News of note in Minnesota

Center events, initiatives, and policy work

Initiative

The $7k for Kids campaign enjoyed a big night at precinct caucuses as over 1,000 precincts debated and passed a resolution adding Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) to the state party platforms. The initiative to establish a $7,000 ESA for parents and students seeking educational alternatives is a partnership between Center of the American Experiment and Opportunity for All Kids (OAK). Resolutions were put forward in both the Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor parties.

“There is strong grassroots momentum building for school choice in Minnesota, and it was on full display at last night’s precinct caucuses,” says Catrin Wigfall, education policy fellow at American Experiment. “Minnesotans are frustrated with the dramatic decline in academic performance and are demanding real education reforms that put families first.”

Fraud

To further the fight against massive fraud in Minnesota, American Experiment has expanded its Minnesota Fraud Files (formerly the American Experiment Scandal Tracker) to include the current fraud tracker, the latest news, convictions and sentences, and key players. Compiled lists of legislative audit reports, fraud prevention legislation, and various links are also available, including to the Minnesota House Fraud Tipline, which allows whistleblowers to confidentially report suspected fraud, waste, and abuse within Minnesota’s state government (located at www. MNFraud.com).

Policy work

A recent report authored by American Experiment revisits the Affordable Care Act and health insurance markets — a major issue that has sparked debate nationally and among the states. “Health of the ACA Health Insurance Markets” examines rate increases and silver loading and highlights how the structure of the ACA marketplaces has further distorted prices. It concludes by highlighting state solutions that could lower health care costs for patients, increase competition in stagnant markets, and protect taxpayers from runaway spending. This, and other American Experiment reports and policy briefs, can be found on our website (www.AmericanExperiment.org/reports/).

Multimedia venture

Center of the American Experiment launched rationally BASED, a podcast discussing cutting-edge legal topics featuring Ilan Wurman, the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. Wurman is joined by American Experiment podcast hosts Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating. The rationally BASED podcast is an intellectual legal podcast from a conservative perspective with the goal of making relevant legal topics accessible to non-lawyers. Pairing non-lawyer hosts (Johnson and Keating) with legal expert Wurman creates an interesting dynamic as they explain the legal issues of the day in an enjoyable, sharp manner.

“The rationally BASED podcast will be intellectually challenging and accessible to lawyers and non-lawyers alike, filling an important void in the national podcast landscape,” says Wurman. “More importantly, it will be edgy and fun.”

YLC networking

American Experiment’s Young Leaders Council and the Minnesota Private Business Council hosted its popular “Connections & Cocktails” event Feb. 19 at Interlachen Country Club in Edina. The event helps young professionals connect with the surrounding business community and answer the question, “How should conservatives navigate an increasingly woke workplace?”

The event gave younger attendees the chance to network with some of Minnesota’s top executives and business leaders. Attendees established in their careers had the opportunity to meet the next generation of talent and advise them on how to best navigate today’s workplace.

North Dakota update

The North Dakota Legislature met in a January Special Session called by Gov. Kelly Armstrong for the appropriation of federal dollars granted to the state as part of the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” passed by Congress. North Dakota, along with other states, received record funds to improve rural health care, and legislative appropriations were necessary to put those funds to work for North Dakota’s rural residents.

A bill that would have mandated “free” (“taxpayer-funded”) breakfast and lunch in schools for North Dakota K-12 students was also considered. Ostensibly an effort to pre-empt a proposed initiated measure from doing the same thing constitutionally, the bill came dangerously close to becoming law, with the House of Representatives passing it before the Senate defeated it by only two votes.

North Dakota students already receive free lunches, but left-leaning special interests, led by the state’s teachers’ union, had launched an initiated measure that would add breakfasts and place the mandate in the North Dakota Constitution. Opponents of the bill pointed out that its passage would likely not derail the measure. They also argued that passing a bad bill to prevent a bad constitutional amendment was a wrong-headed approach.