Author: MinnPost

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…

The Metropolitan Council has long been a target of legislative Republicans who have complained about everything from cost overruns and delays on the Southwest Light Rail Transit (also known as the Metro Green Line Extension) project to limits on growth and development in suburban cities. Rarely do they reference the chair and the members of the council without the preface “the unelected.” But a new effort to impose sweeping changes on the regional government body isn’t being spearheaded by Republicans. Instead, the chairs of the House and Senate Transportation committees, Minneapolis DFLers both, want the Met Council members and its…

Had Gov. Tim Walz’s budget office presented the latest economic and revenue forecast one week ago, it would have reported a $19 billion revenue surplus. But when Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter walked to the podium Monday, he revealed a surplus of $17.5 billion. What changed in one week to reduce the reported surplus? Did state tax collections plummet from previously robust levels? Did some new spending priority gobble up a billion and a half dollars? Did a long-expected but never-quite materializing recession slam the state and its finances? None of that happened. Tax collections, in fact, are…

Hiring and keeping staff has been the greatest challenge for the Stay ’n Play child care centers in Litchfield and Willmar. Pay is typically around $15 an hour, including a $2 bonus that stems from federal COVID-19 relief money. But raising wages above that would mean increasing tuition, which executive director Kristin Jaquith said isn’t so easy. “Parents can’t afford to pay any more,” Jaquith told MinnPost. “We’re rural, so our rates are quite a bit lower than what they are in the metro.” Jaquith’s dilemma is not unique. Industry leaders and politicians — all the way up to Treasury Secretary…

The conversation about providing school lunch and breakfast for all Minnesota students has been carried on at two levels: one on food, one that dips into the arcane nature of school funding. One has been very public, the other less so. After passing the House of Representatives on a party line, House File 5 is expected to receive similar treatment in the Senate. The $190 million a year price tag for expanding free and reduced price lunch to all students, regardless of family income, has the support of Gov. Tim Walz, who has included it in his proposed budget for the next…

When a student at a St. Paul grade school last week asked Gov. Tim Walz why he wanted to be governor, he quickly said: “For this day. For THIS day,” referring to the release of a $5.2 billion boost for education and families with kids, part of a $65.2 billion proposed budget. Coming up with a two-year budget plan is far more fun when a governor gets to increase spending and cut taxes, and a $17.6 billion surplus means Walz gets to do both. In fact, the fun volume this year is at levels perhaps never seen before, as past…

As Minnesota Democrats move quickly to adopt a bill that would cement the right to an abortion in state law, Republicans have accused them of allowing late-term abortions, up until the moment of birth. It’s an argument the DFL has painted as hyperbolic and misleading. Democrats say the Protect Reproductive Options Act — or PRO Act — only reinforces existing standards in the 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that established abortion rights and does not address time limits for the procedure. State data also suggests late-term abortions are rare. The Minnesota Department of Health reported one abortion after 24 weeks of gestation in 2021…

The bill legalizing marijuana in Minnesota is 243 pages plus appendices. While it relies on a dozen existing state agencies, it also creates a new one with sweeping authority and perhaps unrealizable marching orders. It would make Minnesota the 22nd state to go down this path since the first ones acted a decade ago. And, according to its sponsors, it is likely to pass before this Legislature adjourns in May. It is House File 100 and here is a walk-through of its provisions as introduced earlier this month. When could the program take effect? That is the most-asked question from those interested…

Minnesota may have a staggeringly-large $17.6 billion budget surplus this year, but as the first week of the 2023 legislative session draws to a close, the biggest and most controversial issue in front of lawmakers so far has been abortion. Top DFL leaders say moving fast to cement abortion access in state law — as a backstop to a 1995 state Supreme Court ruling establishing rights in the Minnesota Constitution — is a top priority for the nascent Legislature, showing urgency driven less by any sort of deadline than a desire to capitalize on an issue Democrats believe is the…