Author: MinnPost

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had some Republicans in mind while delivering his State of the State address Wednesday. They just weren’t the Republicans sitting in the House chamber in St. Paul. The DFL governor, who began his second term in January, aimed some of his sharpest jabs at national Republicans, especially an unnamed fellow governor from Florida. He portrayed a Minnesota under the control of Democrats as a bulwark against the spread of “the forces of hatred and bigotry,” referring in part to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies. “But let me say it now, and let me say it clearly: That…

Minnesota House DFLers have taken a two-pronged political position on taxes: that wealthy individuals and corporations don’t pay their fair share and that any tax relief be aimed only at those with the lowest incomes. The House tax bill released Monday put both positions into print. Tax cuts and credits worth $3 billion in the budget period that begins July 1 phase out at middle-income levels. Meanwhile, the bill would impose two significant tax hikes on high-income residents. Both strategies are based on the DFL’s view of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected people. “The pandemic was not felt evenly and the economic…

Gov. Tim Walz currently has sole authority to appoint all 17 members of the Metropolitan Council and designate a chair who serves in his cabinet. While appointments are subject to state Senate confirmation, such votes rarely happen. That makes Walz — and all Minnesota governors — the most powerful player in regional decisions over transit, wastewater treatment, regional parks and comprehensive land use. So why would he want to give up that power? The Metropolitan Council has been mired in controversy and criticism, much of it resulting from the lengthy, pricey and troubled Southwest Light Rail Transit project, a 14.5-mile…

With six weeks to go in Minnesota’s legislative session, DFLers who narrowly control state government with their first “trifecta” since 2014 have a list of early accomplishments such as cementing abortion rights in state law and passing a carbon-free energy mandate. But Democrats also have plenty of unanswered questions left to address, starting with the Big One: how, exactly, they plan to spend a Paul Bunyan-sized $17.5 billion surplus when writing the next two-year state budget. In the last two weeks, House and Senate committees began releasing dueling budget proposals outlining potential spending on issues like public safety, child care,…

Sen. Alice Mann says she knew her No. 1 priority for the 2023 session was going to take up a lot of her time. Senate File 2 would create an insurance program for paid family and medical leave that would put Minnesota in league with 11 other states that have pioneered the coverage. Mann said she purposefully introduced fewer bills and took on fewer other issues to give herself time because of what she said she knew would be a “heavy lift.” She underestimated. “I have anywhere from one meeting to four or five in one day regarding this bill,” the…

Congress broke out in partisan discord over guns, as it has with increasing frequency in the aftermath of every horrific mass shooting in the nation. U.S. House Democrats quickly moved to call for the reinstatement of a federal ban on assault-styled weapons like the AR-15 that killed three nine-year-old students and three educators at a private school in Nashville this week. “They are not being used to hunt deer, they are being used to hunt human beings,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said at a press conference on the U.S. Capitol steps. Like Jeffries, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-5th District, demanded…

A proposal in the Minnesota Legislature to add a quarter-cent sales tax in the seven-county metro area to raise money for affordable housing programs has attracted an unlikely pair of opponents. After the bill was presented to the House Housing Committee, it drew criticism from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and an organization that represents 89 cities in the metro area that will get new housing funding from the bill. The Chamber opposed the tax for expected reasons. It thinks taxes in Minnesota and in the metro are already too high and discourage business location and retention. Use the surplus…

WASHINGTON – While the U.S. House was on a two-week break earlier this month, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-3rd District, traveled to the spot in rural Vietnam where his father, a captain in the Army, had died in a plane crash 54 years ago. It was a tearful moment when Phillips arrived at the site. He scooped up some of the area’s red earth, placing it in a plastic bag to take home and hugged actor Woody Harrelson, who with several other friends, went on the trip with him. The group held what Phillips called “a little ceremony,” said some prayers,…

A legislative plan to launch a high-profile campaign to rid light rail trains of crime and other unsafe conditions requires a combination of state, local and nonprofit police and social services agencies. But what if all of those agencies are not willing — or able — to take part? Commissioners from both Ramsey and Hennepin counties are telling lawmakers that they don’t think they can divert their social services staff from their current duties. Ramsey County Commissioner Rena Moran, a former House member who was chair of the House Ways and Means Committee last session, told the committee it will…

So much bad news has flowed from the Met Council and its Southwest Light Rail Transit (also known as the Metro Green Line Extension) project that a harsh report from the state’s legislative auditor might be seen as just more of the same. “Minnesota has a mismatch between the entities that fund the construction of light rail transit projects and the entities responsible for constructing them,” wrote the Office of the Legislative Auditor in a special report requested by the Legislature. “We also found that the Metropolitan Council obligated itself to spend money it did not have, added or changed substantial work…