Capitol Wrap — Feb. 10, 2023
It was another busy week at the Minnesota Capitol.
For a quick roundup of the latest developments at the legislature, here is this week’s Capitol Wrap.
The Minnesota House of Representatives approved the bill Monday, a week after the Minnesota Senate. Gov. Tim Walz then signed the bill into law on Tuesday.
Thanks to the legislation, the Attorney General’s Office will get an extra $269,000 this year, and $2 million each following year to hire more prosecutors and legal assistants. Attorney General Keith Ellison has also said the funding will allow the office to support county prosecutors on many other violent crime cases instead of just homicides.
The House also unanimously approved a bill this week to increase funding to the state’s public defense system by more than $42 million and nearly $53 million in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, respectively. That bill still needs to make its way through the Senate.
- Gov. Walz also signed another, much more controversial bill into law this week.
Tuesday, the governor signed legislation that sets new clean energy standards for the state, including a goal to be 100% carbon-free by 2040.
The bill was hotly debated in the Minnesota Senate, where the DFL holds just a one-seat majority, last week before lawmakers gave it final approval.
While supporters have touted the bill as one that will make the state a national leader in clean energy and will help slow climate change, Republicans and others opposing it have said it will lead to higher costs for Minnesotans, less reliable energy, and blackouts in times of extreme heat or cold.
- Legislation that would guarantee breakfast and lunch for all Minnesota students is one step closer to becoming law.
Thursday, the Minnesota House passed the bill, which is still making its way through Senate committees.
Supporters of the bill say many families who experience food insecurity don’t qualify for the free and reduced-price programs that already exist in schools. If passed, the state would pay schools the difference between the average cost of a school meal and the federal reimbursement they receive.
Also Thursday, the House unanimously approved a bill to provide $5 million in emergency funding for food shelf programs. That bill also still needs to be approved by the Senate before it can become law.
- The Minnesota Senate formally confirmed six of Gov. Tim Walz’s cabinet members this week.
Monday, the Senate confirmed Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger and Department of Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen; Wednesday, senators confirmed Department of Revenue Commissioner Paul Marquart and Department of Administration Commissioner Alice Roberts-Davis; and Thursday, James Schowalter (Department of Management and Budget) and Larry Herke (Department of Veteran Affairs) were confirmed to their respective departments.
In past years, the Senate has used the confirmation process to effectively remove commissioners from their jobs if they disapproved of their or the governor’s actions. However, with the DFL now in control of the chamber, the legislators moved quickly to confirm Walz’s commissioners.
Of the six approved this week, only Marquart was completely new to the role this year, as the other five were all reappointed by the governor at the end of last year.
- State lawmakers pitched a new bill this week to create a public health insurance option in an effort to reduce health care costs for Minnesotans.
The “Minnesota Public Option” bill was formally introduced at the start of the session, but some DFL lawmakers and supporters held a press conference Wednesday ahead of the bill’s first hearing.
The legislation would expand MinnesotaCare and allow all residents to buy into the program, not just low-income workers. However, some of the details for the bill, including the premiums — which would be on a sliding scale — still need to be sorted out.
If approved, the plan will still need approval from the federal government and would raise state subsidies for “gold-level” health plans in MNsure in 2024 and 2025. However, it still has a long journey to get through both the Minnesota House and Senate.
Several other bills — including the bill to legalize recreational marijuana, paid family and medical leave legislation, gun safety bills, and catalytic converter theft prevention legislation — all had committee hearings this week and continued to progress through the Legislature.
Follow those and several other hot-button bills throughout the session with our Legislative Tracker.
Click here to read last week’s Capitol Wrap.