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The budget Minnesota lawmakers expect to pass will contain funding for all-day kindergarten at state expense. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said Monday that any district that wants to offer it will have the cost fully reimbursed.
Two versions of a bill mandating solar energy for big utilities are heading for a conference committee where compromise legislation should emerge in the final week of Minnesota's legislative session. The Senate version requires large utility companies to generate 1 percent of power from the sun by 2025.
Minnesota lawmakers are bearing down for the legislative session's homestretch. Monday marks one week until the mandatory adjournment deadline. Much is left to do. The House and Senate still need to pass compromise bills to comprise the state's next two year budget.
Minnesota's Senate is scheduled to debate and vote Monday on a bill to add the state to the growing list of those that allow gay marriage. It's the last step before Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, who has promised to sign legislation.
On Monday, the Minnesota Senate is expected to vote to legalize gay marriage. And Gov. Mark Dayton has already said he will sign the measure into law.
Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature's top Democrats announced an agreement Sunday to raise taxes on Minnesota's wealthier residents and cigarette sales and to spend the extra money on public schools and colleges, as well as on other areas.
In early 2012, a public policy poll found that 50 percent of Minnesotans surveyed favored a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and only 40 percent said they opposed the amendment.
In a sudden shift Friday, the Minnesota Senate revived the possibility of raising the gas tax for roadwork and a metropolitan area sales tax for mass transit projects by making over what had been a stand-pat transportation finance plan.
The Capitol hallways echoed Thursday night with thunderous chants. And by Friday, WCCO viewers are asking a lot of questions after the House voted to legalize same sex marriage. A common question: What's next? The same sex marriage bill now heads to the Minnesota Senate, where it is expected to pass. The governor says he will sign It, and as early as Tuesday.
Senator Al Franken announced Friday that 16 Minnesota community health centers will be eligible to apply for more than $1.6 million in funds to help uninsured patients. According to Sen. Franken's office, the funds are a portion of the $150 million made available to help community health centers via the 2010 health reform law. Franken says community health centers regularly help uninsured citizens, and the funding will help them to continue their important work.
Minnesota's tax haul for April was $153 million better than forecasters had expected, a strong month that probably has little effect on the trajectory of legislative budget talks.
A quarter of Minnesota House members wound up voting a personal preference on legalizing gay marriage rather than following results of last November's ballot measure. Thursday's 75-59 vote saw Republicans and Democrats defy the fall outcome on the constitutional amendment in their district.
With ten days to go in the 2013 session, DFL legislative leaders held budget talks with Governor Mark Dayton Friday to hammer out their differences on tax and budget issues, including a Senate proposal to extend the state's sale tax to clothing.
Supporters already are celebrating the Minnesota House's passage of a measure to legalize gay marriage, but there are a few more steps before it gets to Gov. Mark Dayton's desk. The state Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill Monday, and leaders expect it to pass there too.
Singer Sheryl Crow and the theatrical circus troupe Cirque du Soleil will perform at this year's Macy's Glamorama in Minneapolis. Crow is a nine-time Grammy winner who has sold more than 35 million records worldwide. Cirque du Soleil will showcase its Las Vegas productions at Macy's Glamorama this year.
