Daily Digest: Transportation amendment hits roadblock

Good morning, and happy Tuesday. Here's the Digest.

1. The move to dedicate general fund taxes to roads and bridges is in trouble. Republican lawmakers have been talking for months about permanently dedicating sales tax money to road and bridge projects. To do it, they would ask voters in November to approve a constitutional amendment. But now that plan has hit a major snag. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said Monday he was counting on help from Senate Democrats to pass the constitutional amendment. But he's been told those votes are no longer there. Republicans have a narrow 34-33 majority in the Senate.  Gazelka, of Nisswa, said most of his caucus wants Minnesota voters to decide whether to dedicate millions in existing sales tax revenue to road and bridge projects. But he said some don't. "I've always said that I had to have a number of Democratic votes. If we have zero, it makes it very tough," he said. Under a Senate bill, future sales tax revenues from auto parts, repairs and vehicle rentals and leases would go into a special account to pay for road and bridge projects. That money, estimated at about $250 million a year, would no longer be available for schools, nursing homes or other budget areas. (MPR News)

2. Senate votes to ease regulations on child care providers. Child care shortages are most acute in rural areas, where families are struggling to find openings or struggling to pay for care. The Legislature hasn't been discussing changes to state reimbursement rates that help low-income families pay for care. Some providers see those rates as too low to cover costs and have declined to enroll children eligible for the subsidized care. Instead, lawmakers have focused on reeling in regulations. Legislators tackling the topic say they've been working closely with the Department of Human Services so they're confident the proposals will become law. At a time when the labor force is tight, Sen. Bill Weber, R-Luverne, said immediate action is critical to prevent people from having to choose between working or being stay-at-home parents. "We don't have until next year to deal with this crisis," he said. "We need to deal with it today in order to keep our daycare options available to working families of Minnesota." (MPR News)

3. Sexual harassment law change blocked in Senate. Minnesota Senate Republicans Monday blocked a Democrat-led attempt to force a vote on what had generally been a bipartisan push to change sexual harassment law that could affect every workplace in the state. To be clear, the actual vote was on a procedural matter, but it fell strictly along partisan lines, and the Senate’s top Republican said he didn’t think the matter had been properly vetted to be voted on this legislative session. What’s at issue is a change to state law that would remove a legal barrier for employees suing employers over sexual harassment claims. The one-sentence proposal would say that judges no longer need to use the standard that harassment was “severe or pervasive”— a legal standard that has been in place since a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Critics say that standard is too high and has forced judges to throw out lawsuits over behavior that anyone today would consider harassment. (Pioneer Press)

4.  Minnesota licenses will work for air travel for a couple more years. Minnesota officials say standard driver's licenses should be accepted for domestic flights until October 2020 as stronger Real ID requirements roll out. That's been an open question for years as the state has struggled to satisfy the federal Real ID Act. The 2005 law requires upgraded security standards for licenses and took effect in January. Minnesota and several other states have extensions. Minnesota's current extension is slated to lapse in October, soon after the state begins issuing the new compliant licenses. But the Department of Public Safety said Monday it had been assured that standard licenses would be accepted at airports and federal facilities until Oct. 1, 2020. (AP)

5. Lawmakers push for changes at Twin Cities refinery. Two state legislators are pushing to stop a St. Paul Park oil refinery from using hydrogen fluoride after the recent explosion and fire at a refinery in Superior, Wisconsin highlighted the danger the chemical can pose. In a letter to two state agencies Monday, Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis and Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, cited documents on file with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and reported Sunday by the Star Tribune that showed the refinery’s use of the chemical could, in the event of a major accident, put 1.7 million people in the Twin Cities area at risk. The 79-year-old plant has never had a catastrophic accident involving hydrogen fluoride, and the worst-case scenarios spelled out in EPA documents — information that is required of refineries — are largely for planning purposes and considered unlikely. (Star Tribune)

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