Category: State Issues

Minnesota set for pivotal House battles

The following article by Ben Kamisar was posted on the Hill website September 7, 2017:

Credit: Greg Nash

Minnesota will be a pivotal battleground in the midterm fight for the House majority, featuring five of 2018’s most contentious races.

Rep. Tim Walz’s (D) decision to run for governor has created an open seat in the 1st District, while freshman Rep. Jason Lewis (R) will try to hold on to his swing seat.

Buoyed by President Trump’s strong performance in the state, Republicans plan to go on the offensive in two seats currently held by Reps. Rick Nolan (D) and Collin Peterson (D). But Democrats have their own plans in the state, aiming to win over well-educated suburban voters who could help them oust Rep. Erik Paulsen (R). Continue reading “Minnesota set for pivotal House battles”

Minnesota braces for end to program for young immigrants

The following article by Mila Koumpilova was posted on the StarTribune website September 6, 2017:

In Minnesota, young immigrants, businesses, leaders and advocates still pressing Congress to spare DACA program.

Evelin Hernandez, 27, cried as she held a sign reading “My dreams matter, don’t shatter them,” during a protest in front of the Hennepin County Jail. Credit: RENEE JONES SCHNEIDER – STAR TRIBUNE

Sonia Rodriguez tried Tuesday to picture a return to the country of her birth, where she spent only the first six months of her life. That morning, the Trump administration had announced it was ending an Obama program that had shielded Rodriguez and about 6,300 Minnesota immigrants from deportation and allowed them to work.

“Mexico is the country of my roots and my ancestors, but it would be hard to call it home,” said Rodriguez, an Augsburg University graduate who grew up in the Twin Cities and works as a legal assistant. “The United States has always been my home.”

With the threat of a federal lawsuit looming, the administration said it will phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, for people brought to the United States illegally as children. Almost 800,000 recipients nationally will retain protection from deportation until their two-year work permits expire. Continue reading “Minnesota braces for end to program for young immigrants”

Politicians love to talk about the urban-rural divide in Minnesota. But how much of a divide is there, really?

The following article by Greta Kaul was posted on the MinnPost website September 1, 2017:

MinnPost photo by Corey Anderson/Creative Commons/davef3138

You might not know it this week with the Great Minnesota Get Together in full swing, but to believe some of the rhetoric during last year’s election season and the legislative session, there are really two Minnesotas.

One of those Minnesotas is full of lakes, farms, country roads and, depending on who you ask, a lot of hardworking folks who feel their needs aren’t being met and their message isn’t being heard, or misguided bumpkins who vote against their interests.

The other Minnesota, a metropolis straddling the banks of the Mississippi River, is made up of two growing cities and their suburbs, with increased infrastructure demands and, depending on your thinking, a bunch of people trying to make a good life for themselves and others, or a den of liberal busybodies taking up state resources and pushing their agenda on people who live far away. Continue reading “Politicians love to talk about the urban-rural divide in Minnesota. But how much of a divide is there, really?”

After President Trump’s Refusal to Denounce White Supremacists, Will Minnesota Republicans Campaign with the President and Vice President, Continue their Silence?

Despite Trump-Pence emboldening white supremacists, Republicans in Minnesota refuse to denounce the leaders of their party by name 

Will Minnesota Republicans campaign with President Trump and Vice President Pence? Will Chair Carnahan invite Trump to campaign with Republican candidates across the state?

[ST. PAUL, MN] – Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Chairman Ken Martin is calling out Minnesota Republicans’ silence and refusal to forcefully condemn the Trump-Pence Administration for its disturbing reaction to last weekend’s violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and asking whether they will campaign with the ticket in the weeks and months ahead. Continue reading “After President Trump’s Refusal to Denounce White Supremacists, Will Minnesota Republicans Campaign with the President and Vice President, Continue their Silence?”

Stacking the Political Deck

NOTE: This is why the next state election is critical. The party in power in the state legislature will control how district borders are redrawn. Get involved either with your state legislators’ campaigns or with us and help undo what’s been done in the last redistricting.

Redistricting set the GOP up for electoral success and Democrats are fighting back.

The following article by Joseph P. Williams was posted on the U.S. News website July 14, 2017:

Credit: Eric Gay/AP

For the Republican Party, the 2010 midterm elections have been a gift that keeps on giving.

Besides sending Democrats into the political wilderness, the electoral surge that swept Republicans to the House majority also gave them control of the lion’s share of state legislatures, just as the decennial redrawing of local voting districts was set to begin. Sensing a once-in-a-generation opportunity, GOP officials executed a detailed, swing-state plan to carve out safe legislative districts for themselves, accusations of gerrymandering (and allegations of racism) be damned.

They’ve held the House majority ever since.

Continue reading “Stacking the Political Deck”

Could 2018 be another big year for constitutional amendments in Minnesota?

The following article by Briana Bierschbach was posted on the MinnPost site July 12, 2017:

Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune

It’s a simple formula: One-party controlled of the Minnesota Legislature + a governor of the opposing party = constitutional amendments on the ballot.

That’s been the case over the last two decades in Minnesota, where gridlock between the legislative and executive branches has prompted lawmakers to take issues directly to voters time and time again — on everything from increasing taxes for arts and conservation to imposing more restrictive voter identification laws.

As lawmakers look to the next election, all the ingredients are in place to see more of the same: Republicans in control the House and Senate have been butting heads all year with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, and legislators of both parties have already teed up a handful of issues that could be on the ballot as constitutional amendments in 2018. Continue reading “Could 2018 be another big year for constitutional amendments in Minnesota?”

‘Love Thy Neighbor?’

The following article by Stephanie McCrummen was posted on the Washington Post July 1, 2017:

When a Muslim doctor arrived in a rural Midwestern town, “it felt right.” But that feeling began to change after the election of Donald Trump.

Ayaz Virji walks home from work with his wife, Musarrat Virji, in Dawson, Minn. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

DAWSON, MINN. — The doctor was getting ready. Must look respectable, he told himself. Must be calm. He changed into a dark suit, blue shirt and tie and came down the wooden staircase of the stately Victorian house at Seventh and Pine that had always been occupied by the town’s most prominent citizens.

That was him: prominent citizen, town doctor, 42-year-old father of three, and as far as anyone knew, the first Muslim to ever live in Dawson, a farming town of 1,400 people in the rural western part of the state.

“Does this look okay?” Ayaz Virji asked his wife, Musarrat, 36. Continue reading “‘Love Thy Neighbor?’”

New Minnesota Laws Effective July 1, 2017

The following information was supplied by the Minnesota House of Representatives:

The following is a list of select new laws passed during the 2017 regular and special legislative sessions that take effect July 1, 2017. The asterisk following the bill number denotes the language that became law. Summaries of all laws passed by the 2017 Legislature in regular and special sessions are available online from nonpartisan House Public Information Services at http://www.house.mn/newlaws/#/ search/2017.

AGRICULTURE

New law includes money designated for plant pests, noxious weeds

Sponsored by Rep. Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake) and Sen. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake), the omnibus agriculture finance law appropriates more than $120 million from the General Fund during the upcoming biennium to fund the Department of Agriculture ($106.24 million), Board of Animal Health ($10.87 million) and Agricultural Utilization Research Institute ($7.58 million).

The Department of Agriculture appropriation includes money designated to expand capabilities for the rapid detection, identification, containment, control and management of high priority plant pests and pathogens, as well as grants to local units of government responding to noxious weed threats. Continue reading “New Minnesota Laws Effective July 1, 2017”

Legislature needs to commit to openness

For the third consecutive year, the time allotted by the Minnesota Constitution was not quite enough for the Legislature to finish its work. Despite a $1.65 billion surplus and a clear to-do list, another special session was needed.

Negotiations for this special session were between a handful of Republican legislative leaders and the DFL governor, leaving most of us legislators — and most of Minnesota — in the dark. Regrettably, this Washington, D.C., style of politics seems to be taking over in St. Paul more each year. At the 11th hour, sprawling budget bills turned up with harmful provisions inserted and good policies removed. When sleep-deprived legislators start voting on bills in late-night sessions, insiders usually gain, the public often loses, and no one is held accountable. Continue reading “Legislature needs to commit to openness”

Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget legacy secure: Surpluses and more spending

NOTE:  Deep in this article, there’s something important to remember. “…after population increases and inflation are factored in, per capita state spending is slightly less now than it was in 2003…”.  Gov. Mark Dayton led the state’s economic recovery, repaid the schools, built a surplus, and held total spending to Pawlenty-era levels.  Pretty darn good, we’d say.   (And, nothing Republicans seem willing to acknowledge in any way, shape or form about any Democratic effort.)

The following article by Patrick Coolican was posted on the Star Tribune website June 10, 2017:

Mark Dayton, a second-term DFL governor not running for re-election, largely sealed his ambitious budget legacy in May when he signed his final two-year budget.

Source:  REUTERS/Eric Miller

The year Gov. Mark Dayton took office, the state budget was $15.3 billion. The year he leaves, it is projected to be $23 billion — a 50 percent increase.

Dayton, a second-term DFL governor not running for re-election, largely sealed his ambitious budget legacy in May when he signed his final two-year budget that funds schools, health and human services, parks and other state programs.

“We’ve restored fiscal integrity and stability to the Minnesota budget,” Dayton said in an interview Friday. Continue reading “Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget legacy secure: Surpluses and more spending”