Daily Digest: MNLARS layoffs ahead?
Good morning and welcome to Friday. Here's the Digest.
1. MNLARS funding flap leads to layoff notices. Repairs to Minnesota's troubled vehicle licensing and registration system could start slowing down soon, after lawmakers failed to come through with $10 million that Dayton Administration officials said they urgently needed. Officials for Minnesota IT Services and the Department of Public Safety said back in January that they needed quick approval of their funding request or there would be consequences. They said the money was needed by March 1 or they'd be forced to give 30-day notice of layoffs to outside contractors. The new commissioner of Minnesota IT Services, Johanna Clyborne, told members of the House state government committee that she will have to ramp down the repair work on the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS). "Without the required funding, it will have a crippling effect on the progress we are making," Clyborne said. Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said he thinks a bill might be ready next week to provide a lesser amount of funding. He declined to give specifics. Despite the deadline, Gazelka said he thinks there's still time to act. "I think if there's a sense that there's progress from everyone, I think that they can at least give some sort of assurance to the folks that they're still going to be there," he said. (MPR News)
2. Gun bills tabled by House committee. Minnesota Republican lawmakers on Thursday put a quick stop to a DFL effort at the Capitol to expand background checks to private gun sales and transfers. Another bill that would have let family members temporarily restrict a loved one's firearms access was also stopped. A majority of Republicans in the House's public safety committee voted to indefinitely set aside the background checks expansion. The final vote was 9-7, with one Republican, Rep. Keith Franke of St. Paul Park, voting with Democrats to keep the measure alive. Republicans stopped the second bill shortly after that in a 10-6 vote. The legislative drama Thursday came after scores of gun control supporters and gun owners rushed to the Capitol after Rep. Dave Pinto, DFL-St. Paul, used an obscure parliamentary rule to force the vote on the expanded background checks bill and the temporary restriction bill. (MPR News)
3. Dayton pushes again for MinnesotaCare buy-in. Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday renewed his push to open MinnesotaCare, the state's subsidized health insurance program, to anyone who wants to buy coverage. Under Dayton's plan, those wishing to buy in would pay for the full cost of the health insurance. Even with that, Dayton said Minnesotans could save a lot money if a MinnesotaCare option were available to everyone. The state, he added, could operate an insurance plan for less money than private insurers. The dividing line is very clear for legislators: do you side with the insurance companies or do you side with the people of Minnesota?" Dayton said Thursday. "It's that clear-cut and we'll see how it proceeds accordingly."Republican legislative leaders say they don't support the proposal because they fear it would end up costing taxpayers and hurting health care providers because the rates MinnesotaCare pays are low. (MPR News)
4. Fischbach isn't acting like the lieutenant governor. Minnesota's Republican lieutenant governor and state Sen. Michelle Fischbach missed a meeting Thursday of the state's Executive Council, at least the second official duty of the lieutenant governor she's skipped since taking on the dual roles. Fischbach and the lieutenant governor's office have become political pawns in a power struggle at the Capitol since she ascended to become Gov. Mark Dayton's second-in-command in January. The longtime Republican lawmaker is fighting to keep her seat in the Senate — protecting the GOP's one-seat majority in the chamber— maintaining that she can hold and perform both jobs. But Fischbach's chair was empty at the Thursday meeting of the Executive Council, a five-member panel of the state's top constitutional officers, including Dayton, which oversees the state's finances and guides responses to emergencies. In January, Fischbach sat in the crowd during a committee to discuss Capitol security but did not participate or preside over the meeting, as state law dictates. Fischbach said she was busy in the Senate on Thursday, and said she's meeting her only constitutional obligation as lieutenant governor: "to stand in line in succession for the governor." (AP)
5. Metsa is running in the 8th. Democratic state Rep. Jason Metsa is entering the race to replace Rep. Rick Nolan in Congress. Metsa announced his campaign Thursday for northeastern Minnesota's massive 8th Congressional District. The third-term lawmaker is just the latest Democrat to enter the race since Nolan announced last month he won't seek re-election. Former FBI counterterrorism analyst Leah Phifer was already in the race before Nolan dropped out. Former state Rep. Joe Radinovich, North Branch Mayor Kirsten Hagen Kennedy and longtime Duluth news anchor Michelle Lee have launched campaigns. St. Louis County Commissioner Pete Stauber is the lone Republican in the race. (AP)
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