Good morning, and congratulations for making it to another Friday.
Tens of thousands of Minnesotans now barred from voting due to felony records are on the cusp of having those rights restored following House passage of a bill Thursday.MPR’s Brian Bakst reports the Senate is expected to decide soon on companion legislation that would make as many as 50,000 people again eligible to vote. The restoration would apply to any felon who isn’t incarcerated, regardless of whether they are on parole or probation. The voting-rights push has been debated and litigated for years but its chances improved when the DFL won full control of state government. The Minnesota Supreme Court could rule soon on a legal challenge to the current system; it heard a case in late 2021 and has taken an unusually long time publishing a decision after arguments in which justices openly asked if the Legislature has more jurisdiction than the courts on the issue. Minnesota wouldn’t be the first to take the step to speed up voting eligibility. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 21 states automatically restore voting rights upon a person’s release from prison. Others do so after a waiting period. Only 11 carry an indefinite revocation or require completion of all aspects of a sentence. Rep. Cedrick Frazier, DFL-New Hope, said Minnesota’s law disproportionately affects people of color and is a form of racial discrimination. “High felony disenfranchisement rates among communities of color dilutes representation in our state's political system,” Frazier said. “And as a system set up on representation, if we can't all participate we can't truly be representative of everyone in our state.”
A proposal to require the state’s electrical utilities to transition to 100 percent carbon-free energy sources by 2040 is on its way to the governor’s desk after the Minnesota Senate passed it Thursday night.MPR’s Kirsti Marohn and Dana Ferguson report: The DFL-led chamber passed the bill on a 34-33 vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. Under the plan, electrical utilities would have to scale up the amount of electricity that they generate from renewable sources like solar, wind, hydropower or biomass. And they would have to reach state-set thresholds for electricity coming from carbon-free sources ahead of the 100 percent target in 2040. It would require them to move away from generating or buying electricity generated from sources that produce carbon dioxide, including coal and natural gas. The bill’s supporters said the proposal would help the state combat climate change while also giving utilities options to phase out carbon emitting energy sources. “This is what the people want. This bill will help us reduce carbon emissions. Carbon emissions are the number one threat to our planet, and they’ve been rising,” bill author Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, said. “This bill will reduce utility carbon emissions between now and 2040 and beyond.” The state’s largest electric utilities, Xcel Energy and Minnesota Power, have already pledged to reach carbon-neutrality by 2050. And while the proposal cuts that timeline by a decade, leaders said they were hopeful they could still reach the target. Republican lawmakers brought forward several amendments aimed at dropping the state’s moratorium on new nuclear energy plants, expanding capacity for hydroelectric energy, lengthening the deadlines to adopt carbon-free electrical sources, and barring local governments from demolishing retired fossil fuel plants for five years. Each failed or was withdrawn.
The United States House of Representatives voted Thursday to remove Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. As the Associated Press reports, removal of lawmakers from House committees was essentially unprecedented until the Democratic ousters two years ago of hard-right Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona. The 218-211 vote, mostly along party lines, came after a heated, voices-raised debate in which Democrats accused the GOP of targeting Omar based on her race. Omar defended herself on the House floor, asking if anyone was surprised she was being targeted, "because when you push power, power pushes back." Democratic colleagues hugged and embraced their colleague during the vote. "My voice will get louder and stronger, and my leadership will be celebrated around the world," Omar said in a closing speech. Republicans focused on six statements Omar has made that "under the totality of the circumstances, disqualify her from serving on the Committee of Foreign Affairs," said Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss. "All members, both Republicans and Democrats alike who seek to serve on Foreign Affairs, should be held to the highest standard of conduct due to the international sensitivity and national security concerns under the jurisdiction of this committee," Guest said.
Gov. Tim Walz is expected to sign a bill today making Juneteenth a state holiday. The House passed the bill Thursday night with no debate by a lopsided 126-1 vote. Juneteenth — June 19 — is the date in 1865 viewed as the formal abolition of slavery in the United States even though it came years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth celebrations have occurred for many years in Minnesota, but the bill makes it one where no government business is conducted. Rep. Ruth Richardson, DFL-Mendota Heights, said it’s an important milestone worth marking. “It's also a step in the direction of truly living up to the promise of this nation that all are created equal,” she said. “It's an opportunity to acknowledge how far we've come and how far we have to go as a state and a nation.”
The Minnesota Legislative Auditor says in a new report that state agencies aren't overseeing grants to nonprofits well enough and that the Legislature should tighten up oversight of hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money. The auditor's office found several cases where state departments failed to comply with state guidelines for managing grants. It also found that some of the guidelines are too broad, and said that's what lawmakers need to correct. Some departments say they're already taking steps to tighten oversight but also welcome more guidance from the Legislature. The oversight issues were highlighted by fraud allegations in the Feeding our Future case involving school meals during the pandemic. The Legislative Auditor is working on a separate report about that case.
And hey, maybe that’s not the green comet you’ve been seeing in the sky. NPR reports:China said Friday it is looking into reports that a Chinese spy balloon has been flying in U.S. airspace and urged calm, adding that it has "no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any sovereign country." Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also said she had no information about whether a trip to China by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned for next week will proceed as scheduled. At a daily briefing, Mao said that politicians and the public should withhold judgment "before we have a clear understanding of the facts" about the spy balloon reports. A senior defense official told Pentagon reporters that the U.S. has "very high confidence" that the object was a Chinese high-altitude balloon and was flying over sensitive sites to collect information. One of the places the balloon was spotted was over the state of Montana, which is home to one of America's three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
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