Good morning, and welcome to Thursday.
A long awaited decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court on felon voting rights upholds the status quo and puts the focus back on the Legislature. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports: The court declined to restore voting rights to people with felony records who still haven’t satisfied parole or probation. In a decision issued Wednesday, Justice Paul Thissen concluded, “There may be many compelling reasons why society should not permanently prohibit — or perhaps prohibit at all — persons convicted of a felony from voting. But the people of Minnesota made the choice to establish a constitutional baseline that persons convicted of a felony are not entitled or permitted to vote, and the people of Minnesota have not seen fit to amend the constitution to excise the felon voting prohibition.” He also wrote that a corresponding state law passed constitutional muster even if there are “troubling consequences, including the disparate racial impacts, flowing from the disenfranchisement of persons convicted of a felony. The Legislature retains the power to respond to those consequences.” It was a 6-1 decision, with only Justice Natalie Hudson dissenting. "I regret that the court limits the ability of the Minnesota Constitution’s equal protection principle to address this injustice,” Hudson wrote in her dissent. “The right to vote is too central to our democracy, and the constraints on that right are too perilous, for us to ignore."
Later today supporters of new gun laws will be rallying at the Minnesota Capitol and lobbying members of the Legislature to pass measures they say will reduce gun violence. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports they have new hope this year that two laws will actually pass. Much of what’s being proposed has been bought up before in Minnesota. What’s changed is Democrats now control the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature. "We've had bills that advanced to the Minnesota House and passed the past couple years, and they have been regularly blocked when Republicans have controlled the Senate,” said Rep. Dave Pinto, DFL-St. Paul. “And there's been a change now.” Pinto says he thinks two measures this year could become law — one to expand criminal background checks to all firearms purchases and another that would allow authorities to temporarily confiscate guns from people found to be dangerous to themselves and others. “These bills are not going to do anything,” said Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus member Rev. Tim Christopher of North Minneapolis, at a lobbying day event last month at the Capitol. Christopher said Minnesota’s problem with gun violence is the result of prosecutors' failure to enforce laws that are already on the books. “As long as you have a turnstile in a police department, and they are walking out the back door when they walk in the front door, it doesn't matter,” Christopher said. “They can drop all the bills they want. They're not going to work.”
And MinnPost has a closer look at prospects for the bill to set up extreme risk protection orders, sometimes called red flag legislation: It’s unclear if the measure will actually pass. One key DFL lawmaker — Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown — has been quiet about whether he supports the bill. With a one-vote advantage, the DFL would need all 34 of its senators to support the bill for it to pass, or else would have to find GOP votes. The proposal has already drawn sharp opposition at the Capitol from elected Minnesota Republicans and gun rights advocates, who don’t appear to be swayed by Florida’s move. And the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which is often aligned with Democrats on issues, has expressed concern with the red flag effort. Critics argue the measure will either lead to the unjustified removal of a gun without due process rights or result in unnecessary and dangerous police intrusions.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was in Minnesota Wednesday to talk about education. The Star Tribune reports: Pence stopped in Minnesota Wednesday to crusade against school policies supporting transgender students and call for parents to have more say over their children's education. "We gather here today because there's a fight underway. There's a fight over the destiny of our children and the survival of parental rights," Pence told a crowd of about 70 supporters gathered at the Minneapolis Club. The Republican's appearance at the downtown event comes as GOP presidential contenders are starting to enter the 2024 race, with former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley saying this week that she'll take on former President Donald Trump. Pence has not said whether he'll join the candidate pool, although he has been traveling the country and released a new book a few months ago. After his Minneapolis appearance, he was bound for Iowa, which remains Republicans' first stop in the presidential nominating process.
Should the city of Minneapolis plow the city’s sidewalks? MPR’s Tim Nelson reports a city council committee will discuss a proposal today: The city has an ordinance requiring property owners to clear their sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowfall, but complaints about widespread neglect have grown common. A 2018 study by the city estimated a citywide sidewalk program would cost $5 million to start and about $20 million a year, for continuous service through 18 to 20 snowfalls. That’s not small change: The city’s general property tax levy that year was $332 million. A new sidewalk program would add about 6 percent to that levy and put yet more pressure on housing affordability in the city. In an interview with MPR News, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the cost would be a “very high number that would add substantially to the property tax burden of taxpayers in the city,” and he feared labor, fuel and other costs have added substantially to the city’s first estimate from five years ago. But some say the cost could be worth it, and there may be savings to be found as well. “We’re talking about 30 percent of people in the city that cannot afford to own cars, 10 percent of people in the city who report to have a disability,” said José Antonio Zayas Cabán, advocacy director at Our Streets. “We’re talking about political will and values that will lead us into a place where these people aren't forced to feel marginalized and they have equal access to employment and other amenities.”
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