Good morning, and happy Thursday.
Some pushback to a Minnesota state government-run paid leave program is coming from other levels of government. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports the proposal to set minimum leave standards is moving forward in the Legislature. Employees could qualify for up to 12 weeks of leave for medical reasons and more weeks to care for a family member. Associations for Minnesota school districts and local governments aired concerns about millions they'd owe in new payroll taxes for the system and difficulties in temporarily replacing staff. Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, said more money is certainly coming to public schools this year. She says public employees deserve leave protections just as private sector employees do. “I've been asked to remove schools from this bill and if you want to have a conversation with teachers about how their babies don't matter and their medical issues don't matter you can do that but that's not a conversation that I'm willing to have with any teacher ever.” Eight states have set up paid leave systems and more are ramping up.
A House Human Services Policy Committee approved a bill Wednesday to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth and vulnerable adults. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, the medical director of gender health at Children’s Minnesota, told the committee she'd treated patients after they'd experienced trauma from conversion therapy. Kade Goepferd urged lawmakers to support the bill. "What we know in the medical community now is that differences in sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression are a normal part of human development,” Kade Goepferd said. “Conversion therapy is harmful, because it is rooted in the belief that these differences are wrong and should be fixed. As you've heard from several other people today, conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth is not effective, not evidence-based and not ethical." Some conversion therapy practitioners and others spoke against the bill. Mary Amiot of Rochester said the proposal would take the state in the wrong direction. And she encouraged lawmakers to pursue a different approach. “We need the opposite of what it states in this bill,” Amiot said. “Our children in Minnesota are being unrelentingly attacked by gender confusion from very early ages. This is egregious and it is evil.” The bill now moves to another committee for more debate.
Minnesota Senate employees are getting a temporary bump in pay. The Rules Committee adopted a stipend plan that will deliver payments between $1,000 and $2,500 in installments over the next six months at a total cost of about $500,000. Those lower on the pay scale will get the biggest allowances. DFL Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic said it’s a measure of employee appreciation and recognition that the public salaries lag what is available in the private sector. It passed with bipartisan support, including long-tenured Republican Sen. Warren Limmer. He also pointed to competitiveness, calling the amounts “small” in context to the roles. "We do have some very unique positions, positions that you just can't put an ad in the paper and think you're going to get that type of quality of person, especially with the demand we put on individuals," he said.
The Senate has been cool to a proposal from Gov. Tim Walz that some of the state’s budget surplus go back to taxpayers in the form of rebates. Walz has said he still favors rebates but has yet to lay out specifics. The governor is expected to announce another part of his budget proposal later today at a business in the west metro area, but the rebate plan probably won’t be part of the announcement. And the House is in session this afternoon, and it will debate the bill to add protections for abortion and other reproductive health measures to state law.
Meanwhile, if you have some spare room, the governor and his family may be interested.Brian reports: The Department of Administration began its formal search Tuesday for temporary living space for Gov. Tim Walz and the first family. Their displacement from the Summit Avenue governor’s residence looms as an extended rehabilitation project proceeds. A 17-point request for information was circulated by the Office of Real estate and Construction Services. It is seeking potential properties in Minneapolis, St. Paul or adjacent communities for the Walz family to move into. The office hopes to attract submissions by the end of February. The rental must be available starting in June. As for the construction project, three potential project managers submitted proposals to manage the multi-million dollar fix-up by a Wednesday deadline, according to the state agency. The renovation aims to address outdated plumbing, exterior flaws and security concerns. It’s due to start later this year and cost up to $6.3 million. Because the work will be disruptive, Walz and his family will be relocated for all or part of the construction, which is expected to conclude by September 2024
A bill that would speed up Minnesota’s transition to clean electricity cleared its first committee hurdle at the state Capitol on Wednesday,reports MPR’s Kirsti Marohn. It would require the state’s utilities to use only carbon-free sources to generate electricity by 2040. The House climate and energy committee approved the bill along party lines. Its next stop is the House floor. During Wednesday’s hearing, the bill drew plenty of support from clean energy advocates and labor unions, who are hopeful it would reduce Minnesota’s reliance on fossil fuels to generate power, and also create jobs in the clean energy sector. But the bill also has critics, including some rural electric cooperatives and Republican lawmakers, who say meeting the mandate could make it difficult to provide affordable, reliable electricity.
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