Articles

Unionization measure on track for passage

St. Paul - An effort to allow child care workers and personal care assistants to join unions appears on the verge of a partisan victory.

Minnesota health care marketplace board members ready to work

ST. PAUL – Phil Norgaard uttered words seldom heard in the meeting-filled Minnesota Capitol: “I can’t wait to get to some meetings.” The Fond du Lac American Indian Reservation human services director had just been named on Tuesday to the MNSure board, which will govern a new health insurance marketplace, and he wanted to get to work.

Minnesota House expands minimum wage bill

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota House likely will approve a minimum wage increase later this week, after a committee expanded the bill’s reach on Monday by doubling state-required parental leave for a new child.

Minnesota Political Notebook: Republican governor ballot could be crowded

ST. PAUL - Minnesota’s 2014 governor race is underway. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton long has said he plans to seek a second term, and at least a half-dozen Republicans want the chance to knock him off.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Legislative Notebook: House votes for safer children’s products

ST. PAUL – Minnesota state representatives voted Friday to protect children from some toxic chemicals.

Minnesota House considers $15.7 billion education plan

ST. PAUL - Education funding, the largest single part of the Minnesota budget, would rise $550 million in the next two years under a House Democratic plan being debated this afternoon and tonight.

Minnesota House approves health bill without knowing impact on hospitals

ST. PAUL – Minnesota state representatives approved 70-64 a health care spending bill late Monday without knowing how it would affect hospitals around the state.

Gay marriage again topic of fervent debate

St. Paul - The gay marriage issue’s two sides are engaged in smaller versions of last year’s campaign leading up to a constitutional amendment vote.

MINN. LEGISLATIVE NOTEBOOK: Senators remove lockout benefit extension plan

ST. PAUL – Minnesota senators removed extended unemployment benefits for workers locked out by employers in labor disputes during a Friday bill debate.

Minnesota Senate emphasizes job creation

ST. PAUL – Minnesota senators opted to spend $383 million on economic development opportunities, with an emphasis on creating jobs. Money would be spent on programs ranging from those designed to create jobs to attracting movie producers to improving worker training.

Columns

Davis: Health care dispute still far from over

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota House minority leader declared that the U.S. Supreme Court settled “once and for all” the federal health care law dispute.

• Don Davis

Pawlenty near top of list for vice president, but ...

St. Paul - More and more discussion centers on Tim Pawlenty becoming Mitt Romney’s running mate, but at the same time, Ron Paul supporters are considering derailing traditional Republicans like the former Minnesota governor.

• Don Davis

Budget debate becomes fodder for campaign platforms

ST. PAUL – Minnesota lawmakers from both parties signal they plan to use last year’s rough budget debate as foundation for this year’s legislative election campaigns.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Political Notebook: Bakk demands open decision on fliers

ST. PAUL - The Senate’s top Democrat does not believe literature some Republicans handed out at the Feb. 7 precinct caucuses cost just $47. And Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, demands that the Senate Rules Committee take up the matter.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Political Notebook: Attention to turn to state government reform

ST. PAUL - The new year could be one of government reform. Minnesota legislative Republicans and Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton agree reforming is a top priority, but they may differ on just what that means and how to get there.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Political Notebook: Democrats make property taxes an issue, again

ST. PAUL - Democrats make it clear they blame Republicans for rising property taxes, and will do that even louder in next year’s campaigns.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Political Notebook: Shutdown, stadium mean abnormal summer, fall

ST. PAUL - Many around the Capitol don’t quite understand why temperatures are dipping into the 30s: It can’t be fall already. With the July government shutdown and now the increasingly frantic stadium debate, this has been a strange and busy non-election year.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Political Notebook: Lawmaker says property tax change will be fixed

ST. PAUL - A Minnesota House Republican promises that a property tax change that especially hurts rural Minnesota will be repaired next year.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Political Notebook: Two bright spots in otherwise nasty political time

ST. PAUL – This year will go down as one of the most contentious in Minnesota government history, so exceptions to that attitude are notable. The first exception started out as yet another controversy.

• Don Davis

Minnesota Political Notebook: Job creation back on politicians’ radar

ST. PAUL - This year started with Minnesota political leaders emphasizing the need to create jobs, but the state’s deficit problem sidetracked much of that talk.

• Don Davis