Good morning, and happy Thursday. 

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit an electric bus manufacturer in St. Cloud Thursday afternoon as part of an effort by the Biden administration to promote its record in the days after the State of the Union Address. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports Harris will promote green energy initiatives at New Flyer's St. Cloud bus manufacturing facility. New Flyer is a Canada-based company that makes electric buses and has two manufacturing operations in Minnesota. Harris will tour the facility and “deliver remarks highlighting how the administration’s investments in electric vehicles are creating a clean energy economy and good-paying, union jobs,” according to the White House. The bipartisan infrastructure law that President Joe Biden signed in 2021 includes billions of dollars to help the electric vehicle industry. And the Inflation Reduction Act, which no Republican supported, includes tax credits for people who buy electric vehicles. Moaz Uddin, an electric vehicle policy specialist with  the Great Plains Institute, said with about 30,000 electric vehicles in use, Minnesota lags the nationa l average but has big plans to change that. "Minnesota has a goal of making 20 percent of all of these private vehicles on the roads by 2030 to be electric vehicles," Uddin said, adding that the state also plans to significantly expand vehicle charging capacity. "Minnesota would require 28,000 level two chargers and 2,400 DC fast chargers by 2030 These charges would have to be spread all across the state." Republicans are criticizing Harris and Biden for promoting electric vehicles while blocking mining near the Boundary Waters. 

The Minnesota Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit over the emergency powers Gov. Tim Walz used during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports the lawsuit brought by a group of citizens and aided by a conservative law firm challenged Walz over his declaration of an emergency and over his use of that emergency to impose restrictions, including a mask mandate. Justices decided that litigation over specific measures Walz took during COVID-19 is now moot, given that they’ve lapsed. But the high court said the governor’s use of the Emergency Management Act to justify his executive actions is still a relevant question. It is a partial reversal of an earlier Court of Appeals decision, which had dismissed the claims. “Given that the peacetime emergency and the consequent executive orders impacted every Minnesotan and the import of those decisions, the legal question of whether the act authorizes such actions is undoubtedly an issue of statewide significance,” Chief Justice Lorie Gildea wrote for a unanimous Supreme Court. “We also conclude that this important legal issue should be decided now so that any lack of clarity can be settled before it is necessary for a governor to invoke the act again.”

I noted here earlier in the week that North Dakota is preparing to file a lawsuit over Minnesota’s new carbon free electricity law. That may not be the only lawsuit in the works. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports: With Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the governor’s office, they have a clear pathway to pass laws. And in the first month of the  legislative session, the energy law and other DFL priorities such as guaranteeing the right to abortion and banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth were on the fast track. Opponents say the laws invite legal challenges.  “I believe this is a litigator’s dream and a responsible government official’s nightmare,” said Teresa Collett, a lawyer and professor at the University of St. Thomas, about the legislation that guaranteed the right to abortion. “In this instance, I would plead with you not to pass this bill, it will be a litigation nightmare.” Collett has represented groups aiming to keep state restrictions on abortion on the books. And she said her clients are weighing a challenge to what’s called the Protect Reproductive Options Act, which Walz signed last week. Conservative news outlet Alpha News has a standing segment on its website where attorneys from the Upper Midwest Law Center highlight bills they view as ripe for legal challenges. The firm has previously sued the Walz administration over several policies. “Today we are talking about serious legal problems with bills currently advancing through the Minnesota Legislature,” said James Dickey, one of the Upper Midwest Law Center’s attorneys. DFLers who wrote the bills said threats of lawsuits aren’t new, and they expected their proposals would hold up if taken to court. 

Sixteen-year-olds in Minnesota could pre register to vote when they turn 18 under a bill moving at the Capitol. Brian Bakst reports Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, said her bill “strengthens the freedom to vote by modernizing and expanding voter registration.” In addition to pre-registering more teens, the bill also would update voter registration for U.S. citizens when they get a new Minnesota driver’s license or complete other government forms with a new name or address. People could opt out of the automatic registration. The House Elections Finance and Policy Committee approved the bill on an 8-5 party-line vote Wednesday. A companion bill made it through the Senate elections committee earlier this week, also with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. Debate over both bills also encompassed proposed changes to campaign finance disclosure by outside groups. 

State lawmakers are working on a bill to try to arrest the spread of chronic wasting disease in deer. The Forum News Service reports Minnesota would ban any new deer farms in the state and require all captive deer to be tested for chronic wasting disease by new tests available for live animals under a bill that cleared a state House committee Wednesday. The bill also would shift oversight of captive deer farms, including elk and other cervidae, from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, which usually oversees farm animals, to the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees wild animals. The bill, the most sweeping anti-CWD measure in the state so far, was approved in the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee by a voice vote and now moves on to the House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee. 

Tell MPR News: What do you hope lawmakers accomplish this session?