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Dear Minnesotans,

“We all know what’s going to happen in the theatrical world of politics after that. And I just want folks to highlight and note that this is how the system works. It’s theater. It’s not real. It’s not honest.” 

Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, said this before a House committee voted on a bill that would revive a law to ban binary triggers on guns (which means the gun fires two bullets instead of one when you pull back the trigger) and make it a felony (instead of gross misdemeanor) for someone who unlawfully buys or sells a gun, known as straw purchases. 

This law passed in 2024 when the DFL controlled the Legislature, but a judge struck it down. Republicans, including Hudson, say they would vote to increase criminal penalties for straw purchases, and want it to be a standalone. 

Hudson suggested that the bill vote is nothing but fodder for a campaign ad where DFLers could accuse Republicans of being soft on firearms traffickers. 

But bill author Kaela Berg, DFL-Burnsville, responded that the issues are “inextricably linked” because a man in Burnsville killed three people in a 2024 incident involving an illegally purchased binary trigger gun.

In a bill vote with all the inevitability of a Vikings late-season collapse, the 10 DFLers on the committee voted ‘yes’ and all 10 Republicans went with ‘no.’

Afterward, Berg acknowledged that perhaps a standalone measure on straw purchases is better than nothing. But the DFLer questioned if Republicans would negotiate in good faith on writing such a bill. 

Less dramatic versions of the Berg-Hudson confrontation played throughout legislative committees I monitored this week. Ostensibly, committees are supposed to pass any bill without a fiscal component by this Friday, per a deadline set by legislative leaders. 

In theory, then, lawmakers should dispense with their painfully predictable rhetoric and hammer out bills. But at least in these public-facing hearings, that’s not happening. 

Another example came during a Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing Tuesday morning. There, Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten, DFL-St. Paul, proposed a bill on the important if decidedly unglamorous subject of how child care centers should be compensated for caring for families on low-income assistance programs.

Essentially, Oumou Verbeten wants the commissioner of the Department of Children Youth and Families to have the discretion to decide when an extraordinary event happens that lets child care centers collect such compensation even if the children do not show up for day care.

Obviously, the bill is a nod to Operation Metro Surge, when many child care centers reported that low-income families were too afraid to drop off their kids. But it is forward-looking and could involve any natural or manmade event.

Sen. Paul Utke, R-Park Rapids, asked what I thought to be a good question. Since this compensation involves federal money, does the bill need federal approval?

Oumou Verbeten said she was not sure, and that it would be a question for the Department of Children Youth and Families. But no one from that department was present at the hearing to answer the question. 

That concluded the let’s-realistically-talk-about-this-bill portion of the hearing. 

Utke pivoted to calling Operation Metro Surge a “manufactured disturbance” where Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey riled up protestors to create a feeling of chaos. 

As for the fate of this bill, it was “laid over,” which means lawmakers might include it in a larger omnibus bill. 

…In both examples, the problems raised seem solvable. After failing to get their old bill passed again, the DFL could propose a straw purchase measure. Meanwhile, the Oumou Verbeten bill could only pertain to the state’s Early Learning Scholarships fund and not federal pots of money.

But passing bills does not seem like the goal. Maybe that will change when the session moves closer to its May adjournment.

Questions? Heated or unheated disagreements? Email me at mblake@minnpost.com.

Sincerely,

Matthew Blake

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