Good morning. The last day of session really feels like the last day of school.
A chaotic end to the session will steam right into a contentious campaign for House control. Clay Masters and Dana Ferguson report that it was a chaotic and partisan end to the second year of full Democratic control of state government. Special interest groups spent most of Monday poring over the final flurry of action, including a 1,400 page bill that encompassed several areas and was being studied for last-minute items slipped in. Gov. Tim Walz ruled out a special legislative session to take up the bonding bill, equal rights amendment or other measures that got left behind due to deadlines. He defended actions taken by Democrats in the House and Senate in the Legislature’s final hours.
It got goofy and sappy as the House met to say their goodbyes to this year’s retirees. The final day of session was reserved for the 20 legislators bidding farewell, some with just a couple of years under their belt and others with decades of expertise. Cheers erupted in the capitol press bureau as reporters watched Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, show off his rapping chops. Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, recounted the friendships he had made serving in the chamber (and gave a special shoutout to his “work husband,” Sen. Scott Dibble). “I look around this chamber, and I see so many faces of people that have never been represented here before,” Hornstein said. “And that’s why we have to keep going, we have to keep that trend going. Young people, older folks, people from all backgrounds, that’s what makes this place so very, very, very special.” Hornstein closed his comments by singing Bob Dylan’s hit “The Times They Are A-Changin'” as other members joined in. Maybe resident Capitol press corps crooner John Croman said it best Monday: You always learn something new about lawmakers as they say goodbye to their colleagues.
In the Nicole Mitchell criminal case, the body camera footage related to an April 22 arrest was the subject of a civil court hearing yesterday. A Becker County judge is considering if police body camera video of the DFL state senator’s interactions with Detroit Lakes police during a burglary call should be released. Alpha News filed suit to force the Detroit Lakes police department to release the video from the early morning incident when police found Mitchell in her step-mother's home. At a Monday hearing, an attorney for the news outlet told the court the video would provide the public a better understanding of what happened the day Mitchell was arrested. Judge Gretchen Thilmoney will review the video and make a ruling at a later date.
The Legislature did not pass a bonding bill during a bonding year. Funding for public works projects across Minnesota will remain in limbo. The bonding bill was one of the main tasks of the session. Lawmakers fielded more than $7 billion in requests for state and local projects around Minnesota. Cathy Wurzer spoke to Bradley Peterson, executive director of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, on Minnesota Now. You can listen to the full interview here.
One thing that did happen in time: A bill to significantly change Minnesota’s process for handling tax-delinquent property. That fix was needed because a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year declared Minnesota's current system unconstitutional. As Kirsti Marohn reports , The high court decided Hennepin County violated the constitutional rights of a Hennepin County resident in her 90s. As a result lawmakers were under pressure to rewrite Minnesota’s forfeiture laws quickly. They needed to come up with a solution that passes the constitutionality test, so it won’t be subject to future lawsuits.
Uber and Lyft say they will stay in Minnesota after reaching a compromise on driver pay. Sarah Thamer reports the state bill supersedes a Minneapolis city ordinance passed earlier this year . The state bill sets a minimum wage for drivers of $1.28 a mile and $.31 per minute. Drivers will also get new methods for appealing when companies seek to deactivate them over alleged conduct violations. Uber and Lyft said they would probably raise rider prices but would no longer threaten to abandon the market on July 1, as they said they’d do if the Minneapolis plan took hold.
Included in the kitchen sink omnibus bill was a bill paving the way for 23,000 University of Minnesota staff and students to unionize. The Minnesota Reformer’s Max Nesterak spent some time combing through the behemoth bill to find this interesting nugget. While most workers form unions based on shared workplaces or similar job duties, state law explicitly restricts 13 potential bargaining units for U of M workers. Under the bill, the workers would be able to unionize a bargaining unit according to the rules governing other public employees.
In case you are going through Legislature withdrawals already, the 2025 session starts on Jan. 14. That’s later than it used to be. There was a law change last year to start the odd-year session a couple of weeks in rather than right after the new year. There will also be a new workaround to the 120-day floor rule over the two-year session. The only days that will count against the limit are when a chamber gives a bill a third reading (on the verge of passage), adopts a rule, elects a University of Minnesota regent, confirms a gubernatorial appointment or votes to override a veto. The paper shuffle days where bills move from one committee to the next won’t count.
The filing period to run for candidates to run for state and federal offices in Minnesota opens today. Those wishing to file campaign paperwork with the Minnesota Secretary of State's office to run for state, federal and county offices can do so starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. The window remains open for two weeks, with a short withdrawal window after that. Minnesota has two major parties — the DFL and Republican parties — that gives candidates automatic ballot access. Minor party candidates must gather signature petitions, with the number depending on the office. All 134 House seats, eight congressional seats and a U.S. Senate seat are all on this year's ballot. So are a few state Supreme Court justices. The filing dates for city offices including mayor and city council depend on whether the city they are running in holds a primary. Candidates in cities where primaries are not held have to wait until the end of June to file their paperwork.
Republicans in Minnesota are looking for a rebound in 2024. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports on what happened in and around the state GOP convention and where that leaves Republicans heading into the election season. They have challenges for sure and their U.S. Senate endorsed candidate Royce White has a lot of catchup to do if he’s going to give DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar the real run she hasn’t had since her first race in 2006. Klobuchar and the DFL didn’t even acknowledge his convention win on Saturday.
Former president Donald Trump’s lawyers urged the judge to throw out his hush money case after the prosecution concluded their presentation of evidence. Michael Cohen was the last witness for prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys spent hours Monday cross-examining him. Cohen testified earlier Monday that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trump’s company, an admission defense lawyers hoped could sow doubt in Cohen’s testimony. The trial will resume today with more testimony from Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor who Trump’s lawyers called to the stand to attack Cohen’s credibility. | 