Capitol View for April 2

Good morning. The Legislature has returned from its mini-recess.

The Minnesota Supreme Court heard arguments in a major voting rights case. Dana Ferguson reports it's the second time in recent years that the state’s highest court has examined laws that dictate when people convicted of felonies are allowed back in the voting booth. Last year, the Legislature passed a law saying release from custody would be the trigger point for allowing ex-felons to vote. But the Minnesota Voters Alliance sued over the law, arguing that the Legislature overstepped its authority in reinstating voting rights to an estimated 55,000 people in one swoop. During oral arguments Monday, the Supreme Court confronted two key questions: Does the group challenging a felon reenfranchisement law have grounds to sue and, if they do, is their argument sufficient to upend it? A decision in the case could come before summer.

Meanwhile, another election-related case will soon get justices’ attention. This one involves the status of the Legal Marijuana Now Party, a major party that could lose that status. Major parties qualify for special campaign subsidies and get automatic ballot access, rather than the petition-fed ballot drives. A district court judge determined last month that the marijuana party failed to meet the threshold to keep that status. The DFL Party sued to knock it down a peg; Democrats have long groaned over the notion that the party’s ballot line is being used for shenanigans in swing districts and close races. In a new filing with the Supreme Court, a lawyer for the Legal Marijuana Now Party said it could be too late for justices to negate the party’s major status ahead of this election. “To grant the relief, requested and recommended, is to create chaos in the 2024 election process which this Court must avoid,” he wrote in a filing submitted Friday. That brief also said, “How the LMNP organizes its infrastructure and conducts its internal affairs is not the same, nor should it be as that of other political parties, and cannot be compared to any other major-political party in Minnesota in choosing candidate nominees. Moreover, it is not the DFL’s or RPM’s business — nor the courts.” The Supreme Court hasn’t said when it might rule but candidate filing opens in the middle of May, so expect something sooner than later.

And the makeup of the state Supreme Court itself is in for some change. As we previously noted, Associate Justices G. Barry Anderson and Margaret Chutich are retiring. Gov. Tim Walz will name their replacements. Dana reports that Walz has received six recommended finalists from a special panel that vetted the applicants. Five of the six are women, so if he stays within that list, at least one and quite possibly both slots will go to women. If both, that would give the high court a majority of women, which has happened twice before. The recommended candidates are: judges Keala Ede, Theodora Gaïtas and Sarah Hennesy and attorneys Lisa Beane, Elizabeth Bentley and Liz Kramer . Walz hasn’t said how soon he’ll pick, but Anderson leaves the court in May and Chutich in July. Once Anderson’s seat is filled, all seven members of the court will be appointees of DFL governors.

We sent Clay Masters into cave country for a story. His resulting story is about nitrate contamination in groundwater and legislative efforts to combat it. As Clay writes, “nitrate contamination has been a known problem throughout much of Minnesota for decades, but increased awareness has sparked an urgent interest in addressing the problem.” He says it’s one of the relatively few areas where there could be new spending this year. Gov. Walz and lawmakers could designate millions of dollars of grants and other allowances to help counter concerns over nitrate levels in eight southeastern Minnesota counties.

St. Paul’s new 1 percent sales tax increase began yesterday. Cari Spencer broke down everything residents (and visitors) need to know. The increase on non-essentials raised the total county, state and local sales tax to nearly 10 percent, the highest in Minnesota. Residents passed the tax increase in November and it will be used to fund major road projects, starting with Grand Avenue. The tax is anticipated to raise $1 billion in the next 20 years.