Hot dish 04/30/24

By Briana Bierschbach

It was already going to be one of those weeks at the Capitol where everyone is groaning. The House floor sessions are expected to go late most nights to move bills along in the process. Then add in the ongoing saga over Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s arrest and swirl about what it means for the remaining three weeks of the 2024 regular session.

We got some clarity on that front Monday, when Mitchell returned to the Senate floor, now in a new desk away from the Capitol press, to whom Mitchell offered no comment as she left the chamber.

An ethics complaint against her is slated for a hearing next week, but Republicans argued other Minnesotans would be put on leave from their jobs if they faced such a serious criminal charge, Ryan Faircloth reported. They moved to bar her from voting while that complaint is under discussion. Senate President Bobby Joe Champion ruled their motion out of order, with all Democrats voting to uphold Champion’s decision, including Mitchell.

That means, for now at least, she appears to be back and casting votes as the DFL tries to finish up its agenda before session wraps on May 20.

GUNS: Her vote will be needed if the Senate is going to take up and potentially pass gun-related bills that the House intended to take up last night. One bill, which would create a duty to report a lost or stolen firearm to law enforcement within 48 hours, did pass out of the chamber. A long floor session ended before they took up bills to require firearms to be stored securely and increase penalties for straw purchasers, but those two are likely to come up on the floor this week.

Rochelle Olson reports that Gov. Tim Walz supports all three bills, so if they make it to him he will sign them, a spokeswoman said Monday. But even with Mitchell’s likely vote, it isn’t clear that the DFL Senate will have enough support or time to consider the new gun measures. Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, is considered a pivotal vote and has not indicated what he would support.

BONDING: On any other day, it might have been a bigger deal that the House rolled out the bill that will eventually become its $980 million borrowing package, known as the bonding bill. They’re also planning to spend an additional $40 million in cash from the general fund on a handful of construction projects.

The big ticket items included $64 million each for the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system for asset preservation, $32 million for the Department of Administration for a number of improvements to the mall and buildings on the Capitol campus, $47 million for a new Southern Minnesota BCA Regional Office and Laboratory and $114 million for a number of projects at the state’s correctional facilities.

So far, the bill only includes state agency projects, meaning the most important part of the bonding bill in terms of its ability to pass with bipartisan votes — the local projects in members’ districts — is still being worked out. And yes, the big $302 million item in the bonding bill for “library construction grants” is only a placeholder for projects tbd.

“For the librarians who think they have hundreds of millions of dollars and are doing cartwheels, that’s probably not going to happen,” said Rep. Dean Urdahl, the GOP bonding lead who has been at this for a long time. “People should take this document for what it is, and that’s a first step in the process.”

The overall size of the bonding package is a reflection of the state’s fiscal constraints, said House Capital Investment Chair Fue Lee. “We have [an] upcoming budget forecast that may put some constraints on what we would like to spend and how much we can spend,” he said, adding that the bill will only put a “small dent” in the $7.6 billion the committee got in bonding requests from agencies and local governments.

Lawmakers created the new agency in the two-year budget they passed last session. “I look forward to bringing together a new leadership team and staff from multiple agencies, working with community partners and individuals impacted by our programs, to envision an improved future for our children, youth, and families,” Brown said in a statement.

HYLAND: The Minnesota Government Relations Council’s scholarship fund to honor former lobbyist Eric Hyland raised more than $7,000 last night during an event at CHS Field. The Eric Hyland Public Policy Educational Scholarship Fund will be used to “support the next generation of public policy professionals and provide a pipeline of opportunity to the Capitol,” via MGRC. Hyland, known as the “lobbyist’s lobbyist,” died unexpectedly last summer. He was a long-time MGRC member, former president of the organization and represented it as a lobbyist.

WHERE’S WALZ:

9:30 a.m.: Walz will speak at a manufacturing apprenticeships event, per his public schedule.

11:00 a.m.: The governor has a meeting with the Cherry Boys Basketball team.

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