Republicans can be expected to cut every corner when it comes to funding health and human services. This time around, they’re also using funny math to avoid responsibility for their cuts. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Minnesota legislature
Legislating against agriculture and environment
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According to Governor Mark Dayton, “Agriculture is not a partisan issue—all Minnesotans want a strong agricultural industry.” That’s far from evident in the agriculture omnibus bill that Republicans in the legislature sent to the governor –which he vetoed last week. Besides restricting spending for the Agriculture Growth, Research and Innovation (AGRI) program, the bill takes away the Department of Agriculture authority to enforce pesticide regulations. That puts Minnesota in conflict with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Continue reading
Filed under agriculture, environment, Uncategorized
Undermining Public Safety: the Republican Ominous Bill
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Republicans like law enforcement, right? You wouldn’t know it from the cuts and underfunding in the Judiciary and Public Safety omnibus bill. Continue reading
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You go, Guv!
Governor Mark Dayton just said no to all the Republican omnibus bills over the past week. Notice, I said Republican omnibus bills – because these bills were all about partisanship and not at all about consensus or compromise, and most of all, they were not about what’s best for Minnesota. Continue reading
Filed under analysis
St. Paul shenanigans make bad legislation
Just thirteen more days in the session, and the behind-closed-doors shenanigans have begun. First, Republicans refuse to even negotiate with Governor Mark Dayton over the budget. That’s stupid, but well within the realm of hyper-partisan politicking. The real fast ones are being pulled in conference committees, out of sight of the public and sometimes even out of sight of the rest of the legislature.
As Sally Jo Sorensen writes, it’s magic:
“It’s spring, there’s magic in the air, and language now appears suddenly in Minnesota legislative conference committee, popping up overnight like the state mushroom or asparagus.”
Filed under Uncategorized
Sneaky stuff in omnibus bills
Thanks to two whistle-blowing state senators, we know about two sneaky provisions hiding in plain sight in the final three weeks of the Minnesota legislative session: repeal of campaign finance reforms and a sell-out of Minnesota privacy rules. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Our children can’t wait
More than 50 years ago, I went to public schools in rural Minnesota. My husband attended public school in Minneapolis. My children went to St. Paul public schools. Now my great-nieces and great-nephew are in St. Paul Public Schools. I have taught in public schools. So did my aunt and my great-aunt and my grandmother.
I say this to tell you that I know about public schools – their successes and their shortcomings. I believe in public education as a crucial part of our duty to our children, to our state, to citizenship itself.
Minnesota’s legislature is set to grossly underfund education. That’s a failure that affects every person in our state. For me, that failure hits very close to home. Continue reading
Filed under education
Just say no — final month for MN legislature
As the Minnesota legislature rolls on toward its May 22 end-of-session deadline, bad bills keep on coming. Here’s a quick list of some of the worst. Call your legislators, conference committee members, and Governor Dayton to just say no to bad environmental legislation, private prisons, and protest penalties. Continue reading
Filed under agriculture, environment, organizing, police and crime, prisons
Protecting the right to protest
Berta Caceres paid the ultimate price – she was assassinated one year ago in Honduras, killed for her work for indigenous rights and environmental protection. On February 17, indigenous leader José Santos Sevilla was assassinated in his home — another martyr paying the ultimate price for defending indigenous rights and working for environmental justice. Santos Sevilla, reports Democracy Now, “was the leader of the indigenous Tolupan people, who are fighting to protect their ancestral lands from industrial mining and logging projects.” Continue reading
Filed under human rights, organizing, race
Meanwhile in Minnesota – Three issues and ideas for action
While Washington hold center stage, Minnesota Republicans are trying to tie the hands of local governments, impose crippling costs on free speech and protest, and politicize redistricting in 2020. That makes it time to focus on St. Paul and start calling and contacting state legislators. Minnesota have already compromised on premium relief for health insurance. They might be more open to hearing voices of reason than their counterparts in Congress. Continue reading
Filed under elections, organizing, work
Mary Turck