GOP leaders have objected to the price tag, but Walz’s plan is well within the debt guidelines crafted a decade ago by the Office of Management and Budget under the administration of GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
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There will be no general tax increase, and no gas tax hike. But there will be a cut in the income tax rate for middle-income earners while a tax on medical providers will continue.
There are stark differences in philosophy and strategy between the DFL-led House and GOP-run Senate, divisions best illustrated by each side’s omnibus spending and policy bills.
Pharma has become such an inviting target that in a Legislature that can't agree on anything, multiple bills taking on the industry are still alive in both the DFL-controlled House and a GOP-controlled Senate.
One proposal, which has bipartisan support, would allow those who donate to affordable housing projects to take a dollar-for-dollar credit off of their state income tax bill.
The St. Paul Saints, the minor league baseball team that plays home games at the heavily public subsidized CHS Field in Lowertown, is 1.2 miles away from the state Capitol.
Municipal IDs are aimed at providing identification to people who are unwilling or unable to get state driver’s licenses or IDs, often because they are undocumented immigrants.
The Equity and Opportunity Scholarship Act would allow donations to scholarship foundations to be credited against state income taxes. The foundations would use the money to give private school scholarships to low- and middle-income students.
Preemption was a more potent issue over the last four years, when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate.
A Senate bill to partially legalize sports books in Minnesota narrowly passed out of its first committee Thursday, but the Senate majority leader isn’t keen on the idea, and the state’s 11 Native American tribes are opposed.
Republicans in Minnesota often focus on the state’s high taxes, while DFLers focus on all the services the state delivers for that money — a divergence was put on display at the Minnesota Capitol this week.
Recreational marijuana probably isn’t coming to Minnesota this year. But the debate at Legislature has already become largely about when, not if, it will happen.
Rep. Zack Stephenson’s bill would appropriate $2.5 million to the Department of Employment and Economic Development to oversee the program and guarantee any defaults by workers. No interest could be charged during a shutdown or for 90 days after the end of a shutdown.
The chair of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association has made it clear to legislative leaders that the state’s casino-owning tribes aren’t interested in adding sports betting to their offerings.
If his funding request is adopted, Kaler said he thinks the U of M could keep tuition increases at inflationary levels at the Twin Cities campus and at zero at the other four campuses in the system.
Education was featured prominently in Gov. Tim Walz’s remarks, but he also highlighted a theme that was a big part of his campaign — that the state has addressed tough problems in the past and can do so again.
It turns out there isn’t one.
Legislation is already being drafted for lawmakers to take up the issue in 2019, the passage of which would add Minnesota to a growing list of states that have legalized betting on professional and college sports.
Even while the tour raised expectations of an open and inclusive administration, Walz admitted that he might not always meet those expectations.
While the incoming lieutenant governor expressed a willingness to listen to concerns about regulation and efficiency in government, she also set out what Gov.-elect Tim Walz might want in return.