Sunday, May 17, 2015

The Latest.  Events are moving slowly this afternoon, but there is plenty of intrigue.  The House passed the omnibus higher education bill a bit ago and is now working on the public safety omnibus bill.  The Senate just finished work on the "body cam" bill and will be taking up the omnibus higher education bill shortly.

Rumors about the E-12 bill continue to abound.  Governor Dayton had another press conference a couple of hours ago at which he repeated his pledge to veto the bill if it does not contain $150 million more.  It is assumed he wants all of that increase dedicated to his universal pre-kindergarten program.  Governor Dayton said Senator Bakk has agreed to put the requested revenue into the bill if the conference committee is re-opened, but it appears that the House is reluctant to do that and would rather send the bill to the Governor to see if his veto pledge is indeed valid.  There are bills in both bodies that could be used as last minute vehicles onto which a new agreement could be attached and sent to the other body, but given the differing visions of the majorities, that process is probably too messy to be practical.

So stay tuned.

New Information:  The E-12 conference committee report is at the revisor, meaning the conference committee will not be re-opened.

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