ST PAUL, Minn. — The end of the 2024 legislative session may be eight weeks away, but bills must clear other hurdles long before then to remain viable. On Friday two of those deadlines coincided, which explained why some committees were still meeting when they’d normally be gone.

It wasn’t a mad rush, but the pace of activity certainly picked up this week with several committees adding extra time, or extra meetings, as they worked to beat the session’s first deadline, by when the session’s major policy bills are supposed to begin moving

Gov. Tim Walz gives the State of the State address Tuesday and he won’t be doing it from the Capitol in St. Paul. He’ll be at a high school in Owatonna in southern Minnesota.

Friday’s House hearings were the first of the 2024 legislative session, but they may only be a preview of what could be a very active schedule at the same time next week.

Showing another colorful symbol without debate is the goal of an LGBTQIA community-backed idea. Sponsored by Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-St. Paul), HF4273 would prohibit state and local governmental units, charter schools, and most postsecondary institutions from removing or banning “rainbow banners, rainbow flags, rainbow posters, or any visual display of rainbows” from the jurisdiction’s property.

Here’s a debate under way behind some of the bigger debates at the Minnesota Capitol so far: Do a slate of laws passed last year need some serious handyman attention or just some cosmetic polish? Several fix-it bills are in motion to address errors, gaps or just misunderstandings about what got passed in a chock-full 2023 session, where Democrats got much of their agenda passed and Republicans got mostly left to the side.

Minnesota’s major political parties will come to order across thousands of precinct sites for the 2024 caucus on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Following an announcement that Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic will step away from leadership due to a recurrence of cancer, Senate DFLers elected Erin Murphy as the next majority leader.

Following an announcement that Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic will step away from leadership due to a recurrence of cancer, Senate DFLers elected Erin Murphy as the next majority leader.

With the session’s final committee deadline exactly two weeks away, legislative leaders announced an agreement Tuesday on how much new money they plan to spend in 2023 and the framework for doing so. Let the omnibus-bill fest begin!

It would seem that DFL control of the House, Senate and governor’s office would improve chances for an early finish. But as one longtime observer points out, “Nobody fights like family.”

ST. PAUL — With just under two weeks left of the regular legislative session, the clock is ticking for Minnesota lawmakers to pull their budget together.