With the 2023 Minnesota legislative session finishing today, Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate accomplished everything on their wish list. We won’t have to wait…
It happens every session but it’s worth pointing out. In an attempt to shield legislators from taking tough votes on black and white issues, the majority party sometimes allows amendments…
Another momentous week at the State Capitol ended with the Senate passing a bill legalizing recreational marijuana. A similar bill already passed the House so now a conference committee will…
There isn’t space in the newsletter to write about all the bad things that passed this week, so here are just ten things that happened this week in St. Paul…
Gov. Tim Walz used his fifth state of the state speech Wednesday night to audition for the role of national Democrat attack dog, sounding unnecessarily concerned about things happening 1,370…
The legislature started putting together the state budget this week, passing several omnibus bills off the Senate and House floor. So far, they are sticking to the budget targets agreed…
In the spirit of Easter, Capitol Watch would like to highlight three proposals likely to pass this session that will help Minnesotans and make the state a better place to…
To celebrate April Fools’ Week, we present three strange things that happened at the Capitol last week.
After watching Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins) run the House Education Finance Committee last week, it’s apparent she doesn’t like strong Black women. I’m not sure what else to conclude after…
The main cost of government is employees. For the most part, government doesn’t have capital equipment, production facilities, raw materials, or sales and marketing. Government is mostly salaries, benefits and…
We received an email recently from Julie B. who signed our petition on the car tab increase but wrote, "The petitions are not working. We need to think of something…
While most of their peers were in algebra or English class Monday morning, a group of students gathered in the Capitol rotunda to listen to speeches in favor of a…
In one of the most blatant (and profitable) pay-to-play arrangements in state history, Democrats in Minnesota are about to provide a huge return-on-investment to Minnesota’s American Indian tribes for their…
There is a tradition in the Minnesota legislature that bills dealing with election law achieve bi-partisan support. Governors Tim Pawlenty and Mark Dayton each abided by this tradition and refused…
A new trend emerged this week in the Minnesota legislature as Democrats ram through their agenda at record speed. The lack of fiscal notes.
Anyone watching the House Ways and Means Committee Monday got a glimpse of the raw philosophical divide between Democrats and Republicans. It was brought to us by Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn…