Collegial conservative Mike Beard is retiring from the Legislature to pursue a Scott County board seat.
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The Capitol Note: Senate passes WESA, now negotiations begin
1) The state Senate passed its version of a measure meant to increase protections for working women, the St. Cloud Times reports. Those protections, which ...
Read More »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.
Read More »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.
Read More »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.
Read More »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.
Read More »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.
Read More »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.
Read More »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.
Read More »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 the annual Farmfest expo near Redwood Falls.
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