Labor contract rejection reflects partisan split
The rejection of the new collective bargaining agreement for nearly 28,000 state workers by a House-Senate subcommittee on Thursday is the latest example of the divide between Republicans and DFLers...
View ArticleHouse GOP picks final minority leaders
House Republicans, now in the minority with 61 members, picked Blaine Rep. Tim Sanders as minority whip. The job requires Sanders, who is heading into his third term, to count caucus votes and...
View ArticlePublic defenders seek 14 percent budget increase
Two years ago, the state’s public defender system was in dire shape. The number of lawyers had dropped by roughly 60 since 2008, a 14 percent reduction. Consequently attorneys were handling nearly...
View ArticleJudiciary, public safety finance bills clear House
The judiciary finance bill cleared the House on a 71-59 party line vote on Friday. The bill provides $785 million in funding for the court system in the next biennium.
View ArticleHouse passes $11 billion HHS budget bill
Democrats in the House have approved an $11.2 billion health and human services budget bill that would trim $150 million from spending over the next two years while also making first-ever investments...
View ArticleHouse shoots down Sunday liquor sales
The proposal, offered by DFL Rep. Tina Liebling as an amendment to a broader liquor bill on Wednesday, would have also allowed liquor sales on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve. But the House defeated...
View ArticleHouse passes minimum wage increase off the floor
A bill that would bump the state minimum wage up to $9.50 an hour has cleared the floor of the Minnesota House.
View ArticleSex offender legislation runs into roadblock in House judiciary committee
Legislation making significant changes to the state’s troubled civil commitment program for sex offenders appears to be all but dead following a Friday setback in the House Judiciary Committee.
View ArticleSenate set to take up MSOP legislation, but problems remain in House
Rep. Tina Liebling vowed that she would pull her bill proposing changes to Minnesota’s troubled civil commitment program for sex offenders if Republicans asked for a roll call vote. The Rochester DFLer...
View ArticleHouse inaction dooms MSOP reforms
At a Friday morning committee hearing, just 10 days before the close of the legislative session, Rep. Steve Drazkowski offered an idea for dealing with the state’s troubled civil commitment program for...
View ArticleDrazkowski, Wabasha County officials file lawsuit charging data privacy...
State Rep. Steve Drazkowski and 17 other Minnesota residents have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging that public employees repeatedly violated their privacy by wrongly accessing state...
View ArticleDayton defends MNsure rollout, calls driver’s license data breach ‘outrageous’
Gov. Mark Dayton defended the roll out of MNsure, the state’s not-yet operating health insurance exchange program, after a data breach raised concerns about the security of the system, and he said he's...
View ArticleMounting data-privacy lawsuits threaten to swamp governments
Blame it on Anne Marie Rasmusson. In 2012, the former St. Paul cop filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking damages for more than 400 instances where law enforcement officials looked up her...
View ArticleRepublican legislators sue to suspend online voter registration
The GOP advocacy groups leading the effort, Minnesota Majority and the Minnesota Voters Alliance, filed a lawsuit in Ramsey County Court on Monday, alleging Ritchie used unilateral power to install a...
View ArticleNews links: Ritchie’s online registration hit with lawsuit from GOP legislators
If the lawsuit is successful, the registry system launched in launched in late September would be halted until legislative action is taken.
View ArticleLawsuit: Shelve online voter registration
Republican legislators and conservative groups filed a lawsuit this week aimed at suspending an online voter registration program that they claim was improperly implemented by Minnesota Secretary of...
View ArticleThe Capitol Note: GOP Sen. Torrey Westrom to run for Congress
DFL U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson finally has a strong Republican challenger in the 1st Congressional District. Today, state Sen. Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake, will make his candidacy official, following...
View ArticleDozens of House Republicans endorse Nguyen for Secretary of State
Though the total number of Nguyen's House endorsements is impressive on its face, he failed to win the support of House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt.
View ArticleThe Capitol Note: GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Honour raised $500,000 in...
Honour pointed out that he had collected that total despite his status as a "political outsider."
View ArticleSession ’14 agenda: The fine print
Discussions about the repeal of new taxes, a bonding bill and a proposed increase to the state minimum wage seem destined to take center stage this spring.
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