Good morning, and happy Tuesday.
When marijuana becomes legal next week for people 21 and older in Minnesota, there are likely to be legal challenges over traffic stops, open containers and other issues. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports the courts have a lot of work ahead: Prosecutors and police chiefs are actively discussing practices around stops and vehicle searches. Defense attorneys also have their eyes open for ways to test the shifted boundaries. There are surprisingly few cases in Minnesota where the state’s appellate courts have weighed in around strictly marijuana-related driving offenses. Minnesota law enforcement officials and prosecutors said the distinction between suspected alcohol and drug-related driving arrests isn’t new to them. But they acknowledge they’ll have to clearly document bad driving conduct and findings of impairment exams to make cases stick as they expect to encounter more of them. “For alcohol, we have a 0.08 standard. There isn't a quantitative threshold like that for marijuana where it's going to be against the law per se,” said Bill Lemons, the traffic safety resource prosecutor for the Minnesota County Attorneys Association. “We're going to have to prove that they were impaired by the marijuana.”
Schools are trying to find ways to overcome the disruptions in student achievement that came with the pandemic. MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman reports: After the start of the pandemic, reading proficiency in Bloomington schools dropped from 60 to 50 percent. Math proficiency plunged even farther — from 50 to 35 percent. These sorts of declines have been measured in districts around the state and throughout the country. In Bloomington there has been some recovery over the last few years and definitive learning progress, but not as much as hoped. Some districts are looking at absenteeism, staff burnout, focusing on literacy and building relationships with families.
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said last week that what’s known as a binary trigger allowed the gunman who killed a police officer and wounded others in Fargo to fire much more quickly than he could have with a regular trigger. The Fargo Forum reports North Dakota lawmakers made sure binary triggers were legal in the state four years ago: The state Legislature codified the binary trigger into Century Code with overwhelming support in 2019. House Bill 1308 added language into law that stated a “machine gun, submachine gun or fully automatic rifle,” which is banned under North Dakota law, “does not include a binary trigger that fires one round upon the pull of the trigger and one round upon release of the trigger.” The bill was proposed because some companies wanting to sell the trigger in North Dakota worried state law at the time banned the triggers, Rep. Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, said Feb. 18, 2019, as he carried the bill to the House floor.
The first veto of Gov. Tim Walz’s career came earlier this year on a bill that would have given job protections and higher pay to drivers for services such as Lyft and Uber. Now the Star Tribune reports: Walz's administration has assembled a group of rideshare drivers, members of the public and representatives from Uber and Lyft to advise him on how to address wage and safety concerns raised by workers. The committee is tasked with recommending policy changes by January, one month before the 2024 legislative session begins. "Everybody who has expressed an opinion and interest in this area does share the same ultimate goal, which is to provide drivers with fair treatment, fair compensation, but also to make sure this type of service is available in the state of Minnesota," said Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach, co-chair of the committee.
Meanwhile, Lyft and Uber drivers are supporting an ordinance in Minneapolis that gets its first hearing today that would establish minimum compensation for drivers and increase transparency in the fees associated with fares that go to ride sharing companies.
A group of a half-dozen Republican state legislators said Monday they’ve formed the Suburban Solutions Caucus. “This is just the beginning of what we think is going to be a solid move to move good policies, common sense, reasonable policies forward,” said Rep. Danny Nadeau, R-Rogers. The group said it wants to focus on issues including transportation, housing, health care, education, public safety and the environment. At least one DFLer, Rep. Leigh Finke of St. Paul, welcomed the announcement. “I represent three suburban communities, and I'm excited to work with the Suburban Solutions Caucus on some of the issues named here, especially water quality and education,” Finke said on Twitter. | 