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Senate GOP rolls out tax package
Minnesota Senate Republicans rolled out a tax package Wednesday that cuts business property taxes, reduces state aid to local governments and gives cities the option to raise local sales taxes.
Dayton backs stepped up campaign finance reporting
Dayton said he will voluntarily quarterly file campaign finance reports this year, as the bill requires. The law currently requires lawmakers in non-election years to file campaign reports after year-end.
Marty introduces bill overhauling HMO oversight
Sen. John Marty has introduced legislation that would prohibit the state from enrolling any more Medicaid recipients into managed-care programs after March 1. Instead the Department of Human Services would be required to cover the individuals directly.
HMO reform turns into a bandwagon
On Feb. 8, health care providers, lobbyists and other interested parties packed a meeting of the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee to overflowing. The occasion was an informational hearing on the seemingly mundane topic of health maintenance organization accountability, and the chief reason for the standing-room-only crowd was the appearance of Dave Feinwachs, the former Minnesota [...]
Picking the lock on HMOs’ ‘black box’
As HMOs seek a bigger share of Minnesota's health care business, former Minnesota Hospital Association attorney Dave Feinwachs leads a charge to see how they are spending the money
Where do new legislators come from? Often it’s the ranks of legislative staff
Rep. Sarah Anderson had been a staffer in the Minnesota House of Representatives for 10 years by 2006. That's when her predecessor in House District 43A, former Rep. Jeff Johnson, decided he'd leave the Legislature to make a run for the attorney general's office.
Marty: Who’s minding the store?
Over the years, many items in the state budget have been scrutinized with a fine-tooth comb. Even relatively small expenditures and contracts are reviewed to see if there is a way to save money or perform the task more efficiently. Sometimes, however, there are big-ticket items that get nowhere near the scrutiny they deserve.
GOP leaders leery of taking up social issues in 2011 – but probably can’t avoid it
Since winning control of the House and Senate on Election Day, Republican legislative leaders have repeatedly stressed that resolving the state's $6.2 billion budget deficit and growing jobs are their top two legislative priorities. Contentious social issues, they've vowed, will only surface once the Legislature's finished its financial business.
GOP’s sweep means high turnover in Capitol partisan staff positions
Kathleen Lonergan has been kicking around the Capitol for 18 years, one of those behind-the-scenes staffers who quietly keeps things humming. On any given day she could offer up insight and institutional knowledge to any lawmaker, reporter or constituent ready to seek it.
Rx for Dayton: focus on education
DFL gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton has not had a good September. The Department of Revenue estimated that his proposed tax increase on the rich would yield not quite half of the $4 billion he originally claimed it would generate; when Dayton submitted a revised budget, it got the tax proceeds right but still fell almost $1 billion of solving the deficit.
Women still under-represented in politics?
Ellen Anderson remembers the door she knocked on in 1992 that made her realize that her preconceptions about male voters might be somewhat inaccurate.
Democrats proclaim unity following tight primary contest
One day after Mark Dayton triumphed in an extraordinarily close gubernatorial primary contest, DFLers gathered at the Capitol to proclaim unity heading into the November general election. The former U.S. Senator was joined by his top two rivals for the Democratic nomination, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza.
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