Good morning. Sometimes it snows in April. Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since Prince died.

Puff your chests out House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee members: This is your time to shine. Most policy committees have concluded their work for the session or will be on hiatus until they’re needed to review something. Now it’s the phase where the area-by-area bill packages start trucking through the key budget-writing committees on the way to floor votes. Yes, we know the respective House and Senate Taxes Committee will muscle into the picture as usual. The point is, the number of cooks in the legislative kitchen will continue to get smaller as the May 18 adjournment deadline gets nearer. Check out the week’s schedule so far.

One of those thorny issues still to get sorted out is a school safety measure. There’s broad consensus that the Legislature should provide more money and policy assistance to schools as they work to keep students, staff and others safe from violence. But the mechanism, the reach and the amount is very much up for debate. Dana Ferguson lays out the major items under discussion and the gaps between the plans. Democrats want to keep gun restrictions linked to this conversation, but prospects for any firearms-related items making it through are quite dim. Expect compromise around other facets, however, even if it doesn’t come for a few more weeks.

Another of the bills on a windy course to passage deals with Medicaid work requirements. The federal government ordered states to conduct more regular checks that people on subsidized care are working, attending school or volunteering. We’re told there have been productive discussions behind closed doors, although Erica Zurek reports that there are concerns about lack of guidance about what will satisfy the federal edict. Counties administer social service benefits like Medicaid so they have an important voice in this. It’s easy to see the final plan merging the verification steps and technology upgrades that local leaders see as vital. Don’t be surprised if other health matters also get tucked in what’s seen as something of a must-pass bill this year.

Speaking of Medicaid, there is a better-than-not-chance that a Medicaid fraud investigation unit in the attorney general’s office gets beefed up this year. We spoke with Attorney General Keith Ellison about it last week in a wide-ranging Politics Friday interview. Ellison, a two-term DFLer, also went through the barrage of litigation between Minnesota and the Trump administration. He discussed the attempt to impeach him and tried to clarify a meeting he had with people later charged in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, including his response to allegations he lied to Congress. And Ellison warned Democrats about being overly cocky in a fall election where they’ll be favored to make gains. “We shouldn't campaign to win the election. We should campaign to meet more Minnesotans and talk to more Minnesotans and listen to more Minnesotans about what their lives are about and the challenges that they face. So if you're measuring the drapes, it's because you think you're going to win an election. Don't do that.” It’s worth the listen.

Another data batch from last week’s campaign reports has dropped. Here are the political party and political funds with at least $1 million in the bank. Some of the national entities won’t spend all they have included in their Minnesota reports but provide the detail to avoid compliance issues.

Over in the U.S. Senate race, Peggy Flanagan and Angie Craig are locked in an increasingly testy campaign for the DFL nomination. They’re sorting out a debate schedule, although none are expected prior to the last-weekend-of-May endorsing convention. Meanwhile, the Star Tribune revisits the rift between Flanagan, the current lieutenant governor, and her once-close ally Gov. Tim Walz. Ryan Faircloth reports that the two seldom meet, how Walz left Flanagan out of key decisions and how she’s responding to a sure fall attack line that she’s more focused on her campaign than the job she has now. The story is based largely on not-for-attribution comments and Flanagan isn’t quoted. Her campaign aides say Flanagan is involved in many state Capitol functions and point out there is very little definition about the role itself. For what it’s worth, Flanagan will chair an Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security today. Craig, a U.S. representative, is elevating the day-job issue by saying Republicans would exploit it in the fall if Flanagan is the nominee. Republicans have their own contested race for the nomination, but fundraising and other indicators suggest Michele Tafoya is seen as the favorite for the fall ballot slot.

The federal government is escalating its push for voter data from the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office. Peter Cox reports on a new filing in the ongoing legal tussle between the Department of Justice and Secretary of State Steve Simon over DOJ’s demand for broad voter data from the state. In a filing Friday, the DOJ seeks to compel that Simon turn over records related to voter registration and other materials. The request comes on the heels of a Spring Valley man, who is not a citizen, being charged with registering to vote then casting a ballot in 2024. The feds are asking for records on Minnesota voter registration practices. That includes records on same-day voter registrations and records of votes cast by those who used the system.