Good morning. Happy St. Patrick’s Day and a more typical day at the Capitol.

The Minnesota House passed legislation Monday that extends a deadline for the state's low-dose hemp industry to test its products in-state. Minnesota testing companies are facing delays due to increasing amounts of cannabis headed to the market. The bill would allow hemp producers to continue to use out-of-state testing labs until May 31, 2027. Rep. Jessica Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, said hemp businesses are facing a dark future with an impending federal hemp ban in November and need help from the state. "Many Minnesota businesses fear they will not make it if the federal government does not change course,” she said. “So while we hope that the federal government remembers that small businesses are the life blood of our economy, this bill before us is the least we can do right here in Minnesota to support these businesses." The House passed the bill 100-34. A companion bill cleared Senate committees and is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.

 

A proposal to ban the possession and sale of ghost guns (again) is heading to the Senate floor for a vote. The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee advanced the measure yesterday after Attorney General Keith Ellison testified that it would help solve gun crime investigations and stave off shootings using guns that don’t have a serial number or have had one obscured. "We're trying to save lives and solve crimes. What we're doing is adapting to a world where technology allows someone to 3D print many of the components of a fully-functioning firearm in their living room,” Ellison said. A similar measure was passed and signed into law. But the Minnesotan Supreme Court blocked it last year, arguing it was unconstitutional. Gun rights advocates and Republicans on the committee said federal law guarantees a right to make a firearm as long as it’s not created for sale. The bill is expected to pass the DFL-led Senate but its path through the tied House of Representatives is less certain.

Two bills that aim to protect students from grooming made progress in the Senate yesterday. Grooming is the process of gaining the trust of a vulnerable person to sexually abuse them later. Among other things, the bills would make grooming someone under the age of 16 a felony, require school staff be trained to identify grooming and require that law enforcement, state authorities and the state teacher licensing board coordinate to investigate incidents of grooming. Hannah LoPresto, one of the women who has accused former Eagan teacher Brett David Benson of grooming her in high school, testified in favor of the bills. LoPresto said the bills address gaps in current law that make kids vulnerable. “Grooming is not a precursor to abuse. It is abuse all on its own,” LoPresto told members of the Senate Education Policy Committee. Both bills were approved in the committee with bipartisan support.

A new report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor will be released this morning looking at allegations of kickbacks in a Department of Human Services program. The report will be released at 9 a.m. looking at DHS investigations of alleged kickbacks in the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention, or EIDBI, Program. The FBI began investigating fraud in that program in December 2024, when it searched Smart Therapy, a Minneapolis business that registered as an autism treatment program. Smart Therapy’s owner was charged in September for allegedly stealing $14 million in state program funds for services for young people with autism spectrum disorder. Asha Farhan Assan, 28, the owner, was also charged in the Feeding Our Future investigation. Prosecutors said in September that the two schemes are connected.

Several bills are scheduled to come in various legislative committees today honoring state leaders who’ve died. Proposals to rename the State Office Building after the late DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman and to create a new state park named for her and her husband, Mark, are set to come forward. There is also a plan to rename the Minnesota Senate Leader after DFL Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic. The Hortmans were killed in their Brooklyn Park home by an alleged assassin in June. Dziedzic died in 2024 after she was diagnosed with cancer. The women are viewed as the key leaders behind a raft of progressive policy wins that were signed into law in 2023 under a Democratic trifecta at the Capitol. Another measure, which proposes to fund library improvements, is named for former Rep. Mary C. Murphy. She is the longest-serving female lawmaker in state history and passed away in 2024.

 

Driver's ed would be required until people are 21, under a new bill proposed in the Minnesota Senate. A bill from Rep. John Jasinski, R-Faribault, would require that drivers ages 18 to 20 would need to take driver's education courses and have behind-the-wheel experience in order to get a license. He said that young drivers who don't have training are more dangerous on the roads: "A Washington State study found that drivers 18 to 20 who skip drivers ed are 75 percent more likely to get in a get a traffic ticket and 24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal crash. Driving is the most dangerous thing we do every day, and having many 18, 19, and 20 year olds that receive no training before driving on our roads is just not safe." Currently, that training only required for drivers under the age of 18. The bill was heard in the Senate transporation committee, where it was laid over for possible inclusion. But some people have raised concerns that it would add additional costs for young drivers.