Tag: Minnesota Senate

Senate DFL Mid-Session Update: April 12, 2019

April 12, 2019

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Senate Republican budgets fail Minnesota’s children, working families, farmers, and small businesses

With only six weeks left of the 2019 Legislative Session, Senate Republicans have finally released their budget bills. Budgets are a reflection of values, and it is disheartening to realize their budgets will increase income inequity and make deep cuts to programs Minnesotans across the state depend on. Senate DFLers feel dismayed that after 14 weeks of work, Republicans’ extreme and unfair budget bills neither reflect the values of Minnesotans nor provide a clear path toward an orderly end of session.

In the early weeks of the session, there was hope of working together and getting things done when legislators of both parties agreed to pass a number of bills early on that had bipartisan support. This just hasn’t happened. Instead, after 14 weeks of session only a handful of bills have been passed– leaving most of the work of passing a two-year budget, tax conformity, and a number of important policy bills for the last six weeks before adjournment in late May. Continue reading “Senate DFL Mid-Session Update: April 12, 2019”

Special Edition Podcast Episode for Call of the Senate

On April 11, we recorded a special edition of the Call of the Senate podcast featuring Senate DFL leadership. DFL leaders in the Minnesota Senate came together today to ask Senate Republicans to work across the aisle on shared priorities like supporting students, increasing access to health care, and ensuring safe and fair workplaces for all Minnesotans. In one of only two divided legislatures in the United States, bills for statewide progress have been refused public hearings in the Republican-controlled state Senate.

Listen here:  https://soundcloud.com/callofthesenate/senatedflleadership

You can also find the podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, or Buzzsprout.

Senate DFL Week in Review: March 28, 2019

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Senate Republican budget targets miss the mark

It was a busy week at the Capitol. The Senate passed the hands-free cellphone legislation off the floor which requires drivers to use their cellphones in a ‘hands-free’ mode, only allowing voice-activated commands or other actions that need one-touch activation. The bill would enact enforcement and penalties for using a cellphone outside of hands-free mode. The differences between the House and Senate bills will be worked out conference committee, but this initiative is one step closer to becoming law.

The Snow Days conference committee also closed up this week, and the bill passed off the floor with strong bipartisan support and will likely be signed into law by Gov. Walz. This bill would aid Minnesota schools struggling with snow days by shortening their academic calendar without penalty amid the extraordinary winter of class cancellations. It will also ensure hourly school workers are compensated for their work. Continue reading “Senate DFL Week in Review: March 28, 2019”

Senate Republicans revive private school scholarships plan

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday that a proposal to turn tax credits into scholarships for low- and middle-income students to attend private schools is a priority for them, and they hope to make it the subject of late-session negotiations with Gov. Tim Walz and House Democratic leaders.

Senate Taxes Committee Chairman Roger Chamberlain is making another run at passing the proposal, which he also pushed in 2017 until GOP leaders dropped it amid a veto threat by then-Gov. Mark Dayton. Since then, Walz, a Democratic former public school teacher, became governor and Republicans lost control of the House. Chamberlain touted it as a way to reduce the state’s large achievement gaps affecting students of color.

“Certainly the governor has a lot of proposals that we have not been agreeable to,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said at a news conference, flanked by a racially diverse group of children who attend private schools. “But this is an important one to us. Negotiations at the end are a bit of give and take, and this is a high priority for us. … We’ll fight for this one. We think it matters for kids in Minnesota.”

View the complete March 19 article by Steve Karnowski on the Associated Press website.

Minnesota Senate rejects legalizing recreational marijuana

GOP senators shut down legalization debate

Republicans in the Minnesota Senate voted down a measure Monday to legalize marijuana for recreational use, abruptly ending debate on the subject — for now.

State Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, who gave the bill a hearing as chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, said after the 6-3 vote that testimony from law enforcement, health experts and former Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger persuaded him that legalization is a bad idea.

Republicans also killed a last-ditch effort to create a task force to further study the issue, evidence that Senate Republicans were eager to dispense with the issue for the year.

View the complete March 12 article by J. Patrick Coolican on The Star Tribune website here.

March 8 Call of the Senate Podcast Episode: Sen. Steve Cwodzinsin

Their newest podcast episode was released this morning featuring Senator Steve Cwodzinski. In his 31 years as an American Government teacher in Eden Prairie, Senator Steve Cwodzinski never once regretted a Monday or looked forward to a Friday. He brings the same joy and passion he had as a teacher in serving as a State Senator and continues the fight for students in working to close the achievement gap. Hear more about his passion for service in this episode of Mr. Cwodzinski goes to St. Paul, wait, we mean, Call of the Senate.

Here are the many ways you can tune in and listen to Senator Cwodzinski and the others who have been on so far:

SoundCloud:  https://soundcloud.com/callofthesenate

Buzzsprout: http://callofthesenate.buzzsprout.com

Senate DFL website: https://senatedfl.mn/callofthesenate

Search for “Call of the Senate” on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play

Senate DFL Week in Review: March 7, 2019

WEEK NINE: March 7, 2019

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First pieces of legislation pass off Senate floor, advocates rally at the Capitol

The ninth week of the 2019 session wraps up this week, with the legislature having only passed two bills so far. MNLARS funding and a small bonding bill for clean-up of a toxic closed landfill in Andover and technical fixes to construction bonds for Highway 14 and Highway 23 were both passed and signed into law by Governor Walz.

After nine weeks, promises of early passage of a number of agreed upon bills have not transpired. Many of the bills legislative leaders said would pass early, including opioid relief, hands-free driving, full funding for election security, and initiatives to help protect seniors remain unfinished. Continue reading “Senate DFL Week in Review: March 7, 2019”

Senate DFLers Support Walz Budget for One Minnesota

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota Senate DFL Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, Assistant Senate DFL Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, and Senator Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, praised Governor Walz today for making historic investments in Minnesotans’ top priorities.

“This budget is a good step to ensure communities are thriving across Minnesota,” said Bakk. “Investments in transportation, education, health care, and broadband are essential to the success of cities and counties not just in the Arrowhead region, but everywhere. I’m especially glad to see Gov. Walz provide workforce training and development programs to help Minnesota students have the opportunity to get good-paying jobs and support their families.”

“I appreciate Gov. Walz’s commitment to making Minnesota the ‘Education State’,” said Kent, who serves on the Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee. “We know too often the quality of a student’s education is dependent on their race or zip code. This budget takes a holistic approach to improve our students’ success: not just increasing the formula, but supporting students experiencing homelessness and providing training and assistance for teachers and administrators.” Continue reading “Senate DFLers Support Walz Budget for One Minnesota”

Minnesota House, Senate Members to Introduce United Black Legislative Caucus

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – On Wednesday, members of the Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate will announce a United Black Legislative Caucus as part of Black History Month. The goal of the caucus will be to elevate and advocate for issues relating to Minnesota’s black communities. 

WHAT: Press conference announcing United Black Legislative Caucus

WHO: Representative Ruth Richardson, Representative Mohamud Noor, Representative Hodan Hassan, Representative Rena Moran, Senator Bobby Joe Champion and Senator Jeff Hayden

WHERE: Room B971, Minnesota State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Saint Paul, 55155

WHEN: Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:00 am