Good morning. The Legislature is now inside of the two-month march to adjournment. 

It’s a whopper of a day for the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. The panel is scheduled to take up 41 (yes you read that right) bills today. The hearing was moved forward a day after moon spotters in Saudi Arabia reported yesterday that they didn’t see the waxing crescent moon. The moon is important because it marks the end of a month of fasting during Ramadan. The crescent moon is expected tonight. And that means the Eid al Fitr holiday will begin. Senate planners initially expected the holiday would come today. But they pushed hearings forward a day to accommodate the Eid holiday on Friday. The House of Representatives is out both days ahead of a busy deadline week next week.

A bill intended to improve transparency around proposed data center projects is gaining bipartisan backing at the Capitol. Bills introduced in the state House and Senate would ban local governments from signing non-disclosure agreements that prohibit them from sharing details on who is behind data center proposals . The practice has become common, and controversial, around the state, as tech companies seek to keep their plans under wraps for as long as possible. DFL state Sen. Erin Maye Quade introduced one of the bills. "This bill is not about how we feel about data centers. It's about government transparency. Minnesotans have a right to know what their elected officials are doing,” she said. Committees in the House and Senate passed the bill with bipartisan backing. But some Republicans argue NDAs can be an important tool for businesses exploring development projects. More than a dozen hyperscale data centers have been proposed around the state. Often residents don't hear about them until late in the development process, because many local government officials sign NDAs that prohibit them from disclosing details. That was the experience of Republican Sen. Steve Drazkowski. “Democracy is dying in the dark in these communities. It really is. I learned about one of these data centers in one of my communities the day before they dropped the press release,” he said. “The guy from Xcel Energy came into my office and said, ‘It's going to be Google and it's going to be us.’" The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce said NDAs are common tools used during early stages of development. 

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is pointing to Democratic primary outcomes in Illinois as a precursor of what could come in Minnesota. Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton bested U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi in that state’s primary contest for the U.S. Senate seat set to come open after U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin retires. Flanagan faces U.S. Rep. Angie Craig for the seat that Sen. Tina Smith will depart. Flanagan has positioned herself as the more progressive candidate in the race and frequently pointed to Craig's support for a Republican-driven immigration law. Craig has since said she regrets casting that vote. The Flanagan campaign drew parallels between Illinois and what’s happening in Minnesota because Krishnamoorthi was a better-financed candidate as Craig is in Minnesota and Stratton didn’t shy from positions that lined up more with the left flank than centrist voters. Both Flanagan and Craig have said they’ll run in the DFL primary if they don’t pick up the party’s endorsement in May.

The U.S. House Committee on Ethics has been asked to look at the finances of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and her husband. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee made the request in February. On Tuesday, according to a story from MinnPost , a spokesperson for the committee said her husband has not complied with a request for financial documents. Omar and her husband, Tim Mynett, have been under the spotlight for the sharp increase in the value of businesses connected to Mynett. Financial disclosure forms from Omar showed one company Mynett lists has an asset interest in had a jump in value from $5 million to $25 million between 2023 and 2024. A winery he has interest in increased from $1 million to $5 million over that same time. While those numbers jump out, Mynett’s income from those assets increased slightly over that time.

Is it time to reimagine that red-with-white-lettering “I voted” sticker? At least one Minnesota lawmaker thinks so. DFL Rep. Bianca Virnig of Eagan would invite more public participation in the design of those civic pride badges given to voters after casting ballots. Her bill introduced yesterday would have election administrators periodically conduct a contest to update the “I VOTED” stickers. The designs would have to be politically agnostic and must include those words. No other words or numbers could be used. Multiple winners could be selected. The bill heads to an elections committee for its first review.