Minnesota Legislature
Session Daily Archive
A compendium of Session Daily articles dating back to 2004
Results:
Potential for release proposed for juvenile offenders with life sentences
By Tim Walker
The latest medical research shows that a person’s brain is not fully developed until their mid-20s.
Is it therefore morally justifiable to sentence a person who commits a cr...
House bill would mandate smaller K-12 class sizes, boost funding formula
By Steve Abrams
Class sizes in Minnesota schools are spiraling out of control, parents and educators say. Classrooms of 30 or 35 students are becoming increasingly common, impairing educational...
House elections committee approves expanded use of ranked-choice voting
By Rob Hubbard
What can be done about the divide? Political polarization has been an area of concern for several years. Is ranked-choice voting the answer? Does it inspire candidates to build ...
More than $60 million proposed to support statewide historic, cultural preservation projects
By Tessa Pieper
We can easily lose the history we don’t record.
That’s why HF2566 would appropriate $63.75 million in the 2024-25 biennium from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund to the Mi...
Transportation bill could update license fee collection, distribution in effort to better match customer needs
By Margaret Stevens
Changing technology, COVID-19 and the advent of REAL ID have changed the way driver’s licenses and identification cards are issued. The fee structure and how those fees are allo...
House lawmakers OK bill to help people retrieve property from towed vehicles
By Margaret Stevens
At a minimum, having a vehicle towed is an inconvenience. However, for people without a permanent address, losing that access could also mean losing everything they own – winter...
House passes $50 million in funding for homeless prevention program
By Tessa Pieper
What was requested initially ended up being cut in half. Still, it would help provide a roof over the head of many Minnesotans.
Originally, Rep. Michael Howard (DFL-Richfiel...
Bill would direct health department to analyze costs, benefits of universal health coverage
By Tessa Pieper
Americans pay more to die sooner.
We pay an average of $12,318 per person on health care annually, yet our life expectancy is only 76.1 years. Whereas other comparatively we...
Lawmakers hear plan to fund, provide American Indian education to all Minnesota students
By Steve Abrams
Education for and about Indigenous Minnesotans has been lackluster for years, say advocates who’ve long pushed the Legislature to make improvements in curriculum and investments...
Scholarship program proposed to address Minnesota’s persistent police staffing shortage
By Rob Hubbard
Police forces are shrinking, and Rep. Dan Wolgamott (DFL-St. Cloud) would like to do something about that.
“Our law enforcement agencies are experiencing dire workforce shor...
Committee OKs $40 million to replenish the state’s disaster contingency account ahead of spring flood season
By Tim Walker
Spring is a time of rebirth, and a time to replenish our northern souls after a long winter.
It’s also the time to replenish the state’s disaster assistance contingency acco...
Transportation panel greenlights bill that could charge developers for street improvements
By Margaret Stevens
Each new home built in a community adds an average of 10 vehicle trips per day. According to Prior Lake City Manager Jason Wedel, that could mean 66,000 new trips every single d...
Public safety panel advances bill to prohibit no-knock warrants
By Tim Walker
Andre Locke spoke from the heart about his son, Amir, to a hushed committee room Wednesday evening.
“Amir was a beautiful 22-year-old man with his whole life to be lived and...
Could environmental bill be swan song for lead sinkers in some Minnesota lakes?
By Margaret Stevens
Trumpeter swans are the protagonists in one of the most remarkable comeback stories of the animal world, going from fewer than 100 in the country in the 1930s to approximately 2...
Holocaust survivor urges lawmakers to mandate genocide studies in Minnesota classrooms
By Steve Abrams
Dora Zaidenweber is 99 years old and a survivor of the Holocaust.
Born in Poland, most of her family was wiped out by the Nazis. When she first arrived in the United States ...
