It's Friday (And a Lot is on the Legislature's Mind).

We are at about 57 and counting hours before the curtain has to come down and a lot of work remains to be done at the Legislature.  The veto of the tax bill has left things up in the air to a great extent and the budget bill is still not wrapped up.  The conference chairs on the supplemental budget bill--Senator Julie Rosen and Representative Jim Knoblach--seem to opting to leave the bill open to address the Governor's considerable list of issues with the bill, many of them dealing with language to which he objects.

Here's a nice piece from MPR earlier today that sums things up succinctly:  https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/05/18/minnesota--legislature-prepares-for-its-ritual-mad-dash

Time for Your (Modern) Civics Lesson.  First, get a sheet of paper.  Second, go to the page in your civics text that describes how a bill becomes a law.  Third, write down everything (well, maybe not everything) I tell you in this entry and tape it to that page in the text.

As referenced in the MPR story above, Senator Carla Nelson spoke about having alternate plans if the Governor were to wield the veto pen on the supplemental appropriations bill.  I wrote yesterday how the supplemental budget bill could have a number of other provisions attached to it before being sent to the Governor.  Superstar lobbyist Amy Walstein pointed out to me later (I am gratified she does read the blog and did point this out) that it can work the other way around as well and that the supplemental budget bill could be broken into a number of pieces and sent to the Governor in a series of bills.  How you might ask.  They are called "vehicle bills" and they can take many forms.  In the legislative process, many of the bills that pass one house of the Legislature and go to the other are often not acted upon (for a variety of reasons that aren't really important right now).  Further, all of the conference committee reports the Governor vetoed last session are also "live" as they were returned to the Legislature and the final budget agreement was reached in a special session.  And remember, special sessions are proceedings onto themselves with separate bills, bill numbers, and committee processes.  So, with help of the following illustration, think of all of this moribund legislation as a used car lot.

All those cars need is a driver and some passengers and if worse comes to worse in the next two days, some of these cars may get loaded up and take a little spin down toward the Governor's office.  Before you get too hepped up thinking that this is all new and just another indication of how political discourse in this country has bottomed out (and it be bottoming out, but this little diversion is not one of the reasons why), these types of end-runs have been employed for years and years and years.  Sometimes, it is necessary given time constraints.  Sometimes it's the only way one house of the Legislature can get the other house to consider a topic.  And admittedly, sometimes it's just pure hi-jinks used for partisan political purposes or between committee chairs in different bodies who simply don't like each other.

So, recapping:  (1) the Legislature and Governor may be at loggerheads on a number of issues, (2) time is of the essence, and (3) means exist to get a number of things done if negotiations on larger items cannot come to a successful end.  So who knows, maybe we'll see this little gent carrying a trunk full of provisions to the Governor before the weekend is out.

Was the Governor Humming This During while Writing His Veto Message on the Tax Bill?  Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Just wanted to let you know that those of us in the Elvis Party have a three-plank platform.  In addition to making Elvis' birthday a state holiday as mentioned in yesterday's blog entry, we want to see a sales tax exemption on all Elvis-related merchandise and the construction of an Elvis theme park.