According to DFL Reps. Marion Greene of Minneapolis and Erin Murphy of St. Paul, Republicans have pulled a repeal of pay equity from the omnibus state government operations bill. The controversial provision, termed the Local Government Pay Equity Act, would have eliminated a mechanism that ensures equal pay for women working for local government units.
Members of the DFL House caucus chastised Republicans Tuesday for introducing legislation in the House that would eliminate the 1984 Pay Equity Act. At a press conference, Democrats said the law is still necessary to ensure women are paid the same as men in local government units. But just as they were rallying against the bill, Republican Sen. Mike Jungbauer introduced a bill — the third GOP bill on the issue — to repeal the law in the Senate.
Minnesota politicos have been tweeting about everything from Gov. Pawlenty’s announcement that he won’t be applying for federal Race to the Top (RTTT) funds, the new Humphrey Institute gubernatorial poll and, from Minneapolis’ mayor, tweeting while not bicycling.
The Minnesota Legislature has passed a bill that would give same-sex couples more end-of-life rights in the event of a partner’s death, but Gov. Tim Pawlenty has threatened to veto the bill. It passed in the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday and the House on Tuesday, despite the argument from Republicans that the bill discriminated against opposite sex couples.
As the legislative session nears its end at the Capitol, advocates of rights for same-sex couples are giving legislators a last minute push on a key piece of legislation. Project 515 held a press conference on Tuesday to urge the Minnesota House take a vote on the Final Wishes and Wrongful Death bill. On hand were individuals who, at a profound time of grief, found that the law afforded them no recognition in making arrangements for their deceased partners.
Ominous news about job losses and financial woes at Minnesota hospitals over the last week coincide with Gov. Pawlenty’s line-item veto of $381 million in General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) grants and his vow to make more cuts by unallotment. But as bad as the doomsday scenarios are, they shouldn’t include St. Paul’s Regions Hospital closing — a prospect that a DFL press release warned of over the weekend.
A ban on credentials for online media to cover the Minnesota House of Representatives was lifted Monday, at least for one state Capitol newshound: Internet and radio reporter Marty Owings. The persistent volunteer journalist for KFAI-FM and…
Like many couples, Tim Reardon and his partner Eric diligently prepared everything they needed should one of them die. But when Eric lost his struggle with brain cancer, Reardon discovered that a single error in their legal paperwork meant that he couldn’t fulfill his longtime partner’s end-of-life wishes. Reardon told his story today at a press conference announcing proposed legislation called the “Final Wishes Act” which aims to give same-sex couples some of the same rights legally married couples get automatically.
At the end of Barack Obama’s speech last night, roughly 20 audience members were whisked away to the bowels of the Xcel Energy Center to meet with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The group, assembled by St.…
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