| The first bill headed for a House floor vote deals with the handling of data requests in the attorney general’s office. Republicans set the bill for floor consideration on Thursday. Remember, Republicans have 67 members and it takes 68 to pass a bill. Democrats on the House Rules and Administration Committee suggested they’ll oppose it. If all Democrats do, it can’t pass. The bill itself is a two-word change to existing law that’s aimed at opening up more records for public review, but is rooted in a political fight as well. It stems from a multiyear court case that ended in 2022 over data related to special attorneys that DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison contracted with on climate and energy litigation. An industry group sued for information but was denied. In the end, the Minnesota Supreme Court allowed Ellison to withhold the requested data . The high court’s decision did come with some dissent from the court, which Republicans used as a roadmap for the legislation. It has been a priority of House GOP Majority Leader Harry Niska. The bill was sped to the floor while Republicans have working control of the chamber and could be one of several that reach votes before a March 11 special election that could produce a House tie again.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Ellison hasn’t ruled out a run for the U.S. Senate. He didn’t offer a timetable for a decision on whether he’ll enter the race to succeed DFL Sen. Tina Smith, who is leaving at the end of her term in 2026. "I'm not ruling it in. I'm not ruling it out," Ellison said Tuesday at the Capitol. "I'm focusing on defending Minnesota from these unconstitutional, illegal executive orders. So I'm keeping the ball. I'm keeping my eyes on the prize right now." Ellison, who served in the U.S. House from 2007 to 2019, said he's right now focused on several lawsuits he and other attorneys general have filed against the Trump administration.
Republican senators have filed new ethics complaints against DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell. The two new complaints against Mitchell will trigger a new ethics committee within 30 days of the filings. Mitchell successfully petitioned a Becker County District Court judge to postpone her trial until after the Legislature adjourns in May. She also voted last month to block a motion to bring an expulsion vote against her to the Senate floor last month. One of the Republican-filed complaints says Mitchell casting a vote to keep her job is a violation of Senate conflict of interest rules. Last year, the Senate Ethics Committee decided not to make a determination until the criminal matter was resolved. "The trial can't proceed because she's using her Senate position to avoid trial,” Johnson said. “This circular motion is really preventing justice." The other complaint is an amended version of last year’s complaint . Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy responded with this: “As I have maintained since April, Senator Mitchell is owed due process. That includes the adjudication of her case in court and the consideration of ethics in the Senate.“
The head of the state’s cannabis expungement board says the first few dozen reviews of cannabis possession charges are coming next month. James Rowader told a House committee yesterday that the board will take up 40 cases for review and possible erasure at its March meeting. And from there, it could assess about 100 cases each month once it has a review system and staff in place. "These fifth-degree possession cases we're going to be bringing, start to bring those forward in, for lack of a better term, in bulk,” he said. It became legal for adults to possess, grow and use cannabis in 2023. The law also called for expunging records of thousands who had been charged with low-level crimes. Cases that involve weapons or violent acts are not eligible for expungement. It could be a long process, Rowader said there are around 98,000 cannabis-related charges the board will eventually assess.
Meanwhile, some cannapreneurs will receive letters from the Office of Cannabis Management declaring them qualified to be part of a licensing lottery. The lottery itself will happen later this spring. There are 10 categories for licenses, although six come without caps so a lottery isn’t required for them. All in all, it’s another small but key step toward a fully blooming retail marijuana market. Interim OCM Director Eric Taubel spoke yesterday with MPR’s Cathy Wurzer about the lottery and how it is being set up to avoid the legal pitfalls that sunk a pre-approval lottery last fall. Taubel wouldn’t give a precise timeline for the first retail operations opening off of tribal nation land, but he told Wurzer that some of the people and entities who applied then for social equity licenses could get letters soon telling them that they’ve passed agency checks and could be licensed “as early as this spring or summer.”
An addiction treatment program that is paired with a sober housing arrangement might be the latest to face investigative scrutiny over possible fraud. Jessie Van Berkel of the Star Tribune reports that Nuway could face a funding cutoff . The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is looking to halt payments to the program during the Medicaid payment fraud probe. The AG’s office is acting on behalf of the Department of Human Services. A court hearing is scheduled for Friday. DHS has had Nuway on its radar for action for more than a year. (As a side note: Van Berkel is doing a bang-up job since leaving the Capitol basement for a new DHS-focused beat.)
A federal court of appeals has sided with Secretary of State Steve Simon in a lawsuit by a group challenging Minnesota’s participation in ERIC. That’s the acronym for the Electronic Registration Information Center, which combines state voter registration and driver’s license data from several states to root out duplicate information and other ineligible voter files. A group sued Simon and his director of elections individually as well as in their official capacities, saying the actions violated privacy of license holders. The Association of Government Accountability already saw one part of its case tossed; Tuesday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judge’s ruling that Simon can’t be sued individually for carrying out state law allowing for the data sharing.
Democrats are again pushing an Equal Rights Amendment in the Minnesota Legislature despite falling short of their goal even with full Democratic control. This year, with a divided Legislature, the likelihood of getting a constitutional amendment before voters in 2026 looks even less likely. DFL Sen. Mary Kunesh says she's been talking with her Republican counterparts. "I will continue to have those conversations… should we find a language that would be comfortable and still gets the same rights. We don't want to minimize any of the rights of any of the individuals,” Kunesh said at a press conference with backers like Gender Justice and Jewish Community Action. The ERA would provide protections for race, sex and gender identity. There is also a provision that would protect decisions around pregnancy. Democrats say executive orders from President Donald Trump make the state protections even more important. | 