Legislation to establish a Minnesota health insurance exchange is nearing the end of its grueling committee march. The House version has cleared six committees, with stops at Taxes and Ways and Means still ahead. In the Senate, where the bill has also cleared six committees, it awaits only a stop in Rules and Administration before moving to the floor.

Gov. Mark Dayton's signature means an additional 35,000 low-income adults will be covered by federal money in a state-crafted Medicaid program, including adults without children making less than $15,000 a year. "I haven't done one of these for awhile," Dayton joked as he signed the bill in a ceremony on Tuesday alongside its two Democratic authors in the Legislature, Sen. Kathy Sheran and Rep. Tom Huntley.

Legislation that would establish a marketplace where insurance for 1.3 million state residents is expected to be purchased cleared its first legislative hurdle on Wednesday. The health care exchange bill passed out of the Senate Committee on State and Local Government on a 7-5 party-line vote.

A bipartisan group of legislators unveiled a bill on Wednesday to create a state-administered marketplace where individuals and corporations will be able to purchase health insurance. Minnesota must enact such legislation by the end of March in order to be in compliance with the federal Affordable Care Act, which will be fully implemented in 2014.

Minnesota has received conditional approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to build the state’s new health insurance exchange.

Key question: Does Minnesota want to be more like Massachusetts or Utah?

Close observers and key players in Minnesota’s project to create a health insurance exchange have some advice for those who want to follow the process: Pay close attention, and don’t blink.

Even though state lawmakers won’t arrive at the endgame to the 2013 legislative session for another six months, they’re beginning to stake out their opening agendas as they convene in frequent pre-session panel discussions and media broadcasts.

Despite the relatively low public profile of legislative races in the dog days of summer, Republicans are starting to prime the issue of the Affordable Care Act for this fall’s general election.

In what was both a dense tax policy exposition and a moment for election-year grandstanding, the House Taxes Committee on Monday dissected the many sources of revenue that are intended to pay for President Obama’s health care act.