Minnesota Lawyer

A bill that creates a gross misdemeanor for employers who steal or wrongfully withhold workers’ wages likely will make a stop in the House Judiciary committee next week.

The Minnesota Judicial Branch and the Minnesota District Judges Association offered lawmakers competing judge pay-raise requests on Feb. 13.

The Senate Judiciary committee on Feb. 6 heard three bills that likely will become part of a larger Senate DWI omnibus package.

The Minnesota House unanimously voted to allow homeowners with restrictive covenants written into their properties’ historical abstracts to attach an affidavit forswearing that antiquated segregationist practice.

In this special In the Hopper edition, we focus entirely on that subject.

Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, has greeted new State Auditor Julie Blaha with a punitive bill that would send hundreds of thousands of dollars from Blaha’s budget to the three Minnesota counties sued by her predecessor.

The House being twice as large the Senate, DFLers listed exactly twice as many priority bills — 10 to the Senate’s five.

“The Legislature gambled and lost,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said

So far the governor has vetoed eight bills that passed during the session just ended. He has signed a total of 81 bills into law; one other bill was allowed to become law without a signature.

A selection of 16 bills Gov. Dayton has signed or vetoed that might be of interest to attorneys.