About all the competing House and Senate bonding proposals share is a dim prospect for bridging their many differences with the other chamber’s bill.

Legislation requiring annual independent audits of the health care organizations that administer Minnesota’s Medicaid program has followed a tortuous path this legislative session.

Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairman David Hann promised to hold a hearing on a bill requiring independent annual audits of the health plans that administer the state’s Medicaid program. On Monday he followed through on that promise.

House and Senate races across the state are rapidly shaking out after the release of the 2012 legislative map last month. And with local endorsing conventions set to take place throughout March, incumbents and challengers alike have little time to make decisions about their political futures.

Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson set off a potential landmine last week when she revealed that the federal government is investigating the state’s Medicaid program. Roughly 600,000 poor people receive medical coverage through the program with the state and federal government splitting the $7B tab.

A Republican state senator is moving legislation through committee that would hit lawmakers in their pocketbooks when they don’t pass a budget on time.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann intends to introduce legislation requiring independent, third-party audits of nonprofit health plans that provide coverage to Medicaid enrollees.

Minnesota lawmakers want to get in and out of the Capitol as quickly as possible this year, a fact that’s evident in skimming through the first bills of the 2012 session.

The upper chamber introduced just more than 50 bills for the first day of session, covering everything from judicial election reforms and bonding projects to proposals that aim to temper the impact of another government shutdown.

When Republican state senators gather on Tuesday to elect a new majority leader, their top-of-mind priority will be to choose someone who can bail out a sinking boat and set it sailing in the right direction again. But the stakes will also be very high for a set of Capitol interest groups facing an historic chance to make years’ and countless dollars’ worth of lobbying efforts pay off.