Good morning. We hope you were able to spend your evening enjoying the lovely weather. Back to typical Minnesota March… for now.

We could see it coming, but now it’s official: Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump have locked in enough delegate votes through primary results to be their 2024 party nominees. Not that the outcome was in doubt after the only notable rivals left to the two left the race following Super Tuesday. It’s the first time since 1912 that there’s a general election contest featuring two men who held the title of president — that year it was Republican President William H. Taft and former President Teddy Roosevelt, who that year ran on the Bull Moose ticket. They both lost to Democratic New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson. The closest corollary to this year is 1892, when Democrat Grover Cleveland and Republican Benjamin Harrison faced off in a rematch that Cleveland won after losing their first contest four years prior.

Like clockwork, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is being mentioned in connection with a presidential campaign. This time, it’s as a potential running mate to third-party hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The New York Times reports that Ventura is on a list that also includes NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who like Kennedy is known for his resistance to vaccinations. Ventura, who hasn’t held office since leaving the Minnesota governor’s office in 2003 often teases White House bids, has previously said he would consider taking a spot on a Kennedy ticket. It’s not yet known how many state ballots the Kennedy candidacy will qualify for.

The Minnesota Canvassing Board has met to certify the results of last week’s Super Tuesday voting here.  Trump and Biden were the respective winners. The canvassing report shows what we indicated earlier: Turnout was way down, lackluster even. All told, 585,991 Minnesotans cast ballots compared with 885,920 four years earlier. The turnout in 2024 was 13.6 percent of eligible voters. More Republicans voted than Democrats. About 18 percent of the votes this year came through absentee or mail ballots, which is more as a percentage than in 2020. As for write-ins, there were 2,000 on the nose in the DFL primary and 720 for Republicans; neither party made the request to have specific write-ins counted. The Legal Marijuana Now Party did ask for write-ins to be counted for singer Willie Nelson in their primary, which saw 484 write-ins in total.

Minnesota lawmakers are looking to put packaging companies on the hook for material waste. Clay Masters reports that Minnesota is among a small but growing number of states where bills have been introduced to achieve what advocates call Enhanced Producer Responsibility policies. At the Capitol, lawmakers are deciding what packaging should be included in the legislation, how to create new approaches and who should pay to reclaim materials that might otherwise wind up in landfills. Under the proposed legislation, an advisory board would come up with ideas for reducing non-recyclable packaging materials and packaging companies would have to register with the board and pay fees. “We cannot continue to landfill and incinerator ourselves out of this waste problem,” said Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis. 

Legislative negotiators have reached a compromise on a proposed change to the state's law prohibiting prone restraints on students. Dana reports that a conference committee of House and Senate members agreed unanimously to adopt a House version of the bill. School resource officers would be exempt from a law barring school employees from using the holds. Officers would be permitted to use the prone restraints only in cases where students pose a risk to themselves or others. Officers who work in schools would also have to undergo extra training. The conference committee opted to drop a Senate-approved amendment that would allow school employees to intervene to prevent the theft, damage or destruction of property. It sets up final votes to send the bill to a supportive Gov. Tim Walz.

There’s a bill moving through the Minnesota House that looks to create a guaranteed monthly income program. Host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Rep. Athena Hollins, DFL-St. Paul, on Minnesota Now about a bill she authored that would grant at least $500 each month to Minnesota residents for more than a year. In the current text of the bill, in order to be eligible you must be at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. St. Paul tested the concept for more than a year, giving 150 residents $500 a month, and Minneapolis is currently testing the concept. The pilot program will end in June. Listen to the interview here. 

The land-use omnibus bill, which deals with city zoning, is making its way through the Senate. The bill would include provisions laid out in the “Missing Middle Homes” bill, which would make it difficult for cities to stop the construction of multi-family units in areas zoned for single-family homes, as well as a bill that would allow multifamily residential buildings to go up in commercial zones. Bill author Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, says the bill would remove barriers to building more homes across Minnesota. The bill will be heard next by the Senate’s State Government Committee.

Initial legislative deadlines are fast approaching, but significant legislation is still being introduced. This week, a group of House DFLers proposed returning the entire Upper Red Lake and some nearby state forest land to the Red Lake Nation. If passed, the legislation would create a 1-mile buffer around the lakeshore extending the reservation to cover “real property” and also land that is currently state owned. MPR’s Matthew Holding Eagle III recaps the bill here . Given the timing of the introduction and the lack of a Senate companion bill at this stage, it could be difficult to push it ahead this year.

Duck, duck, no duck. The House Agriculture Committee weighed a proposal yesterday to ban the hatching of waterfowl including ducks, geese and other migratory birds at schools. The proposal got pared back after initially prohibiting the hatching of all birds as a classroom lesson, co-curricular and extracurricular activity. On Poultry Day at the Capitol, FFA students urged the panel not to take such a broad swipe at poultry used in school lesson plans. Avian experts said waterfowl posed the largest biosecurity risk because they can spread avian influenza. The bill could be considered as part of a larger agriculture package. (As an aside, Dana says that in Minnesota it’s Duck, duck, gray duck. Not that other name, although your newsletter writers think she’s wrong.)