Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday.
The Minnesota Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow insurers to offer paid family leave coverage for employers that want to extend coverage to their workers. MPR's Brian Bakst reports the legislation that allows for a voluntary option is paired with tax credits in a separate bill due for a vote this week. But it's a narrower approach than a state-managed family and medical leave program passed earlier by the DFL House, and the bill drew complaints that it wouldn't deliver on the promise of adequate coverage. The Senate bill passed on a 37-29 vote, with one DFLer and two independents joining all Republicans in favor. Sen. Julia Coleman, the bill's sponsor, said she wanted to avoid a mandate while giving small employers a chance to keep up with a benefit major businesses now routinely offer. .Policies would cover bonding time within the first 12 months of a birth or adoption and allow for paid leave when dealing with a close relative's serious health condition. It would apply to spouses, parents, grandparents and children of the person with coverage. Her bill would bar the state from offering a competing insurance option. Democrats tried to offer a state system like the House version, but it was ruled out of order.
Minnesota's tax collections are still exceeding prior estimates by a considerable amount. State finance officials reported Tuesday that April's revenue was more than $1.1 billion ahead of expectations. Some of that was due to a timing issue around tax payments, but there were strong numbers across Minnesota's main tax categories. The money won't factor directly into legislative spending decisions. But it could give lawmakers confidence that the projected budget surplus they're relying on is materializing.
Minnesota isn't the only state with a budget surplus. Pew Research reports: After an early pandemic decline, states had collectively amassed their largest fiscal cushion on record by the start of the current budget year. Higher-than-expected tax revenue—among other temporary factors—drove the total held in savings and leftover budget dollars to new highs. As states approach the close of fiscal year 2022, most expect to spend down at least a portion of their surplus funds. Despite fallout from the coronavirus and a two-month recession, the 50-state total of rainy day funds dipped only temporarily in fiscal year 2020, followed by a historic increase by the end of the first full budget year of the pandemic. During fiscal 2021 alone, states grew their collective rainy day funds by $37.7 billion, or an increase of roughly 50 percent from a year earlier—driving the total held among all states to a record high of $114.6 billion. Moreover, amid widespread budget surpluses, states reported the largest annual increase in leftover general fund budget dollars (known as ending balances) in at least the past 21 years.
It took only about 40 minutes for a jury to convict a man of lying to a grand jury about his actions during a 2020 primary.MPR's Matt Sepic reports that prosecutors said that Muse Mohamud Mohamed, who worked on DFL State Sen. Omar Fateh's primary campaign, sent absentee ballots to the Minneapolis elections office on behalf of three people. In September and October, Mohamed told a grand jury investigating election fraud that the three filled out the ballots themselves, even though evidence presented at trial showed that they had not. When prosecutors on Monday showed witness Abdiriman Muse, 22, an absentee ballot form purported to be his, Muse testified that his name was misspelled, his address was wrong, and he did not vote in the 2020 primary. Fateh, who represents south Minneapolis after beating State Senator Jeff Hayden in 2020, did not respond to requests for comment about the case or the verdict.
A couple of endorsements to report. Sen. Tom Bakk, I-Cook, endorsed Republican Tad Jude for attorney general. "As a former colleague of Tad in the Legislature, I know his character and the passion he has for the people of Minnesota. He is extremely qualified, and will know how to tackle rising crime across the state as Minnesota's next Attorney General — putting justice over politics." Bakk said in a release from the Jude campaign. "If Republicans are serious about electing an Attorney General, the clear choice is Tad Jude. He has my full endorsement on the Iron Range." And Texas Sen. Ted Cruz endorsed state Rep. Jeremy Munson in his run for the GOP nomination in the 1st Congressional District. "Jeremy Munson is a proven fighter who will fight to save America from the radical left," Cruz said in a statement from Munson's campaign. "I'm proud to endorse Munson for Congress because I need his help to restore our freedoms, stand up against the establishment, and drain the swamp." | 
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