When it comes to bonding in Minnesota this year, everyone can agree on one thing and one thing only: Capitol restoration. The slated set of repairs to the 108-year-old building has support from Gov. Mark Dayton and Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate.

Lawmakers don’t typically bond for projects in odd years, but Dayton said there’s a backlog of projects that need work around the state after years of gubernatorial vetoes and reluctance to move major bonding projects during the last two years of GOP legislative control

Midway through a March 13 hearing in the Senate Jobs, Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, Sen. Carrie Ruud, R-Breezy Point, asked about the thought process behind a proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage. Chief author Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Park, explained to Ruud that she had set a minimum level of $7.75 because it was thought to be “harmless” to the state’s businesses.

As the first committee deadlines of 2013 loom, Minnesota legislators have spent the week holding hearings on high-profile legislation ranging from the legalization of same-sex marriage to state funding for a Mayo Clinic-driven “destination medical center” development push in Rochester.

A few Minnesota lawmakers are experiencing déjà vu this session as they take up a bill to help pay for a $6 billion project to build up Rochester and boost the Mayo Clinic.

Paul Marquart knows that when it comes to the gun debate at the Capitol, most of it boils down to matters of region and culture.

In recent years there has been little interest at the Capitol in proposals to curtail the availability of guns. Most bills that have been introduced have made little progress.

A glance through the Legislature’s official 2012 Election Directory offers few details on what, exactly, a large number of lawmakers do for a living. Of the legislators who will take a seat in the upcoming session, a dozen list their occupation as “consulting,” and 19 more describe their profession as a “small-business owner,” or, in some cases, simply, “business.”

The last time DFLers controlled all the levers of power at the Capitol, during the 1989-90 legislative session, Duane Benson was the Republican Senate minority leader. Benson recalls making a floor speech at the time comparing the dynamic to a basketball contest between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with a pair of conservative Minnesota PACs and a local company in ruling that a state law requiring increased disclosure for corporate political spending is "likely unconstitutional."