I'm a journalist with 12+ years covering Minnesota communities, local, state and federal government, politics and elections. Currently living in St. Cloud and writing freelance for different publications. I graduated from Carleton College in 1993 with a degree in Political Science.
You’d think that Minnesota State Colleges and Universities students would be able to transfer college credits within the system without losing one in 10 of them.
You’d also think that, after a Legislative Auditor’s report quoted MnSCU administrators who said transferring credits within the system is still too hard, the Legislature could pass and Gov. Tim Pawlenty would quickly approve a bill requiring MnSCU to fix the issue. You’d be wrong on both counts, and election-year politics just might be the reason why. The Legislature did overwhelmingly pass HF 3164, from Rep. Larry Haws, DFL-St. Cloud. The House of Representatives voted 110-20 to approve it and the Senate voted unanimously to concur, sending the bill to Pawlenty. Continue Reading
Mental health services for children and adults, assistance for poor families, vulnerable adults, and home-based elderly adults would suffer the most from $154 million in cuts to a health and human services budget bill making its way through the Minnesota House of Representatives.HF 2614 from Rep. Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth, received approval from the House Finance Committee and looks ready for a floor vote next week.And while lawmakers delayed or removed some painful cuts to nursing homes and hospitals, the bill cuts several services for disadvantaged Minnesotans in the coming year, according to Minnesota Budget Bites, including:* $22 million in cuts to mental health services for children and adults.* $10 million in cuts to grants to counties for serving vulnerable children and adults subject to abuse.* Cuts to the state’s welfare program that eliminate eligibility for families earning 110 percent of the federal poverty line and families that have a car worth more than $7,500. In addition, families living in subsidized housing would see their assistance cut $100 a month, and $4 million was cut from a job skills program for recipients.* Home-based disabled adults receiving Medicaid assistance would see their eligibility restricted in a plan similar to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget proposal.On the positive side, there are no more cuts to the General Assistance program for adults without children, the bill reverses unallotments for dental care, none of Pawlenty’s unallotment cuts are made permanent, and the bill anticipates adopting the early expansion of federal Medicaid programs in the federal health care reform bill.That last part would make recent cuts in General Assistance Medical Care unnecessary, but to make them happen, the state would have to match the federal money with dollars from the state’s Health Care Access fund, which would leave the fund with a $410 million deficit by 2013.A Senate bill, SF 2337 from Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, was introduced on Thursday. It would cut $114 million in services. Pawlenty’s budget proposal would cut $436 million.Everybody’s budgets count on $400 million in federal health care dollars that haven’t been approved by Congress yet and might not be by the Legislature’s May 17 adjornment deadline. Continue Reading
A Vikings stadium bill that allows Minnesota cities to bid against each other to offer tax breaks and other incentives could be introduced at the Legislature as soon as Monday.
Yes, there are still the small matters of a $1 billion state budget deficit to resolve, a General Assistance Medical Care fix that apparently doesn’t fix anything, whether $408 million in hypothetical federal health care funds can be counted on, and a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling on last year’s unallotment that could upset the whole budget applecart to deal with before the Legisature’s May 17 deadline. But heavy hitters in both houses of the Legislature and on both sides of the political aisle are finding enough time to line up behind a plan that would allow cities, or counties, to choose from a menu of local funding options to pay the cost of a $791 million, retractable-dome stadium, according to multiple media reports. In the Senate, Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, and Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, are putting the finishing touches on the proposal, which could offer Minneapolis the option of rebuilding a stadium on the current site of the Metrodome, or letting local governments set up a stadium commission that would put together its own funding package. Local funding options could include using taxes currently going to the Minneapolis Convention Center, a sports memorabilia tax, a lodging tax, rental car tax and more. In the House, Rep. Loren Solberg, DFL-Grand Rapids, head of the Ways and Means Committee, would carry the bill, which might meet Pawlenty’s requirement that no state tax dollars would be used. Continue Reading
State taxpayers would have to share the cost of saving a Minneapolis public employee retirement fund that could go broke within a decade if it is not merged with a statewide pension fund.The Minneapolis Employees’ Retirement Fund has 4,600 employees drawing pensions and only 200 still working, a situation that is rapidly drawing down its remaining funds.A proposal to merge it with the state’s Public Employees Retirement Association is contained in both SF 2644 and SF 2918, both from Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley. Both are up for hearings in the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday before moving to a floor vote.Advocates of the merger say that adding the MERF employees, all of whom were hired before 1979, to the statewide pool where Minneapolis employees have gone since then will save the city and state from a costly bailout later on.But a previous attempt to merge the pension funds last year failed because Minneapolis residents would have seen their property taxes rise as much as 19 percent to offset a weakening of the state fund.The new plan appears to spread the pain out a little more between Minneapolis, other employers and the state, according to the League of Minnesota CitiesThe head of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, Phil Krinkie, calls the bill, and its House of Representatives companion from Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, a “$694 milion bailout.”The bill would require the state to spend $36.5 million more a year for the next 19 years to blunt the hit that the statewide pension plan would take by incorporating Minneapolis, he said. Continue Reading
The author of a proposal to reform the way judicial elections in Minnesota are held pulled his bill rather than having it fail a key House of Representatives committee vote, a key Minneapolis DFLer told the Daily Planet.HF 224 from Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, would have failed on an 11-2 vote in the House Civil Justice Committee, said Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis, the committee chairman.The bill would have put a constitutional amendment on the 2010 election ballot asking voters to eliminate competitive judicial elections in favor of a system of governors appointing judges and the people voting whether to retain them.Mullery said he was willing to give the bill a hearing and in fact would have done so, had Simon not asked to have it removed from a Monday committee hearing list.”He promised that if we withdrew it, it wouldn’t come up again as an amendment or as some funny business from the Senate,” Mullery said of Simon’s decision. “Otherwise, we were going to hear it and it would have been rejected soundly.”Mullery, who opposed Simon’s bill as “a solution in search of a problem,” took some heat from House DFL leaders earlier in the session for not giving the bill a hearing. Mullery did not say which committee members supported or opposed the bill, but that it was a “general consensus” that the bill would not have prevented partisan involvement in judicial elections, only moved it from a focus on candidate campaigns to recall efforts.With no benefit, Mullery said it wasn’t worth taking away a voter’s right to choose which judge to elect.Asked why they didn’t approve the bill and then let the voters decide whether to amend the state constitution, Mullery said he was not confident voters would know what they were voting on, and that the interests behind a “yes” vote would have drowned out any discussion with a well-funded campaign and misleading ballot language.Simon has not returned a call to his office seeking comment on his bill’s demise. A Senate companion bill from Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, could still get a vote in the Senate.It is possible that the Senate bill, if passed, could be brought to the House floor for a vote, despite the assurances Mullery said he received from Simon. Continue Reading
The undead judicial election reform bill that looked to be rising from the grave last week apparently will stay dead.Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, author of HF 224, was scheduled to get his constitutional amendment heard Monday morning in the House Civil Justice Committee chaired by Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis.But an e-mail sent out Sunday night by Patrick Baldwin, committee administrator, said the bill had been pulled “at the request of the author” and “the provisions of HF 224 will not be taken up by any committee or body of the legislature this session.”The bill would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall asking voters if the state should replace the current competitive judicial election system with one proposed by a group of reform proponents concerned about the potential for rising partisan involvement and campaign spending in judicial elections. If approved, governors would appoint judges and they would be subject to retention elections, where the question would simply be whether they should be returned to the bench or not. If voters said no, the governor would make another appointment.It was stalled because Mullery wouldn’t give the bill a hearing and it had missed committee deadlines. But following pressure from DFL legislative leaders, Mullery had put the bill on the committee schedule and all systems looked go for Monday’s hearing.I’ve got a call in to Simon and Mullery to see if either one will comment on why the bill is dead again. Continue Reading
An election reform bill that could end competitive elections for judges will rise from its grave Monday when the Legislature goes back to work after the DFL Party convention.HF 224, from Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, is scheduled to get a hearing at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the House Civil Justice Committee chaired by Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minnepolis.Newly endorsed DFL gubernatorial candidate and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, had been pressing Mullery to give a hearing to the bill, and Mullery had been resisting, but apparently, resistance is futile.The bill would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall asking voters if the state should replace the current competitive judicial election system with one proposed by a group of reform proponents concerned about the potential for rising partisan involvement and campaign spending in judicial elections.If approved, governors would appoint judges and they would be subject to retention elections, where the question would simply be whether they should be returned to the bench or not. If voters said no, the governor would make another appointment.The bill was considered dead in the House of Representatives because it missed committee hearing deadlines earlier in the session. As we’ve noted before, however, the rules don’t always apply to bills that the DFL legislative leadership likes, and both Kelliher and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, are fans of this one.A Senate version of the bill from Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, has already passed through committee hearings and is waiting for a floor vote there.Mullery had previously said that he believes the bill is a solution in search of a problem. Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton has also lobbied against the bill, resulting in Senate Minority Leader David Senjem, R-Rochester, removing his name as a co-author in the Senate this month.It remains to be seen if this hearing will really happen, though. Continue Reading
A parade of Minnesotans who want Minnesota’s streets to be friendlier to pedestrians, bicyclists and people with limited mobility will deliver postcards to Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Monday urging his support for legislation that aims to do just that.The group of 50 supporters of the so-called “Complete Streets” bill, which passed the House of Representatives 92-37 on Wednesday, plans to deliver 5,000 postcards asking Pawlenty to support the bill if it reaches his desk.The House bill, HF 2801 from Rep. Mike Obermueller, DFL-Eagan, would require the Minnesota Department of Transportation to take into account the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists and people with limited mobility as well as motorists when they design new streets and street improvements.Its companion bill in the Senate, SF 2461 from Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, awaits a floor vote.More than 500 pedestrians and bicyclists have been killed and 20,000 injured in the last decade on Minnesota roads, according to the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, which is leading the campaign to win Pawlenty’s support.Implementing the Complete Streets policy could result in safer crossing points, more bicycle lanes, more sidewalks and other design elements that would encourage alternate transportation use.The bill encourages, but does not require, local governments to participate as well as the state.The group plans to leave from the MEP’s office at 546 Rice Street in St. Paul at noon and walk to the Capitol to deliver the postcards to the governor’s office.Crossing guards from Red Pine Elementary School in Eagan will lead the parade, and school children from a sixth-grade class at St. Paul’s Franklin Elementary School will also participate. Continue Reading
Just in time for Earth Day comes news that the upcoming Living Green Expo will feature the first post-DFL and GOP convention gubernatorial forum. Set for 1 p.m. May 2 outside the Grandstand at the State Fairgrounds, candidates from all major political parties have been invited to a forum on the topics of clean energy, clean water and Minnesota’s future. The Living Green Expo is being put on this year by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, which bills it as a free, family-friendly event that brings in more than 25,000 visitors annually to view more than 300 exhibits, workshops and displays within the State Fair Grandstand. A special, 1,500 seat tent will be set up outside the Grandstand, and visitors to the expo will be able to submit videotaped questions to the candidates attending the forum. Minnesota-based supermarket chain SuperValu is sponsoring the candidate forum. Continue Reading
Minnesota lawmakers already passed a state bonding bill this year that DFL lawmakers say will put people back to work on construction projects around the state.But how many of the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent hiring people from communities with disproportionately high-unemployment rates and other disadvantaged groups?Nobody knows for sure, and that’s the point of HF 3184 from Rep. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis.Champion’s bill, and a Senate counterpart SF 2809 from Sen. Linda Higgins, DFL-Minneapolis, would require that before bonding money can be spent on a project, companies getting the contract to do those projects must put together a plan detailing how they will:* Recruit veterans, unemployed and disabled individuals to work on the projects, and target specific communities with disproportionately high unemployment rates from which to hire employees.* Recruit employees from job training providers.* Get word out about job opportunities to disadvantaged communities.* Demonstrate how much energy savings their building or construction project will generate.The bill is moving through committees in the House of Representatives this week and awaits hearing in the House State Government Finance Committee before going to the floor for a vote.The bill language is similar to wording passed last year to deal with reporting on how the federal stimulus dollars are being spent in Minnesota.If it becomes law, the requirement would apply to state agencies, colleges and universities, counties, cities and other local governments.The bill requires a follow-up report from the agency, but does not include any language requiring agencies to hire contractors who submit the best plan, or even create penalties if contractors don’t follow the plan. It is a first step, Champion said. Continue Reading
