Good morning and welcome to another Monday.
The midnight deadline hit at the Minnesota Capitol without major tax and spending bills passing. So what happens now?MPR’s Brian Bakst reports Democrats said they hoped Gov. Tim Walz would call a special session so that they can continue working. “It would be best if we came back before Memorial Day weekend,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park. “The Minnesota House is ready to come back to get the work done.” Gov. Tim Walz indicated he was open to a special session to finish the work after there is an agreement on the outstanding bills. He said he would meet with legislative leaders later Monday. “You don’t get the ball on the one yard line and then go home,” Walz said. “A lot of compromise got done today. A little bit more will bring this thing home.” Republican leaders in the Senate rejected that notion, and said the work could continue next year. “The reality is the deadline was midnight, and that deadline has come and gone,” said Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller. “We’ve had members of the Senate working darn near around the clock for a week. What is one or two more days going to do?” Negotiations over public safety, education, health care, housing and other major issues weren’t resolved when the midnight deadline struck. The Republican-controlled Senate then ended the regular session, although the House and Senate will return Monday to salute retiring lawmakers.
So what did get done? Lawmakers gave final approval to a drought relief, avian flu and broader agriculture funding package. The bill contains tens of millions of dollars for expanding high-speed internet lines to more places without it, some using federal money and some from state resources. The plan marked a minor victory as far-bigger plans were in flux. A mental health bill that combined several proposals that had been considered by the House and Senate passed Sunday. The nearly $93 million bill provides resources for mental health services in schools, opens the way for more mental health beds in hospitals, and provides incentives to attract mental health workers. And Walz signed that bill that will allow larger craft breweries in the state to sell growlers on site. It takes effect today
Among the items that didn’t get passed was a bill that one negotiator called “the largest tax cut by far in the history of this state.” That was House tax chair Paul Marquart, DFL-Dilworth. The Senate tax chair was just as effusive. “We have put together a terrific tax bill,” said Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester. “The most significant, largest tax relief in the history of our state. And it couldn’t come at a better time. Minnesotans are struggling.” MPR’s Tim Pugmire reported the $4 billion tax deal would have eliminated state taxes on Social Security earrings, permanently reduced the lowest income tax bracket, and boosted the renters’ credit.
The Minnesota DFL Party endorsed Walz for a second term as governor.MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reported Walz said Democrats have a winning message this fall despite Republican rhetoric. "When our opponents stood on the stage and threatened to jail one of the most honorable and effective public servants this state and country has ever seen in Secretary Steve Simon, they've told you what they believe,” Walz said Friday night. “When they stood on this stage, and promised to defund public schools, believe them." Walz was referring to Scott Jensen, the physician and former state senator endorsed for governor by Republicans. Delegates Friday also endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and State Auditor Julia Blaha for a second term. “In Tim Walz’s Minnesota, crime is on the rise across the state, inflation is at record highs and supply chain shortages make it hard for families and businesses to make ends meet with basic everyday necessities like gasoline, baby formula and more,” Republican Party of Minnesota Chair David Hann said in a statement.
On Saturday those delegates endorsed Attorney General Keith Ellison and Secretary of State Steve Simon for another term. The Star Tribune reported that Simon was emotional as he told delegates the story of his great-grandfather, who fled Lithuania and escaped the Holocaust after Jews there lost the right to vote. "That is why I have pledged to do everything in my own power as Secretary of State to protect the freedom to vote," said Simon, who is seeking a third term. At the Republican convention Kim Crockett, who was endorsed for secretary of state, showed a video that featured an image that GOP chair Hann later apologized for because it was anti-Semitic. Crockett has not apologized, and used the incident to try to raise money for her campaign while criticizing the media.
There’s one more big political event this week–the primary election tomorrow in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. The Associated Press reports The GOP candidates Tuesday for the 1st District seat include Hagedorn’s widow, Jennifer Carnahan, who has leveled a series of bitter attacks in the final days of the campaign against two of her main rivals in the primary, state Rep. Jeremy Munson and former state Rep. Brad Finstad. She has labeled both of them as captives of “Establishment Republicans and the Washington Swamp.” And she has claimed that her husband made it clear before he died that he did not want Munson to replace him. On the Democratic side, the endorsed candidate is former Hormel Foods CEO Jeffrey Ettinger, of Austin, who now chairs the Hormel Foundation. His opponents include University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter, of Mendota Heights, a former White House ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s administration. Turnout for Tuesday’s special primary is expected to be low, and the process for what will follow is complicated. | |
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