Good morning, and happy Wednesday.

As noted here yesterday, today is the first day for workers who were on the front lines during the pandemic to apply for bonus pay from the state.  The online application system will be open through July 22. Health care workers, retail store employees, first responders and others who qualify will share in $500 million. The system isn’t based on when an application is made so officials say there’s no need to rush. Gov Tim Walz said Tuesday he’s been briefed on the process and is confident it will hold up. “If we do get a backlog on that, we need to correct it as quickly as possible to make sure that the user experience is as good as possible,” Walz said. “My goal is, we've got 45 days to capture all the eligible people. We need to do that. If there are some glitches in the early hours, you can rest assured that we're prepared to deal with that. And we have the next 44 days to get them on board.” Payment size will be based on the number of people who ultimately qualify. The awards won’t go out until September at the earliest.

Efforts continue at the state Capitol to put pressure on Minnesota lawmakers to return for a special session after the regular session ended last month with a lot of work unresolved. The lack of a package of public construction projects and the allocation of state money needed to unlock federal infrastructure funding is getting a lot of attention. Dan Olson of the Laborers International Union of North America said during a Capitol news conference Tuesday that lawmakers need to pass those bills. “Do not jeopardize an infrastructure bill by your inability here at the state level not to get along with each other,” Olson said. Local government officials, construction organizations and others highlighted the issue. Governor Tim Walz and top legislative leaders are expected to meet again later this week to discuss the prospects of a special session, but the governor said he won't call lawmakers back until they agree on an agenda. 

Minnesota’s newest mental health law is being described as an important move to expand services and clear pathways for more providers. A bipartisan contingent of state lawmakers who ushered the plan through late in the legislative session gathered Tuesday to mark its passage as Gov. Walz held a ceremonial signing. The plan puts extra money toward services proven to work and tries new approaches, said Sue Abderholden of Minnesota’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “We want to remind people that this is an important first step, not the last step in ensuring that children, youth and adults are able to access the right care at the right time and in the right place,” Abderholden said.  Tens of millions of dollars will be put into mobile crisis services, culturally informed services, school-based programs, residential and inpatient treatment and intervention for people sliding into crisis. The law also reduces financial barriers for people entering mental health professions.

Democrats in the Minnesota Senate say they want gun control legislation included in a broader public safety bill during a potential special session. MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports Democrats lack the votes to pass such legislation and majority Senate Republicans have resisted similar efforts in the past. Public safety was one of the spending bills left unresolved last month when the regular session ended. Gun-related proposals were not part of previous versions of the bill. But Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen, DFL-Edina, said lawmakers must respond to the grief caused by recent incidents of gun violence in Texas, New York and other states. “DFLers are committed to responding to that grief with action to prevent future tragedies, and we’re calling on our colleagues on the Republican side to help us by agreeing to finish the public safety bill, and adding common sense gun prevention, gun safety legislation to it,” López Franzen said. Sen. Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis said she’s preparing legislation to change the legal age from 18 to 21 for purchasing semi-automatic military-style assault weapons. Dziedzic said the proposal is a reasonable step to help address gun violence. Senate Democrats are also proposing a law to set up a system of extreme risk protection orders, referred to as red flag laws, and expanded background checks for gun purchases. 

Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, who chairs the Senate public safety committee, responded in a statement: “Democrats’ extreme rhetoric to Defund the Police, liberal judges refuse to recognize our law and release violent criminals, and a lack of prosecutorial courage by liberal county attorneys to enforce the laws we currently have on the books has contributed to the violent crime wave that terrorizes our communities. According to the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, 40 percent of violent gun crimes are not given the full sentence. Cities that refuse to adequately resource their law enforcement are failing their communities. This is unacceptable,” Limmer said. “In the last few weeks [the Senate] passed significant funding to recruit and retain law enforcement, demanded accountability from judges and attorneys, and proposed cracking down on repeat violent criminals. House Democrats in Conference Committee were opposed to these proposals. I find it hard to take their proposals today seriously when they won’t agree to these commonsense ideas that will actually protect our citizens from the threat posed by violent criminals today.” 

How big of an issue will crime and public safety be during this year’s election? Pretty big, based on what happened in California yesterday.The New York Times reports: Voters in California delivered a stark warning to the Democratic Party on Tuesday about the potency of law and order as a political message in 2022, as a Republican-turned-Democrat campaigning as a crime-fighter vaulted into a runoff in the mayoral primary in Los Angeles and a progressive prosecutor in San Francisco was recalled in a landslide. The two results made vivid the depths of voter frustration over rising crime and rampant homelessness in even the most progressive corners of the country — and are the latest signs of a restless Democratic electorate that was promised a return to normalcy under President Biden and yet remains unsatisfied with the nation’s state of affairs.