Good morning.  C’mon May, you can do better than this. Brrrr.

Local leaders and labor unions are urging Minnesota lawmakers to prioritize lead pipe replacement this year. The Legislature kicked off an effort to replace all lead pipes in 2023. But funding earmarked that year is running out. Joel Smith is president of the LiUNA,the union representing construction workers in Minnesota and North Dakota, said projects will stall after this year without more money. Without additional funding, “at least 90,000 lead pipes will remain in the ground, and all the momentum we've built, all the train workers, all the local contractors and all the established partnerships evaporates,” Smith said. A public construction projects bill is on this year's agenda. Chairs of committees crafting that support funding for lead projects. Republican Rep. Mary Franson co-chairs the House Capital Investment Committee. "The need is too great. It is too urgent, and it is too important to drop the ball and let up now,” Franson said. An estimated 90,000 or more lead water lines remain in the ground. Replacing all of them could cost $1 billion. The Legislature has been trying to pick off a chunk at a time as well as tap into federal dollars. Committee leaders are waiting for guidance from legislative leaders about how much they can spend on a broader bill. The legislative session must end by May 18.  "I have to say, I'm a really nervous Nelly about the whole thing,” Sen. Sandy Pappas, the DFL Chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee. “It's really important to all of Minnesota that we get this infrastructure bill passed."

The trio of bonding committee chairs wasn’t as enthusiastic about arena financing legislation sought by St. Paul and the Minnesota Wild. Senate Capital Investment Committee Chair Sandy Pappas said “a $200 million request is unrealistic when you consider what the statewide needs are. I just don't think the state is willing to come up with that.” Pappas, of St. Paul, noted that she has sponsored a sales tax extension that would help the city come up with its share of the Wild arena and Roy Wilkins Auditorium renovation project. Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis and co-chair of the House Capital Investment Committee, wasn’t committal either. “I really want us to be diligent about funding for sports arena in a time of need for critical infrastructure in all of our communities across the state,” he said. Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria and the other co-chair, nodded in agreement. “I can't say it any better,” she said. 

Minnesota lawmakers could receive police security for a limited time under a plan that passed the House of Representatives on a vote of 92-42 yesterday. The bill would give legislative leaders the authority to call on State Patrol officers to provide personal security to a lawmaker if there is a credible threat to their life or safety. Following the fatal shooting of House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shootings of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in June, said it was important to boost security when lawmakers are off the Capitol complex, in addition to keeping heightened screening measures in state buildings. “If judges and elected officials are not safe from violence then our democracy ceases to exist,” Rep. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview, said. “Political violence is real. It happened here in unimaginable ways. It continues to happen. Our democracy cannot tolerate this violence and neither can we.” Republicans raised concerns about isolating themselves from members of the public with the changes and encouraged Democrats to also implement additional school safety measures this year. “I struggle with voting to protect us as politicians before we can agree to vote to find things that we can come together on to protect our kids in school,” said Rep. Ben Bakeberg, R-Jordan.

The largest payment ever from the state for wrongful imprisonment is one step closer to being a reality. Minnesota could pay Marvin Haynes $4.5 million after he spent nearly 20 years in prison for a first degree murder conviction that was vacated in 2023. A judge found that faulty witness testimony was used in convicting Marvin Haynes for the 2004 killing of Harry “Randy” Sherer in Minneapolis. Minnesota Senate and House committees endorsed the bill Wednesday. Rep. Luke Frederick, DFL-Mankato, explained the proposed payment. “The person was in their late teens when they were incarcerated, and then they were almost 40 when they were let out,” he said. “And I cannot imagine having those, the formative years of a person's life being taken from them, which is why the number is so large this year.” The claim still needs final legislative votes and a signature from the governor.

The Senate’s cannabis omnibus package overcame its final committee hurdle yesterday. So far, the state's cannabis industry has been dominated by tribal operations and two medical cannabis companies. But the industry is expanding so some lawmakers say the law needs to adapt. Chief sponsor Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, said the bill’s most important piece is streamlining Minnesota's medical and adult use supply chains. "Under current law, medical and adult use inventories and operations must remain completely separate,” Dibble said. “This has been identified by a wide array of stakeholders as inefficient, burdensome and actually harmful to long term access to medical cannabis." The bill also includes changes to licensing and enforcement requested by the Office of Cannabis Management. The bill passed the Senate Finance Committee without Republican support. The House is also considering cannabis measures.

The Legislature is considering a lot of anti-fraud measures, but one stalled in a House committee yesterday. The bill aims to stop people who have defrauded the state from getting additional money in the future from another agency. The bill would require anyone applying for a government grant to certify they haven’t violated labor laws or defrauded another state program. Chief sponsor Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, said she expected the bill to pass the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday because it passed an earlier House committee without opposition. Instead, Republicans stalled the bill. "I like it. I'm just asking for more time to vet it out," Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, said. Greenman said a no vote was “standing in the way of us preventing people from getting grants who have violated other laws, and that's not going to be on me.” Greenman said she'll seek another path forward for the measure.