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Mike Beard: The peace-in-the-valley guy
Collegial conservative Mike Beard is retiring from the Legislature to pursue a Scott County board seat.
The Capitol Note: Senate passes WESA, now negotiations begin
Mike Beard remembers the day 11 years ago when he got a crash course in legislative reality. Beard, the GOP’s retiring District 55A representative, was then a 49-year-old freshman legislator and member of the House Transportation Finance Committee. He had campaigned for office in 2002 pitching a 6-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax increase to shore up Minnesota’s ...
The Capitol Note: Senate Democrats to caucus on House’s latest minimum wage deal
The "implicit price deflator" would be capped at a 3 percent annual increase.
Transportation plan clears House committee despite doubt, opposition
The House Transportation Finance Committee passed a comprehensive funding package during a Thursday hearing, but the fate of that proposal remains very much in doubt.
The Capitol Note: Senate’s tax bill would cut $434 million
House leaders refused to speculate on whether the House would accept the Senate bill or take it to conference committee.
The push for judicial retention elections
A bipartisan effort led by the Coalition for Impartial Justice is proposing a system of judicial review and retention elections to avoid the highly charged, politically explosive contests common in Wisconsin, Texas and other states.
Dozens of House Republicans endorse Nguyen for Secretary of State
Though the total number of Nguyen's House endorsements is impressive on its face, he failed to win the support of House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt.
Judicial retention bill faces uncertain future
The 2014 legislative session could set the stage for a high-profile battle over how Minnesota picks its judges. A broad coalition is renewing a push to pass a ballot initiative that would move the state to a judicial retention election system.
Energy politics: the nuclear option
The growing pressure to reduce carbon emissions is refiguring energy politics from the global down to the local level — a development partially reflected in the energy bill that passed the Minnesota Legislature this year.
Politicos, as ever, flock to Farmfest
In the flurry of activity that closed out the 2013 legislative session, a sales tax on farm machinery repairs became part of the omnibus tax bill ultimately signed into law. Now that the tax is on the books and farmers are facing levies on the labor costs of having their tractors and milking parlors fixed, it’s no surprise that the 11th-hour development at the Capitol is one of the hot topics at[...]
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.
House passes new solar standard for utilities
The centerpiece of the bill is a new standard for investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy to generate 4 percent of their electricity from solar sources by 2025.
Top News
- Homeless camp case will proceed
- Courtroom outbursts justified exclusion of mother from parental rights trial
- LGBTQ+ group sues over Iowa book, discussion bans
- Justices uphold business tax bill
- Court to weigh social media and First Amendment
- Federal court rules brokerage firm breached 1994 contract
- Court denies revocation of adoption
- UnitedHealth suit alleges faulty AI led to denied claims
Expert Testimony
- Perspectives: Asylum appeals yield 3 denials for immigrants
- Quandaries & Quagmires: Risky business and tips for managing the risk
- Perspectives: JFK assassination: 60 years of litigation here
- Perspectives: Lincoln’s memorable address recalls impact here
