ST. PAUL -- A look at highlights of last week's legislative action.
Complaint filed against justices
A Twin Cities attorney is seeking formal investigations into state Supreme Court justices following a Senate leader's claims he had a conversation with a judge about the same-sex marriage issue.
Attorney Greg Wersal of Golden Valley requested Friday that the state Board on Judicial Standards and the Lawyers Board of Professional Responsibility investigate Chief Justice Russell Anderson, Justice Paul Anderson, Justice G. Barry Anderson and former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, publicly apologized for making inaccurate statements about conversations with justices but claims one casual discussion about a state law banning gay marriage did take place.
ADVERTISEMENT
The chief justice has said no talks ever took place. A spokesman for the court said it will cooperate.
Gophers advance close to the goal
The first stadium bill to reach a vote of the full House probably will be the University of Minnesota football proposal.
It tentatively is scheduled for a vote Thursday if it passes the House Ways and Means Committee, as expected, before that.
A similar Senate bill is expected on the floor soon, too.
The proposal, just days old, calls for the state to pay $9.4 million a year for 25 years for 2,840 acres of university land near Rosemount. The money would be used to build a Gopher football stadium on campus.
The university also must receive $124 million from private sources or student fees before building the 50,000-seat stadium.
Johnson apologizes for taped comments
ADVERTISEMENT
Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson took 78 seconds and 135 words on March 27 to apologize for inaccurately telling pastors that Supreme Court justices assured him they would not overturn a law banning gay marriages.
"I have at no time received any commitments regarding potential judicial decisions form any member of the Minnesota Supreme Court," he said in a rare public apology on the Senate floor.
The apology, along with another one he is sending to the pastors, will close an ethics case Republicans brought against Johnson.
"I regret the statement I made," he said.
Johnson did not back down from a claim that he discussed the gay marriage issue with one justice, a claim Chief Justice Russell Anderson strongly denies.
Johnson, DFL-Willmar, delivered his apology at the end of a Senate session as required by the Senate Ethics Committee. The committee voted Friday that if Johnson delivered the two apologies, the ethics case would be dropped.
Senate bolsters property rights
The Minnesota Senate on March 27 threw its weight behind private property owners in passing a bill to make it more difficult for government to take land through a process called eminent domain.
ADVERTISEMENT
The legislation, approved on a 64-2 vote, is an attempt to strengthen the state's eminent domain laws following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld cities' ability to take private land from one owner and give it to another for economic development purposes.
"Most of us, most of our constituents, think that eminent domain should be used for public use," such as roads, and not for private development projects, said bill author Sen. Thomas Bakk, DFL-Cook.
The bill passed by the DFL-led Senate makes it much harder for government to take property from one private owner for use by another private owner. It also makes it more difficult for a government to take land for redevelopment. Some legislators said the bill was too restrictive and makes it tough for legitimate public projects to occur in urban areas.
The House is expected to vote soon on its own changes to the state's eminent domain laws. The two bills would then be reconciled.
