1 week Ago By Mary Murphy
ST. PAUL — Minnesota lawmakers returned to the Capitol after their Easter break, and now face passing a bonding and budget bill with three weeks left in the session. The majority of work this week centered on pushing omnibus budget and policy bills through committees.
Once these pass their respective chambers, the leaders of the Senate and House will meet in the coming weeks in conference committees to rectify the spending and policy differences. ADVERTISEMENT Dems push for tax revenue in response to federal budget cut proposals Roughly 20 DFL senators and representatives held a rally Thursday morning, April 24, pushing for a state budget bill that responds to potential federal budget cut proposals. Democrats said Thursday some of their colleagues want to put tax revenue on the table in this year’s state budget and proposed several provisions, including those from SF2290 , a bill targeting fifth-tier income tax among other income tax brackets; SF3197 , a social media tax; and SF3265 , ending the sales tax exemption for data centers.
“It is our obligation in this body to protect communities and safeguard democratic self-governance here in Minnesota, and that starts by ensuring that we have the resources and the courage to stand up for Minnesotans and to protect our communities,” Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, said Thursday. Senate Democrats and Gov.
Tim Walz have both put revenue in their budget proposals, but Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said at an unrelated press conference Wednesday that any tax increases remain a non-starter for them in budget negotiations this year. “No new tax increases,” she said. “That's what I can guarantee.
That is a non-starter for House Republicans at this point.” House Republicans introduce bill to classify mNRA vaccine a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ Seven House Republicans introduced a bill Monday that would classify the mNRA vaccine as a weapon of mass destruction. The bill, HF3219 , chief authored by Rep.
Shane Mekeland, R-Clear Lake, states that “the COVID injections, mRNA or 'modified' messenger RNA as related to the gene altering agents,” should be classified as a weapon of mass destruction. The bill would allow the distribution of the mNRA vaccine to be punishable under Minnesota’s existing provisions for weapons of mass destruction: up to 20 years, a $100,000 fine or both. ADVERTISEMENT Rep.
Robert Bierman, DFL-Apple Valley, said the bill was “outrageous” and “disturbing.” “This bill, simply put, is a dangerous attack on public health on the heels of a global pandemic,” he said. “I mean, it's just mind-boggling to me that our House Republican colleagues have aligned themselves with such a bill, and a lack of understanding of medical science is what it comes down to.
So it's disturbing.” Mekeland and co-authors Reps. Krista Knudsen, R-Lake Shore; Walter Hudson, R-Albertville; Jeff Dotseth, R-Silver Township; Tom Murphy, R-Underwood; Pam Altendorf, R-Red Wing; and Isaac Schultz, R-Elmdale Township; did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
Senate passes omnibus education policy bill, after seven hours of debate The Senate passed its education omnibus policy bill, SF1740 , authored by Sen. Steve Cwodzinski, DFL-Eden Prairie, on a bipartisan 39-26 vote late Thursday night following seven hours of floor debate. The bill includes provisions such as removing a content exam requirement for tier-one teacher license renewals, carrying opiate antagonists in school, updating charter school regulations to improve oversight and prevent conflicts of interest, clarity on student absenteeism, allowing student representation on school boards as well as adjustments to the READ Act, and including reduced instructional time to allow for teacher training.
Republicans said following Thursday’s floor session that the bill doesn’t go far enough. Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, who voted for the bill, said she would have liked more relief for “unfunded mandates.
” “While we would have liked to see some of these mandates repealed, flexibility restored to local school boards, and our girls sports protected, it is encouraging that Democrats didn’t go even further with more costly proposals,” she said in a statement. “We’ll keep fighting to remove burdensome mandates and focus on improving classroom learning and school safety.” ADVERTISEMENT During the seven-hour floor debate, Republicans attempted to push several amendments, including barring transgender athletes from women's and girls sports, parental notification of violent incidents in school, and prohibiting schools from implementing the Minnesota Department of Education’s rule requiring instruction on nonbinary gender pronouns in third grade.
At the end of the floor debate Thursday, Cwodzinski called to attention that the bill had adopted an equal number of five amendments from each party. He thanked all those who worked with him on the bill and said the bipartisan work on Thursday had been a "joy." "We're supposed to be a disagreeable body," he said.
"That's what we do here. We disagree, and people say, 'You need to disagree less,' and I would argue we need to disagree better. I appreciate all of you tonight for listening to each other, for having an open heart, for having an open mind, for trying to leave this world a better place than you found it.
" Bills in motion HF2446 : The Minnesota House passed the agriculture Budget bill, 130-3, increasing total funding for Agriculture by $17 million. The bill makes appropriations to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Board of Animal Health, the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute and the Office of Broadband Development. SF1075 : Gov.
Tim Walz signed a bill Thursday that will allow a doctor to designate a condition as permanent, issue a prescription without an expiration date, and relieve the need to obtain new documentation in the future. HF2431 : The Higher Education Budget and Policy Bill passed unanimously out of the House's Ways and Means Committee Wednesday and now heads to the House floor. HF2442 : The Energy Omnibus Bill was laid over for further consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT SF3196 : The Senate unanimously passed the immediate appropriation for the Department of Corrections on Thursday. HF2432 : The House Judiciary and Public Safety bills were combined into one bill, to align with the Senate's version of the bill. The merged bill is headed to the House floor for consideration after passing out of the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.
SF3096 : The Elections Budget and Policy Omnibus bill was combined into SF304 , the State and Local Government Omnibus bill on Wednesday. SF219 : Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, pushed a bill to expand who is eligible for the electric bike rebate program was laid over.
It will be revisited once a clear definition of "persons with disabilities" is included in the bill's language. HF1090 : On Monday, the House unanimously passed HF1090 in remembrance of the late state Rep. Mary Murphy.
The bill will create the “Mary C. Murphy Library Construction Grants Program.” HF1615 : The House Cannabis Policy bill narrowly passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday and was sent to the House floor.
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