Legislature

The Health and Human Services omnibus bill passed the Minnesota Legislature Monday with deep cuts totaling $500 million and now awaits action from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is expected to veto the bill. Catholic leaders say the bill should be signed because it’d impact the poor less than would Pawlenty’s proposal, and further cuts would [...]

State Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, said Friday that he will not vote for the Marriage and Family Protection Act, a bill that would make Minnesota’s marriage laws gender-neutral, allowing same-sex couples many of the rights currently denied by Minnesota statute. Koering, who is gay and a Republican, said he would vote against it because the state faces bigger problems.

While legislators debate making marijuana legal for individuals suffering from debilitating illness, law enforcement has testified that medical marijuana would post a risk to public safety. But as the Humphrey Institute’s Smart Politics reports, Minnesota law enforcement has scaled back its marijuana enforcement efforts significantly in the last few years.

When state legislators want to make major changes to law, sometimes they put the law to the voters to decide. This year, they’re asking Minnesotans where we stand on issues like guns, health care and labor unions. There’s even a bill to ask the voters whether the state Constitution should be amended to change the way Minnesota amends the Constitution.

The Marriage and Family Protection Act is getting traction at the Minnesota Capitol. Numerous legislators have added their support — so much so that a duplicate bill has been drafted in the Senate to allow for more sponsors. The legislation would create gender-neutral laws in Minnesota, allowing same-sex couples access to the same benefits legally married couples enjoy.

Marijuana is back in the news this week after Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps is threatened with criminal charges for toking at a party and three Minnesota House Republicans sign on to a bill relax criminal penalties for users of medicinal marijuana.

Politicians make some over-the-top remarks from time to time, and last week a few quotes at the state capitol left observers wondering, “What did they say?”

Minnesotans whose political preferences can’t be expressed within the outlines of a tiny oval aren’t likely to get relief this year from ballot reforms proposed at the state Legislature. That’s the message state Sen. Ann Rest and state Rep. Laura Brod had for the breed of voters whose enigmatically marked ballots were on display during the recent Senate recount.

Same-sex marriage will again be a hot topic in the state Legislature this year, and some new initiatives are sure to create controversy. But for a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community that has been playing defense against social conservatives for more than a decade, the 2009 legislature will be the friendliest in years, some lawmakers say.

Rep. Ron Erhardt is a man without a political party. The nine-term Edina legislator was kicked to the curb by the Republican Party after voting to overturn Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of the transportation bill in February. Local Republicans instead endorsed, by a lopsided 71-29 margin, challenger Keith Downey.

Erhardt was subsequently spotted at the the [...]