Minnesota
Lawmakers want voters to decide if Minnesota should become a right-to-work state like its neighbors in North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa.
A bill to put the right-to-work issue on the November ballot is being authored by state Republicans Sen. Dave Thompson from Lakeville and Rep. Steve Drazkowski from Mazeppa.
Thompson, a freshman senator, said his bill is finished and will be introduced today.
Campaign-style ads that discuss the pros or cons of gay marriage but don’t specifically mention a 2012 vote on a Minnesota constitutional amendment will require less disclosure about who’s financing them, a state board determined Thursday. State campaign finance regulators approved a two-tiered definition that governs what expenses are subject to disclosure of spending and contribution details. It could mean some financial information is shielded by creative wordsmiths in the debate over the ballot measure defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.
A House panel gave approval to proposed constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage in Minnesota Monday. It was the second time in less than a week that legislators moved the measure toward the 2012 ballot. Debate over the measure featured impassioned testimony from both sides. Dale Carpenter, a constitutional law professor at the University of Minnesota, said banning same-sex marriage would ignite a political firestorm.
Canby locals will have more choices for off-sale liquor as the result of a ballot question initiative that passed early in November. In 2003, the city passed an ordinance that limited the number of off-sale licenses to one until the population in the city increased by 500. That never happened, and this year residents brought the issue back to the city council citing monopoly concerns with the current establishment.
Of the 45 states whose legislatures hold sessions in 2010, 27 of them have adjourned for the year, and 5 more will wrap up before the end of the month. Of the more than 80 bills dealing with the initiative and referendum process in various states, 51 of them would have reduced citizens’ initiative rights. Thanks to the work of activists in our coalitions, only 3 bills reducing citizen’s rights have passed and become law.
A group that says it wants to “empower the electorate” is gathering signatures in St. Paul and Duluth to seek a charter change that would require voters to show photo identification before casting ballots. The Minnesota Voters Alliance has about 500 signatures so far in St. Paul and needs 7,100 to get a charter amendment on a future ballot, said Andy Cilek, director of the group.
The City of Duluth is looking to fill two positions which have stood empty for over a year. And your vote could help determine how it’s done. The communications officer would work directly with the city council on policy issues and do lobbying on the city’s behalf. The community relations officer would focus more on connections with local organizations and neighborhood initiatives. Mayor Ness says the community relations job will likely stay open for awhile due to budget constraints, but the communications position will soon be filled one way or the other.
A St. Paul group called No Bad Ballots has formed to opposed ranked voting, or Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in city elections. Another group called St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign — which includes many prominent local politicians — strongly supports the voting method. St. Paul residents will vote on a ballot initiative in November on whether to adopt the voting method, which will be used for the first time this fall in Minneapolis.
Voters likely will know next week whether they’ll get to weigh in on the expansion of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s financial independence, according to an attorney close to the initiative. Brian Rice on Aug. 28 filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis on behalf of a citizens’ group after the City Council voted 11-2 to not place on the fall election ballot a question regarding the Park Board’s autonomy.
If signatures hold up, it’s all but certain that voters in November will decide whether to make the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board financially independent from City Hall. Supporters of a petition drive collected 17,086 signatures by Aug. 10. They needed 10,449. The effort drew out several well-known local political figures, including a former City Council member (Pat Scott) and a former Park Board president (Scott Neiman), to form a petitioners’ committee.
Minneapolis residents will find out today whether they will be given the opportunity to fundamentally change the way their city government operates. Members of the city’s Charter Commission are scheduled to vote this afternoon on placing three questions on the November ballot.
The Minnesota House on Saturday got behind $1.5 billion in assorted tax increases affecting smokers, drinkers, homeowners, high-end income earners and others. The vote was 68-65, with all Republicans and some Democrats in opposition.
The weekend debate occurred a day after the state Senate narrowly voted to boost taxes by $2.2 billion, mainly through the income tax. Both House and Senate bills are running headlong into Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s promise to veto any tax increase that reaches him.
A petition to put $18 million in bonds for a new justice center in Austin, MN to a vote was submitted with 1,100 signatures yesterday. The county attorney has claimed that the petition is not valid because the law which authorized the bonds is not subject to a vote. Petitioners have vowed to pursue the matter with the state if necessary.
You have no statewide Initiative & Referendum rights. Yet, 80 home-rule cities including St. Paul, Bloomington, Red Wing, Duluth and St. Cloud have local Initiative and/or Referendum.
Poll:
See the results of a poll on support for statewide initiative & referendum here.
Three times in the last century, Minnesotans voted on a measure to
establish a statewide process of initiative and referendum and each time
a majority favored the process. But that alone was not been enough to
enact initiative and referendum in the state.
In 1897 the Minnesota Legislature unintentionally frustrated the
initiative process, as well as a great many future proposals to amend the
state’s constitution, by proposing a supermajority requirement for ratifying
amendments to the constitution.