Tag: Melissa Hortman

DFL Scales Back Rebate Checks, Social Security Tax Elimination in Minnesota Tax Bill

Minnesota Sun Staff

With under six weeks remaining in the 2023 legislative session, budget bills are making their way to the floors of the House and Senate. And so is a way to pay for them.

House DFLers who unveiled their tax bill on Monday said it represents the largest tax cut in state history and is aimed at helping those who need it most. Senate Republicans returned serve and claimed that provisions Democrats have touted — if approved without any concessions — would add up to nearly $10 billion in tax hikes on Minnesotans over the next four years.

Read More

Minnesota Lawmakers Agree to $17.9 Billion Target

The Center Square

Minnesota lawmakers agreed to spend an additional $17.9 billion on top of the base budget of $52.4 billion, likely depleting the state’s current $17.2 billion surplus. 

The target includes $3 billion in tax breaks but doesn’t specify how relief will be delivered. 

Read More

Minnesota State Rep Demands Apology After ‘Authoritarian’ Investigation into Rally Attendance Goes Nowhere

Minnesota Sun Staff

A review requested by House Speaker Melissa Hortman found “no actions or speech rose to the level of criminal activity” during a Jan. 6 protest at the Minnesota Capitol.

The rally, billed as a “Storm the Capitol” protest, took place the same afternoon as the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Read More

DFL House Leaders Postpone Event with Pro-Riot Candidate Thompson After Widespread Pushback

Corinne Murdock

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party has officially postponed its event with Democratic candidate John Thompson due to widespread pushback. A reporter with The Star Tribune announced the fundraiser’s indefinite delay.
However, DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman did not initially want to remove Thompson from the event.

Read More

Minnesota Lawmakers Pass Police Accountability Package

The Associated Press

The Minnesota Legislature passed a broad slate of police accountability measures early Tuesday that includes a ban on neck restraints like the one that was used on George Floyd before his death in Minneapolis.

The package also bans chokeholds and so-called warrior-style training, which critics say promotes excessive force. It imposes a duty to intercede on officers who see a colleague using excessive force. It changes rules on the use of force to stress the sanctity of life. It makes changes in arbitration rules affecting police unions. Officers will get more training on dealing with people with mental health issues and autism. The measure also creates a new advisory council for the state board that licenses officers.

Read More

Walz Expected to Call Another Special Session to Extend Emergency Powers

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz is expected to call another special session by the end of the week in order to extend his peacetime emergency powers.

House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) alerted members and staff in a Monday email about the likely special session.

Read More

DFL Lawmakers Want State and Federal Aid to Rebuild Minneapolis

Anthony Gockowski

DFL lawmakers want the state and federal governments to chip in to help repair the estimated $55 million in damage caused to Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and the Legislature’s People of Color and Indigenous Caucus called for “immediate legislative funding for Minneapolis and St. Paul rebuilding efforts” in a joint statement.

Read More

House Republicans Will Block Major Legislation Until Walz Ends Peacetime Emergency

Anthony Gockowski

The leader of the Minnesota House Republicans said Saturday that his caucus will block a bonding bill from being passed while the governor’s emergency powers remain in effect.

Republicans have made three unsuccessful attempts to end Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency declared in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The emergency declaration expires May 13 but can be extended for an additional 30 days. Walz has already extended the peacetime emergency once.

Read More

DFL-Controlled House Blocks Two Resolutions to End Minnesota’s Peacetime Emergency

Anthony Gockowski

The DFL-controlled Minnesota House voted Tuesday against two resolutions that would have ended Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency declaration and voided his coronavirus-related executive orders.

Read More

Republicans Say DFL ‘Marching Left’ After Suburban Democrat Ousts Iron Ranger for Leadership Role

Anthony Gockowski

  Sen. Susan Kent (DFL-Woodbury) defeated Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) for the role of Senate DFL minority leader during a Saturday meeting, a move Republicans think signals the party’s shift to the left. Kent (pictured above) emerged victorious Saturday evening after the 32-member caucus met at the Carpenters Union Hall…

Read More

DFL House Leader Threatens Minnesota County for Voting Against Refugee Resettlement

Anthony Gockowski

A high-ranking Minnesota lawmaker is threatening to withhold state aid from Beltrami County after it became the first county in the state to opt out of refugee resettlement.

Read More

DFL Lawmaker Cleared of Wrongdoing in Accepting University of Minnesota Position

Anthony Gockowski

A report released Monday “completely exonerates” Minnesota Rep. Jamie Long (DFL-Minneapolis) from allegations of illicit lobbying activity, according to House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park).

Read More

Walz Administration Framing Gas Tax Increase as ‘Debt Service Fee’

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Margaret Anderson-Kelliher is pushing a combined gas-tax increase along with what she’s calling a “debt-service fee” that would raise fuel prices by up to 15 cents per gallon, according to interviews with local news outlets.

Read More

Minnesota Republican Calls on Governor to Condemn Lawmaker’s Involvement in Anti-Trump Demonstrations

Anthony Gockowski

State Rep. Nick Zerwas (R-Elk River) called on Gov. Tim Walz and House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) to condemn the violent behavior of anti-Trump protesters and the involvement of a sitting Democrat legislator in the demonstrations.

Read More

Republicans Accuse Melissa Hortman of Anti-Police Bias for Removing State Rep from Committee Assignments

Anthony Gockowski

Republicans are criticizing Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) for her decision to remove Rep. Matt Grossell (R-Clearbrook) from his committee assignments following his drunken arrest in May.

Read More

Tim Walz Open to Calling Special Session to Resolve Insulin Drama

Anthony Gockowski

  It was a rare point of agreement in the Minnesota Legislature – something needed to be done to address the skyrocketing costs of insulin. The Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act, named for a 26-year-old Minnesotan who died trying to ration his last vial of insulin, was going to be…

Read More

Minnesota Teachers Union Calls for Voting in a ‘New Senate’ After Education Budget Released

Anthony Gockowski

  Education Minnesota, the state’s largest teachers union, urged Minnesotans to “vote in a new Senate” after an education budget agreed to by party leaders was released. “This is a lukewarm outcome to a legislative session that had a lot of potential for Minnesota students,” Education Minnesota President Denise Specht…

Read More

Abortion Fanatics Rally Against Minnesota’s ‘Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act’

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota State Sen. Michelle Benson’s (R-Ham Lake) bill to protect unborn children capable of feeling pain from abortions received its first hearing Thursday, but Planned Parenthood and its allied activists in the state are doing everything they can to kill the bill. Senate File (SF) 1609 was introduced February 21…

Read More

Red Flag Bill and Universal Background Checks One Step Closer to Becoming Law in Minnesota

Anthony Gockowski

DFL lawmakers are closer than ever before to passing multiple gun-control bills in Minnesota as a Republican-controlled Senate stands in the way. A universal background checks bill and a “red flag” law both advanced out of committee this week. The former was approved by the House Public Safety Committee late…

Read More

Confusion Surrounds New Minnesota House Rules as Democrats Face Backlash for Jamming Through Legislation

Anthony Gockowski

A major opioids bill in Minnesota, House File (HF) 400, was introduced Monday at 3:30 p.m. House members and the public then had until Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., less than 24 hours, to offer any changes or amendments before the bill went to a hearing Wednesday at the Health and…

Read More

Minnesota Pro-Lifers Warn Against Constitutional Amendment on Gender Equality

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota’s pro-life organizations are warning against a 2020 state ballot proposition that would amend the Minnesota Constitution to provide “equality under the law” on “account of gender.” House File (HF) 13 was introduced January 10 and would place the following yes-or-no question on the 2020 ballot: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution…

Read More

House DFL Tells Trump He’s ‘Threatening the Well-Being of Minnesotans’ in Letter

Anthony Gockowski

Nearly every DFL member of the Minnesota House signed their name to a letter sent to President Donald Trump Thursday urging him to “end this shutdown immediately.” “The ongoing federal government shutdown—now the longest in the history of our nation—is threatening the well-being of Minnesotans, putting our state tax dollars…

Read More

Minnesota Democrats Go All in on Gun Control

Anthony Gockowski

The Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party unveiled its first ten bills Wednesday, two of which deal with gun control, while DFLers in Congress are signing their names to a national gun-control measure. At a Wednesday morning press conference, the state House DFL released House Files (HF) one through 10, which…

Read More

Second Amendment Groups Vow to Fight Minnesota DFL’s Gun Control Efforts

Anthony Gockowski

The only thing barring Democrats from total control of Minnesota’s government is a one-seat Republican majority in the Senate, but that might not be enough to block gun-control efforts during the upcoming session. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) recently indicated that he has “some openness” on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL)…

Read More

Next Minnesota House Speaker Wants More Politicians Who Aren’t Worried About Being Polite

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman (D-Brooklyn Park) was facing pressure to resign in 2017 after criticizing her “white male” colleagues for sitting in the “retiring room” during a debate, but now she has been selected to serve as the next Minnesota House speaker. “I hate to break up the 100 percent…

Read More

Tim Walz And House Democrats Plan to Renew Gun-Control Efforts in Minnesota

Anthony Gockowski

With the help of a new Democratic majority in the Minnesota House, Gov.-elect Tim Walz is expected to renew efforts to pass gun-control legislation in the state. In response to Wednesday night’s mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, California, Walz and Rep. Melissa Hortman (D-Fridley), who was elected this week to…

Read More

Democrats Doubling Down on DFL Mailers Deemed ‘False’ by Several News Outlets

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party is doubling-down on claims that Republicans voted to pass legislative pay raises, even though the allegations were repeatedly proven false by several major news outlets. In an August campaign mailer, the DFL claimed that elected officials across the aisle, such as Jim Knoblach, Dario Anselmo, and…

Read More