Capitol View for May 19

Good morning and welcome to the last Friday of the legislative session.

On the radio today I’ll talk to two first-term DFL lamakers — Sen. Zaynab Mohamed of Minneapolis and Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten of St. Paul — about their experiences this session. And I'll talk to the two Republicans on the legal marijuana conference committee — Rep. Nolan West of Blaine and Sen. Jordan Rasmusson of Fergus Falls. Tune into MPR News at noon or catch the podcast.

The Minnesota House passed a final version of the bill to legalize marijuana Thursday night, which puts it one Senate vote away from the governor’s desk. The House vote was 73-57 with five Republicans joining 68 Democrats to vote for it. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports: It’s a monumental shift in drug policy, even though people on both ends of the debate acknowledged that use is prevalent despite its status as illegal now. Rep. Patricia Mueller, R-Austin, who opposed the bill when a version initially passed in the House last month, said she had come around to backing it despite having continued reservations. “The people who care about it, they really care about it. And the people who are against it are really against it,” said Mueller. “But the people who are like me, this why this bill makes it difficult because there's so many places in it that are very good. I'm very open to the idea. I have just a couple of concerns.” Opponents spoke to concerns about marijuana being a gateway drug, the lack of an adequate roadside impairment test and unknowns about its effect on public health. DFL Rep. Zack Stephenson, the bill’s lead sponsor, said the landscape will change soon. “On Aug. 1, possessing two pounds of cannabis in your home or two ounces of cannabis outside your home will no longer be a crime in Minnesota,” said Stephenson, of Coon Rapids. “It will also allow Minnesotans to grow cannabis at home. Up to eight plants total four of which can be mature.” Minnesota would become the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for recreational use; the state has had a medical marijuana program for nearly a decade that started with oils, pills and other non-smokable forms. Leaf form was authorized for that program in 2021.

The Minnesota Senate by a 34-32 vote passed the final version of a bill that creates a state paid family and medical leave program. Brian and MPR’s Dana Fergson report the House passed the bill on Wednesday, and it now goes to the governor for his signature. Under the plan, workers and employers would pay a 0.7 percent payroll tax that would fund a state program that works like unemployment insurance. Workers could get partial payment if they need to take time off because they have a baby, get sick or need to care for a loved one. Benefits and payments would start in 2026. Workers could take a maximum of 20 weeks of leave in a year. The bill’s author Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, said Thursday that she had emergency surgery to remove an inflamed gallbladder. Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, said Mann and several other senators who’d taken time away from the Senate to recover from illness or injury or to care for loved ones, exemplified why the program is needed. "Minnesotans should be able to work and care for themselves and their families,” she said. “This program is built on a foundation that all people are worthy, that all of our life experiences and life trajectories are equally important."

Minnesota lawmakers say they’ve reached a deal on a contentious bill that gives hospital nurses a bigger role in staffing plans, and it involves carving out Mayo Clinic from the plan. After drawing threats and blowback over the measure, lawmakers decided to pull the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act from a broader health omnibus bill to a conference committee. The measure would create committees inside hospitals, made up of nurses and other staff to determine staffing plans and workload requirements. It also contains other provisions, like oversight of the staffing plans by the state health department. The bill is being championed by the Minnesota Nurses Association, which says this is key to keeping nurses from leaving the profession. Bill authors said they’d spent days meeting with dozens of stakeholders and felt they’d reached a compromise that could satisfy most of them. “It gives nurses a powerful voice, to take care of patients in our hospitals across the state to do so safely, but to bring their professional judgment and the work that they know best to their care both in the patient's room, and in the execution of plans in the hospitals across the state,” Sen. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said. The measure offers an exemption for the Mayo Clinic and drew frustration from nurses who testified in committee. It could come up for a conference committee vote soon and would then need to be approved in both chambers before advancing to the governor’s desk.

DFL Legislative leaders say lawmakers working on a transportation funding plan at the Minnesota Capitol are likely to include a new fee on deliveries and a higher gas tax. Lawmakers have said the current gas tax isn't providing enough revenue for long term road and bridge needs, and they have been looking for years to find new sources of funding. This year the House passed a 75-cent fee on package and prepared food deliveries, but the Senate did not. DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic told reporters that negotiators are close on a final plan, but Dziedzic used a different name for the fee. "First of all I would call it a road maintenance fee. So we'll just clarify that. It is to help improve road maintenance." The leaders would not give full details of the funding plan. Neither the House nor the Senate had a gas tax increase in the original funding bill they passed this year.

The executive committee of Minnesota's Democratic Farmer Labor Party gave initial approval on Thursday to bylaws that would permanently ban anyone who engages in or incites acts of violence from participating in party activities, after a weekend endorsing convention for a Minneapolis City Council seat erupted in chaos. The Associated Press reports the executive committee also agreed Thursday that if those bylaws receive final approval from the DFL State Central Committee, the candidate whose supporters are accused of instigating the Saturday melee, Nasri Warsame, will be permanently disqualified from seeking and receiving the party's endorsement. Ken Martin, chair of the state Democratic Party organization, called the melee that erupted Saturday night "unacceptable." The DFL is an affiliate of the state Democratic Party.

Tell MPR News: What do you hope lawmakers accomplish this session?