The MNsure Board will hold a final pre-launch meeting, which is scheduled to include a progress update from interim CEO Scott Leitz.

The cause of immigration reform has led Bill Blazar a bit outside his organization’s usual comfort zone. The second-in-command at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has been with the organization for two decades, but his position advocating in favor of comprehensive immigration reform in Washington, D.C. represents the first time he’s undertaken a major role on a federal issue.

On Thursday afternoon cake will be delivered to the offices of U.S. Reps. John Kline and Erik Paulsen. The occasion? One year ago, undocumented individuals who came to the United States as kids could apply to avoid the possibility of deportation.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has been flummoxed in recent legislative sessions not so much by their usual sparring partners in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party but by a new coterie of conservative Republicans.

Looking to the session ahead, groups like the chamber and the Minnesota Business Partnership plan to renew the push for their key 2011 measures and have added a few new priorities as well.

Minnesota Chamber of Commerce officials have launched a new political action committee that is seeking corporate donations to influence state legislative races.