WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK

EVENTS:

Monday:

YouthLink/Kulture Klub (Artists working with homeless youth). 11-1 p.m. Capitol Rotunda. (Also same time/place Tuesday.)

Tuesday:

ARRM (Caregivers for persons with disabilities). 1 p.m. Capitol Rotunda.

Wednesday:

AIDS Action Day at the Capitol. MN AIDS Project. 11 a.m. Capitol Rotunda.

Gov. Mark Dayton's State of the State Address. Noon. Minnesota House of Representative Chamber.

U of M Heller Herwicz Economics Institute: Addressing Climate Change: Economic Perspectives on Pricing Environmental Risk . 5:30-7 p.m., McNamara Center. Minneapolis RSVP here.

St. Paul Republicans Meeting: 7 p.m. O'Gara's. St. Paul.

Thursday:

Freedom to Marry Day Rally. OutFront Minnesota. Noon. Capitol Rotunda.

Drinking Liberally Event: Featuring Wy Spano. 7:30 p.m., 331 Club. Minneapolis.

St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting: Speaker: Robert Stephens, founder of The Geek Squad. 5-9 p.m., Grand Ballroom, RiverCentre, St. Paul.

TODAY'S CAPITOL SCHEDULE

The House will be in session at 3 p.m.

The Senate will be in session at 11 a.m.

The Civil Law Committee will hear HF 292, a bill changing child custody policies, and HF 211, a bill modifying deceptive trade practice actions and class action court policies.

The House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee will begin work reconciling the two versions of the GOP's "Phase One" budget bill: HF 130 and SF 60. The House measure includes a state employee wage freeze, $200 million in agency budget reductions this biennium, and temporary LGA cuts. The Senate's has no wage freeze, $125 million in agency savings and permanent LGA cuts. GOP leadership in both chambers has so far deferred to the conferees on how the bills should be reconciled, but said they hope to have the work done by mid-week. House conferees will be: Mary Liz Holberg, Bud Nornes, Bob Gunther, Jim Abeler and Greg Davids. For the Senate, Claire Robling, Mike Parry, David Hann, Julianne Ortman and Michelle Fischbach will handle negotiations.

WHAT'S COMING UP

REVENUE: Sen. Julianne Ortman (left) has recently led her Taxes Committee in a review of the state's costly tax expenditures, something she said will continue all session, signaling at least some openness to bringing in more revenue to fix the state's budget deficit. That stands in contrast with much of the GOP's campaign rhetoric and the overtures from leadership so far this session. The end goal of the review, Ortman said last week, will be more about improving policy than looking for revenue, although she admitted that could be a secondary effect. Ortman mentioned lowering some tax rates while broadening the tax base as something worth considering. Freshman GOP Sen. John Howe mused in a hearing recently about regularly reviewing all tax expenditures with the goal of trimming many back. When asked whether that might be seen as a de facto tax increase, Howe flatly replied: "Well, I didn't sign the no new taxes pledge."

Finance chair Claire Robling, for her part, has also signaled some openness to finding additional revenue. "We are giving up a ton of revenue here," Robling told the Associated Press. "We're looking for our best bang for the buck, in a time where we really need job creation. Maybe we should be looking at some of these exemptions and asking if they are really bolstering economic growth. If they're not, maybe something else might be more effective."

Sens. Geoff Michel and Amy Koch, meanwhile, remain cool to the idea of bringing in any additional revenue. Michel said Friday the state will have about $32 billion to spend this biennium, and that he doesn't intend to spend more, no matter the source. "The final answer cannot be we're raising taxes," Michel said Friday. "We're not going to ask for more."

VOTER ID BATTLE BREWING: Testimony will continue this week over Voter ID legislation. Last week, the first hearing saw a standing-room-only crowd. Pro-photo ID testifiers, according to Dan McGrath of Minnesota Majority, included folks from his group, members from election watcher Andy Cilek's Minnesota Voters Alliance and a handful of Tea Party types. On the opposite side, advocates for the disabled, Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota, and the state chapters of the League of Women's Voters and ACLU.

The state is set for an interesting battle. Two pieces of legislation are being floated, one of them chief-authored by former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer. Gov. Mark Dayton has called the push a solution in search of a problem, while House Speaker Kurt Zellers said Friday he plans to push the bill even absent DFL support. Yesterday, Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota held its first educational forum in what they billed as a two-year campaign to educate voters on why photo ID is not necessary. Speakers included that group's executive director, current Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

EDUCATION: Gov. Mark Dayton laid out his first major education proposal Friday, renewing his pledge to increase K-12 funding in his budget, signaling an openness to alternative teacher licensure and other changes. See more details here.

COMMISH: Majority Leader Amy Koch said Friday she expects the Senate to begin having hearings on Dayton administration commissioner appointees very soon. Republicans haven't voiced much criticism as of yet, with the exception of Revenue Commissioner-designate Myron Frans, who has drawn fire for being unavailable to start his new job until mid-April.

MMB: Margaret Kelly, the city of St. Paul's finance director, will be an the new state budget director, MMB said Friday.

ON THE FLOOR: Expect to see HF 1, a bill to speed up environmental permitting, along with bills on alternative teacher licensure measure and the repeal of the nuclear power plant moratorium on the House floor this week. The Senate is expected to have a quiet week on the floor after passing nuclear, budget and alt-licensure bills last week. SF 1, the Senate GOP's so-called jobs bill, could be on the Senate floor as early as next week.

QUOTED, NOTED: Gov. Mark Dayton on his hectic first month on the job at a news conference Friday: "I'm not bored."

NEW DFL CHAIR: Ken Martin, the force behind several successful DFL fundraising efforts over the last few years, was elected chair of that party on Saturday. Marge Hoffa was selected as co-chair.
Source: Politics in Minnesota