Daily Digest: Pay and benefits
Good morning, and happy Friday. Here's the Digest.
1. Even though Minnesota lawmakers no longer have a direct say in their pay, the political sensitivity around the issue hasn't gone away. They're fast-tracking a bill that would put aside money for a possible pay raise without setting a specific amount. The paragraph-long bill authorizes a standing appropriation to pay lawmaker salaries. The Legislative Salary Council that resulted from the constitutional amendment has met four times so far. The 16-person citizens panel divided equally between Democrats and Republicans must issue its binding decision by March 31
st
. (MPR News)
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2. A Republican-led push to strip power from an independent board that helps set criminal sentences passed a key hurdle at the Legislature Thursday. If the measure becomes law, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission would need to get approval from the Legislature before making any changes to the state’s sentencing framework, which judges rely on to calculate punishments based on an offender’s crime and history. The commission would turn into something closer to an advisory board to the Legislature instead of a committee capable of making unilateral decisions. (Star Tribune)
3. Minnesota isn't the only state considering limits on local governments setting their own workplace standards and minimum wages. According to a group called Preemption Watch, 16 states already preempt local ordinances on paid leave, and some of those also include local minimum wage ordinances. Three more, including Minnesota, have pay and benefits legislation pending this year. (MinnPost)
4. A bill approved by a Senate committee Thursday would ban lawmakers from taking per diem living expenses during a special session until “major finance and revenue bills have been enacted.” “If we don’t get our work done, I don’t see why we should give ourselves extra time and get paid for it at the rate of $86 a day,” state Sen. Scott Jensen, R-Chaska, told colleagues Thursday. “This is a common-sense bill to earn the public trust.” (Pioneer Press)
5. A new report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation's roads, bridges, airports, water and transit systems a D-plus. That nearly failing grade should boost President Trump's efforts to get a plan to invest up to $1 trillion in rebuilding everything from highways and bridges to tunnels and dams, even though the engineers' group is recommending something the president and his party are unlikely to support: a huge increase in the gasoline tax. (NPR)