Budget battle in the past, Senate turns sights to Walz commissioners
Good evening,
Minnesota's long budget saga is finally over. Gov. Tim Walz signed a tax bill yesterday, the final part of the state's new, last-minute $52 billion budget. Unlike other parts of the budget, the tax bill wasn't necessary to avoid a government shutdown, but in the end there were no shenanigans.
But that doesn't mean Minnesota politics are done for the year! Besides the possibility of a future special session to sort out $250 million in aid for COVID-19 front-line workers, we have one major piece of drama:
While the House adjourned for the session, the Senate stuck around. Without the House, they can't pass any bills — but the Senate can confirm gubernatorial appointments, or — more to the point — reject them. And next week, the Senate will very likely effectively fire one or more of Walz's commissioners.
Background: In Minnesota, commissioners don't require Senate confirmation to start their job. But they're all subject to Senate confirmation. Sometimes the Senate goes ahead and holds prompt confirmation hearings for gubernatorial nominees. Other times they just do nothing and let the commissioners stay in office. But the third option is to do nothing for now, but take action later. That's what the Republican-controlled Senate has done for two of Walz's nominees already, and may do to more next week.
The most vulnerable Walz commissioner may be Laura Bishop of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Republican senators tried unsuccessfully to get Walz to back off the MPCA's "clean car" plan in budget negotiations. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
In other news, Minnesota police groups are suing to overturn a 2020 law that limits when police officers can use deadly force. Lawmakers were aware of possible weaknesses in how the law was written but were unable to reach an agreement on changes this year. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
It wasn't pretty, but they did it. Minnesota has a budget and won't have a government shutdown. The final bills passed Wednesday evening after a few final bouts of back-and-forth. [Read more from Tim Pugmire]
Lawmakers wrapped up the most controversial part of the budget Tuesday night, passing a public safety budget despite criticism from some DFL lawmakers that it didn't go far enough in overhauling policing laws. [ Read more from Brian Bakst]
Walz today endorsed the re-election bids of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston. Frey in particular faces a spirited re-election challenge from opponents Kate Knuth and Sheila Nezha.
Almost all Americans say marijuana should be legal in at least some circumstances, with 60 percent saying it should be legal for recreational use and 31 percent for medical use only. Just 8 percent said the substance should be illegal in all cases. [ Read more from the Pew Research Center]
Divided government frustrated Minnesota political leaders and forced them to give up on key priorities, but it also offered up opportunities for both parties: They could offer up a host of bills that please the party base without having to worry about them actually becoming law. [Read more from MinnPost's Peter Callaghan]
Something completely different: Are aliens patriotic? It's either that, or there's some other reason why sightings of unidentified flying objects shoot up every year right around America's foremost fireworks-centric holiday... [Read more from The Economist]
Listen: The obvious choice for this weekend would be Bruce Springsteen's "Independence Day," but I try not to repeat artists here and already linked to the Boss's "Lost in the Flood." So as an alternative, here's Elliott Smith's "Independence Day." [ Watch] | |
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