long, and this may be the hardest part, is we make sure that we get it right,” Flanagan said. “The pressure of carrying the memory of all those who have gone missing or who we have lost is heavy.” According to the MMIR office, Indigenous people make up about 1 percent of Minnesota’s population, but 9 percent of murdered women and girls in the state between 2010 and 2019 were Indigenous.
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