ST. PAUL, MN (trfnews.i234.me) The latest news from the Minnesota Legislature.
a tuition freeze that all two and four-year public colleges and universities in Minnesota the most prominent feature in a higher education budget plan that House Democrats rolled out yesterday representative Connie Bernhard a says the goal is holding down costs to help make it affordable and help to reduce student debt House Democrats also want a thirty five million dollar increase for financial assistance to students and Republicans are raising red flags about tax increases as Democrats budget bills began moving toward floor votes in the Minnesota House this exchange Thursday afternoon between GOP Minority Leader Kurt daudt and Democratic majority leader Ryan Winkler obviously I think those tax bills revenue raising bills will come to the floor before the spending bills so we know that we actually have the revenue to spend but I just want to have you confirm if that’s the case madam Speaker representative daudt as for whether the tax bill comes first or the HHS bill or the transportation bill all of these things work together as a package might be nice for us to find out if folks really want to tax Minnesotans to that level budget bills will start coming up for floor votes later this month after the Passover Easter break and House and Senate negotiators began meeting at the Capitol this morning to hammer out a compromise on prohibiting cell phone use by drivers except in hands-free mode a bill the Senate passed would allow GPS use and cell phones could be tucked under a headscarf ajeeb or other clothing the House bill has exceptions for emergencies and OneTouch activation this was governor Tim Walz had said earlier about that I’m kind of a zero sum on this and I think No Touch is maybe the way to go but as I said earlier the House and Senate would work they’ve have worked in this case of going through the they’ll get me something that I’m sure I can sign Republican state representative Pat Garofalo on the House floor Thursday asked his colleagues to stop tweeting and sending him emails about how they love or hate a book entitled the billionaire boondoggle how our politicians let corporations and bigwigs steal our money and jobs written by an author with the same name the most interesting thing about it is there’s a pair of craps dice on the cover of the book which tells me I might like it but just it’s not me it’s the other pack Rafa the other Pat Garofalo a former editorial manager for US News and World Report works at the Center for American Progress a Washington dc-based think-tank
Updated Dispatches from the Minnesota Legislature
