2017-18 MN Legislative Session & Budget - Battle for the Senate Majority?

[amiller92]

The constitution says the GOP loses a seat, so yeah, it should have to lose a seat to comply with the constitution. The GOP's plan, in which the Dems lose a seat so as not to comply at all with the constitution, is the one that shouldn't have to happen.

The Lt. Governor has no responsibilities. Having a R there isn't really a problem for the Dayton administration. He should say no to any and all attempts by the GOP bend the rules to hang on to power.

If Fischbach doesn't want the job or the GOP thinks that it's awkward to have one of their own in the role, she's free to resign from her position as Lt. Governor. Heck, if they were actually looking for a "compromise" that's what the GOP would be proposing - both her seat and the DFL replacement seat would be open until the special election, thus preserving the status quo one vote GOP majority. They aren't proposing that because they're trying to gain from the situation.

[Bakken2016]

Fischbach has refused the Lt. Gov pay.

http://www.startribune.com/lt-gov-miche ... 467907623/

[twincitizen]

Lawsuit filed to boot Fischbach from Senate: https://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/ ... dual-role/

Fischbach has previously said she will step down as Lt. Gov and run in the special election for her seat if one is called.

[FISHMANPET]

What would happen if she stepped down as Lt. Gov? If she's still President of the Senate as she claims, then the next in line of succession would be... her. She can't have her cake and eat it too.

[LakeCharles]

Wouldn't it just be that some other Republican is named the Pres of Senate, they get named Lt. Gov, and get removed from the Senate? Meaning if she does step down, her party will then not be in the majority anymore.

[twincitizen]

I think Fischbach is saying that IF she is removed from the Senate, THEN she will step down from Lt. Gov and then run for her old seat. Since the legislature is not in session right now, there would temporarily be no Senate President, and I doubt the constitution has further instructions for chain succession, so the Lt. Gov position would be vacant for a while.

With the Senate then tied 33-33 at the beginning of session, I don't think the GOP caucus will put forward a candidate for Senate Pres. Nor would the Democrats however, as that would put Republicans up 33-32 (as the special election for Fischbach's seat won't happen until late March maybe?) The next question, I suppose, is if the constitution requires the Senate to nominate a President???

[mattaudio]

Was there any constitutional reason Tina Flint Smith could not have been a U.S. Senator and a Lieutenant Governor simultaneously?

[Tiller]

Someone upthread mentioned the MN Constitution states the Lt Gov may not hold any other elected office at the same time. Thus Tina Smith couldn't be both a Senator and Lt Gov, assuming it means all elected offices and not just Minnesotan elected offices.

[SurlyLHT]

Governor's Bonding Requests

http://mn.gov/gov-stat/pdf/2018_01_16_M ... Budget.pdf

[phop]

MN Senate special election tomorrow in district 54 (Cottage Grove area).

https://ballotpedia.org/Minnesota_state ... ions,_2018

If you're in the South/East Metro and care about the transportation funding picture (among other things), I would suggest looking into it.

[Silophant]

[Tiller]

Looks like the two districts swung left relative to 2016's results, roughly proportional to the democrats' current generic congressional ballot advantage (which has shrunk over the past few months).

[Silophant]

One thing discussed in the replies to that tweet is that the relatively small leftward swing of SD54 isn't necessarily indicative of what other suburban districts will look like in November. The Republican candidate was the sitting HD54B representative, so he had some amount of incumbency advantage/name recognition in what was technically an open-seat race.

[twincitizen]

I mentioned this in the 2018 Election thread, but I think another factor at play is that MN has had a Democratic governor and for a couple years had total democratic control. That has not been the case in other swing states like WI, MI, OH, FL, etc. The general energy level for throwing out the GOP may be a bit higher in other places as a result. Like if you live in WI and you're a Democrat, it's not just the last year of Trump...it's the last 7 years of Walker on top of it. I'm just saying there's a reason that the national winds aiding Democrats this year may blow a little softer in Minnesota compared to other states.

[phop]

House bonding proposal:

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/d ... f44649.pdf

Well, the $50 million for busway improvements is gone. And hey look, we have $72 million going towards "Local Road Program Undesignated". Nothing like using state dollars from the bonding bill to fix local transportation budgets.

[Bakken2016]

http://www.startribune.com/republicans- ... 482391911/

This would be a way for money to be used for the Rapid buses.

[mattaudio]

Probably not, since the lottery pool is for natural resources and the environment.

[Bakken2016]

Probably not, since the lottery pool is for natural resources and the environment.

True, but they could allocate projects from the bonding bill to this, and then use bonding money for aBRT.

[MNdible]

Here's a link to what I understand to be the bonding bill as passed last night. [PDF]

[MNdible]

Looks like Minneapolis got $1m for some immediate Stone Arch Bridge investigation and maintenance, and $15m for Upper Harbor redevelopment.

Dayton has not announced if he'll sign or not, but I guess I'd expect he'll support it.