Senate Dems Expand Ed Focus To Counselors, Dual Credit
Democrats in the Minnesota Senate are expanding their focus on education. They want to increase school funding for counselors and programs that let high school students earn college credit.
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Democrats in the Minnesota Senate are expanding their focus on education. They want to increase school funding for counselors and programs that let high school students earn college credit.
Representatives of Minnesota's child care industry say a push to fund all-day preschool will make their services more expensive. Senate Democrats want to set aside money for statewide preschool programs starting with the 2015 school year.
Minnesota lawmakers are caught in a dust-up over office space at the State Capitol, and it's threatening to delay the massive Capitol restoration now underway. The three-year, $272 million project is on time and on budget. But the tenants in the new building -- including the governor, the Senate, the House and the attorney general -- cannot come to agreement over how much space they will control.
The ambitious idea of Minnesota lawmakers skipping next year's session to avoid the Capitol construction has morphed into an alternative plan. Now senior legislators and state officials are taking a hard look at moving the Legislature's session off-site.
Minnesota lawmakers moved Tuesday to set up swift approval of tax deductions and credits affecting thousands of people and business owners getting ready to file 2014 forms. Tax committees in the House and Senate advanced legislation that lines Minnesota's code up with some recent federal changes. Final votes in each chamber could come later this week, sending the bill to a supportive Gov. Mark Dayton before personal income tax filing season begins next week.
Republicans have grabbed control of the Minnesota House and broken up the Democrats' short run of one-party rule at the Capitol. House Speaker Paul Thissen conceded early Wednesday that Democrats had lost control of the chamber.
Republican Senate candidate Mike McFadden is making several promises for legislative action if he defeats Sen. Al Franken. McFadden vows to help write a balanced budget amendment — and a bill that would halt lawmaker pay if Congress doesn't pass a budget — within his first 100 days in office.
With less than a month before Election Day, Republican Senate candidate Mike McFadden has less than $1 million banked to oust Sen. Al Franken. McFadden's campaign says he raised more than $2 million in the three-month period ending in September. The total announced Tuesday is his largest during a fundraising quarter.
State Rep. Jim Abeler says he'll take the weekend to decide whether to press forward in the Minnesota Senate race or bow out. Abeler left a primary campaign on the table. But he says Mike McFadden's endorsement win "raises the bar" and would complicate a bid. Filing for the office closes Tuesday.
The Minnesota Senate has passed an $846 million borrowing package for construction projects and sent it to Gov. Mark Dayton for his signature, finishing a crucial piece of business as lawmakers work toward adjournment. The bonding bill vote was 47-17, easily exceeding the required three-fifths majority.
Minnesota lawmakers have a deal on a medical marijuana bill that would set up eight distribution sites and allow qualified patients to access the drug in oil, pill and vapor form. The agreement announced Thursday was crafted to suit concerns of Gov. Mark Dayton, who backs it.
Two very different plans for legalizing medical marijuana in Minnesota went to a legislative conference committee on Tuesday, leaving advocates hoping for an agreement acceptable enough to Gov. Mark Dayton to become law.
The Minnesota Senate has received its final legal bill in a now-settled lawsuit filed by a fired staffer that cost more than $400,000 to defend against. The invoice due for ratification Wednesday by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee lists $7,252 in remaining legal fees.
Gov. Mark Dayton says he's still hopeful lawmakers can fashion a medical marijuana compromise that gets help to ailing people but doesn't allow for access he fears would be too wide. Dayton said Monday that he has top aides working with legislators on a bill that can become law.
The next move in legalization of medical marijuana in Minnesota is up to the state Senate. Senators could vote Monday to adopt a House bill that is more restrictive than theirs.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has sent a letter to House and Senate sponsors of their respective medical-marijuana bills. Dayton said he would sign the bill into law if legislators adopted the House version as is. Dayton sent the letter to Minneapolis Democratic Sen. Scott Dibble and Hibbing Democratic Rep. Carly Melin soon after the House passed a medical-marijuana proposal on Friday.
Minnesota senators have voted for a stringent set of electronic cigarette standards that would make their use unacceptable in any place regular tobacco is disallowed. The approach endorsed Thursday goes further than a House companion bill, so the two measures must be reconciled for any e-cigarette regulations to become law. A move to pare back the indoor air restrictions in the Senate bill failed on a 35-28 vote.
The Minnesota state Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would legalize marijuana for medical purposes.
Stock up on beer, wine and liquor on Saturday. The Minnesota Senate soundly defeated a repeal of the state's law barring liquor stores from being open on Sundays. The chamber voted in favor of allowing craft beer tap rooms to sell growlers for takeaway on Sundays, but then the bill got pulled from debate.
A bill to legalize medical marijuana is headed to the Senate floor after passage by the Finance Committee. The committee passed the bill 14-7 on Monday after adding a few wrinkles to the legislation.
Bills legalizing medical marijuana could be voted on in both the Minnesota House and Senate this week, but the House and Senate versions are significantly different. That has led to disagreements among supporters that some say threaten passage of any type of bill.
A rift among Minnesota supporters of allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes could make it harder to push legalization through the legislature this year. Committees in both the House and Senate were debating competing legislation Friday. A Senate panel stripped the option of smoking marijuana as medication from its bill on Thursday. But the House version is even more limited in how the drug may be accessed.
The Minnesota Senate has passed a bill allowing the state to retain blood samples from newborn babies indefinitely. Senators voted 36 to 20 to send the proposal to Gov. Mark Dayton.
Top Minnesota lawmakers are working to set the terms of a deal on tax cuts, new state spending and borrowing for construction that would enable them to end their session. Democratic leaders of the House and Senate said Thursday that they were closing in on a framework.
One more Minnesota Senate panel has approved legislation that would legalize medical marijuana. The Senate Judiciary Committee gave the OK Wednesday despite opposition from law enforcement including Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman.
