Good morning. A traditional legislative retreat means a light Capitol agenda today. 

The Minnesota Legislature picked up where it left off. Day one of the session featured a lot of discussion around things done in 2023. As Dana Ferguson, Clay Masters and Ellie Roth captured , there was skirmishing over rules for school safety officers and disagreeing over the impact of a budget ratified last spring. Given that it’s an election year, the messaging battles will be constantly at the fore. There isn’t as much money on the table and most of the big decisions were made last year, so the to-do list is inherently smaller. The Legislature is mostly quiet today as lawmakers head into workshops about how to work better with each other.

A bill meant to clear up confusion around a new school resource officer law is on the move early in the session. The House Education Policy Committee voted 7-5, with one abstention, to push the bill along. It calls for a more definition of who qualifies as an SRO, a model policy around their duties and training requirements. Many school districts saw police departments pause their SRO programs over liability concerns after the Legislature barred school personnel from using certain restraints on students. School employees would still face limitations on prone holds but trained officers would be able to use them in certain circumstances. MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman reports that there was opposition from students and advocacy groups at the initial hearing.

At the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s annual session opening dinner, lawmakers and business leaders stressed the value in finding common ground. Ellie dropped in on it and notes that chamber seemingly conveyed sentiments through the between-speaker playlist: “Don’t Take the Money” by Bleachers and “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars among the tunes. In opening remarks, Governor Tim Walz said lawmakers and businesses should work together on workforce investment issues. Jill Bollettieri, a chamber executive, previewed the release of an upcoming business lobby study on the state’s environmental permitting process, which she said would document economic costs of delays. Streamlined permitting is a key chamber priority this session (and most sessions). Walz has talked for months about ways to speed up permits for projects, specifically those with a clean-energy bent. We’re still waiting on the details. Chamber leaders also used the event to urge Walz and top lawmakers to avoid additional taxes and regulations on businesses. 

As part of the dinner, KSTP’s Tom Hauser moderated a roundtable with Senate and House leaders. While they didn’t agree on much, they all stressed the need to fashion bipartisan bills -- a goal that was easier said than done last year.  House Speaker Melissa Hortman said that doesn't necessarily mean taking the easiest path, “When we argue, the state ends up with better laws.” And in a moment of unanimity, all voted “no” to a year-round legislative session in Hauser’s lightning round. In House Minority Lisa Demuth’s words, “No, that would be terrible.”

The economic forecast due out in late February will dictate a lot of what new spending emerges this session. In December, lawmakers were told that any new spending could create a hole in the budget a couple of years from now. But since then, national economic projections have become slightly more rosy in the short term. And yesterday, the Department of Minnesota Management and Budget affirmed that with a January tax collection report that was more robust than expected. The state took in $313 million more than anticipated, which is 11 percent above earlier estimates. All major tax categories were up. If that pattern keeps up, the threat of a looming budget deficit could be pushed off some.

State agency commissioner pay, part three. We’ve reported recently on raises that top department officials received after the budget was approved last year. The up-to-date pay roster can be found here . The high-end salaries before the boosts were about $155,000 and now they’re around $187,000. Republicans say the jumps were excessive. Gov. Tim Walz weighed in yesterday on what his commissioners now make. “You can't have it both ways,” he said. “You can't criticize us for not hiring good commissioners and or being able to attract good people and then say you don't want to pay them. So that's a hill I'm gonna die on. You need to pay people fairly.”

Despite new protections, jail deaths rose last year.Kirsti Marohn did a deep dive into the recent uptick. Last year, 20 people died in Minnesota County jails, compared to 13 the year before and 10 in 2018. This spike comes despite the Legislature passing the Hardell Sherell Act in 2021, which set minimum standards for medical care, mental heath, suicide prevention and death reviews in jails and prisons. Family members of the deceased inmates continue to demand answers and call for more scrutiny of jail deaths. While the Department of Corrections does conduct a review after a jail death to determine whether the jail was in compliance with state standards, they do not investigate the deaths. 

Ramsey County Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire introduced President Joe Biden yesterday at the National Associations of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington.  McGuire, the association president, said introducing Biden was the “honor of a lifetime.” McGuire highlighted Biden’s early career in county government. “Back home in Minnesota, we see everyday why it matters to have a president that is local,” she said. McGuire highlighted Biden’s historic direct investments in counties from the American Rescue Plan and pointed to Ramsey County to show how the stimulus bill has benefitted communities; the county partnered with the city of St. Paul and leveraged federal money to address housing affordability, which she said resulted in 1,300 households successfully being replaced from homelessness to a stable housing environment.