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Transportation funding headed for ‘cliff’
State lawmakers and transportation advocates have their summer homework cut out for them in crafting a politically feasible way to begin addressing a projected $20 billion shortfall in the state’s transportation funding over the next two decades.
Standing up for students
Meet Sarah Clarke, of the Minnesota State Colleges Student Association.
Counties get transportation revenue tools
In the aftermath of the 2013 legislative session, transportation advocates have mostly lamented lawmakers’ decision not to increase funding for transit and highway projects. But this year’s transportation finance bill contained a silver lining for greater Minnesota counties that has gone mostly unnoted.
2013 session leaves unfinished business
Whether the 2013 legislative session in Minnesota was a successful one depends on which Democrat you ask. While many long-sought DFL priorities were achieved at the end of the five-month session, including gay marriage and increased spending on education, a handful of high-priority issues were ultimately shelved in 2013 in the hustle and bustle of crafting a $38 billion budget.
Bell tolls for the gas tax
DFL legislative leaders have taken a proposed increase in the state’s per gallon gasoline tax off the table. Although nothing at the Legislature is ever truly dead until adjournment, the fate of the gasoline tax appears to be sealed, according to news reports and the House and Senate transportation chairs.
Zelle floats bonding for transportation
Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration on Thursday for the first time floated an idea to House and Senate transportation negotiators for funding highway construction. Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle told the House and Senate transportation conferees that $300 million in trunk highway bonding would be a way to pick up the pace on improving the state’s transportation[...]
Gas tax standoff threatens transportation bill
Everyone expected a bumpy road en route to a politically viable 2013 transportation bill, but the events of the past week have suggested that it may be entirely impassable.
Transit: To tax or to bond?
The battle over transit funding that’s brewing at the Capitol this year has its roots in the 2008 transportation bill that ultimately saw the Legislature override Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto.
Minnesota’s DFL majorities face social issues pressure
As they prepare to take the reins of state government starting in 2013, Minnesota Democrats are attempting to strike a delicate balance between erasing a projected budget deficit and handling pent-up demand to tackle liberal social issues after two decades of divided control in St. Paul.
DFL majorities pick their leaders
Close on the heels of Tuesday’s election, members of the new DFL House and Senate majorities gathered behind closed doors on Thursday to elect their leaders. As expected, the minority leaders who helped steer Democrats back into control — Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook — were elevated to House speaker and Senate majority leader.
MN United raises more than $3 million to fight gay marriage amendment
Minnesotans United for All Families -- the primary group opposing the gay marriage amendment -- has raised $3.1 million so far this year, with roughly 90 percent of that money coming from in-state donors.
How the stadium deal was done
Left for dead in April, the Vikings stadium bill sprinted to passage in the session’s closing days. What happened?
Top News
- Melodie Rose named president at Fredrikson
- Supreme Court lawyers have rituals of their own
- Minnesota artists consider what’s next in AI copyrights
- Defining ‘and’ in sentencing statute falls to Supreme Court
- Hashtag rates higher libel protection
- Court: Performance issues, not bias, prompted union to fire organizer
- Robot milker case yields $122M
- 2023 Up & Coming Attorneys
Expert Testimony
- Briefly: A chat with Supreme Court Commissioner Tim Droske
- Perspectives: Oral arguments at high court stir lively debates
- Quandaries & Quagmires: Advance waivers: Lessons from Paul Hastings vs. Coca Cola
- Perspectives: Recent cellphone ruling recalls high court cases
