Good morning, and welcome to another hard earned Friday. On the radio at today Brian Bakst will be on. He’ll talk to the DFL chairs of two key budget committees — John Marty of Roseville, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and Liz Olson of Duluth, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. And Rep. Anne Neu Brindley will be on to give a Republican perspective on the budget bills at the Capitol. Tune into MPR News at noon on the radio or stream it online.
This year, at least 12 states have passed legislation to limit or ban gender-affirming health care for young people, adding to several already on the books. As Dana Ferguson and others report for NPR, at the same time, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland and New Mexico have passed laws designed to protect transgender health care through legal protections, health care coverage and access. Friday, the Minnesota legislature is expected to pass a bill that protects youth and parents who seek health care and the providers that give it. "We are going to lead on this issue," said Gov. Tim Walz at an LGBTQ rights rally last week. "And I want to make note, not only do you belong here, you are needed here, you're part of the fabric that makes Minnesota the best place in the country to live."
And MPR’s Nini Moini has a story on a family that moved to Minnesota because of gender affirming care : Living in Minnesota has made a positive difference for Wes Samuelson and his 11-year-old child Liz. The two moved to Duluth from Wyoming in 2020 after they could not get access to gender-affirming care. “I was going to be worried if we stayed in Wyoming much longer,” Samuelson, who is transgender, said on a recent weeknight as he made dinner in his Duluth home for Liz and his partner, Beram Compo, who is also trans. “I am living a normal life and that feels nice.”
DFL Sen. Erin Maye Quade has filed an ethics complaint against Republican Sen. Glen Gruenhagen. The Star Tribune reports: On April 12, Gruenhagen emailed the 34 state senators on the DFL listserv with a link that he said depicted "videos documenting mutilating transgender surgeries on minor children," according to the complaint filed by Maye Quade. She faults Gruenhagen for violating the standards and norms of Senate behavior. "There has to be a line and he jumped so far over it," Maye Quade said Thursday in an interview. Her one-page complaint against Gruenhagen cited a Senate rule requiring members to adhere to the highest standard of ethical conduct. Emailing pictures of a child's genitalia is "egregiously violating" norms, Maye Quade's complaint said. Gruenhagen said in a written statement that the complaint is without merit and that he expects the committee will decide it fairly. He said there were no photos in the email and the video did not indicate an age for the patient.
The Minnesota House is due to vote Monday on a marijuana legalization bill. The proposal would set up a cannabis cultivation system and allow legal sales to adults at least 21 years old. The DFL-led House passed a marijuana bill two years ago that stalled in the Senate when Republicans were in charge. A vote in the now DFL-controlled Senate could also come this year, but a date hasn't been set. Differences in the two versions would likely lead to additional negotiations during the Legislature's final month.
The Star Tribune is looking at other state’s experiences with legal marijuana: Legal weed is moving from novelty to normal in Michigan, the first Midwestern state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana after a ballot initiative passed in 2018. Since the first joint was sold in December 2019, more than $4.5 billion worth of legal cannabis has been sold in Michigan. With a combined 10 percent excise tax and 6 percent sales tax, that has generated more than $700 million in revenue for the state. It's now common to see highway billboards for dispensaries across the state, for those shops to have a sleek and professional vibe, and, just recently, to pay less than black market prices for a quality crop of weed. To get there, Michigan had to go through some growing pains. As Minnesota inches closer to legalizing recreational marijuana, the advice from advocates and professionals in Michigan is: Learn from our mistakes. "Don't start from scratch; look at what other states are doing," said Josh Hovey, who played a leading role advocating for Michigan's successful ballot initiative. "It's a highly professionalized business with complex moving parts."
DFLers in the state House removed a provision from an environmental funding bill after four rural members refused to vote for the bill as long as the language was in it. MinnPost reports: Democrats have plenty of common ground on environment policy and spending, but one idea that split the party was the push to revive the Citizens’ Board that once handled permits for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. State lawmakers axed the board in 2015, ending a 48-year run for the panel and handing greater power to the commissioner of the agency. The board’s supporters said it was eliminated because the members voted to make a large dairy farm go through more extensive environmental review. And with full DFL control of the Legislature, progressive environmental organizations wanted to reinstate a new version of the board. They argued it would lead to more independent oversight of the industry and a more transparent and trustworthy permitting process. Republicans and large agriculture trade groups disagreed. Opponents said the board was simply a vehicle for environmentalists to unfairly stop projects, circumventing scientists and MPCA regulators. The measure was included in Hansen’s omnibus bill, at least until the floor vote on Monday. Also in that large omnibus bill was the environmental justice policy aimed at limited cumulative impacts of pollution.
From the Washington Post: MyPillow founder and prominent election denier Mike Lindell made a bold offer ahead of a “cyber symposium” he held in August 2021 in South Dakota: He claimed he had data showing Chinese interference and said he would pay $5 million to anyone who could prove the material was not from the previous year’s U.S. election. He called the challenge “Prove Mike Wrong.” On Wednesday, a private arbitration panel ruled that someone did. The panel said Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert and 63-year-old Trump voter from Nevada, was entitled to the $5 million payout. Zeidman had examined Lindell’s data and concluded that not only did it not prove voter fraud, it also had no connection to the 2020 election. He was the only expert who submitted a claim, arbitration records show.He turned to the arbitrators after Lindell Management, which created the contest, refused to pay him. In their 23-page decision, the arbitrators said Zeidman proved that Lindell’s material “unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data.” They directed Lindell’s firm to pay Zeidman within 30 days.
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