By: Charlie St. Dennis

The Minnesota Timberwolves won their playoff game against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, May 19th, successfully moving on to the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. While many Minnesotans celebrated at home, bars, or watch parties, a small group of Minnesotans were stuck at the State Capitol working tirelessly to pass as much legislation as they could before the end of the session, which occurred at 12am on Monday, May 20th.

For those who are unaware, Minnesotans are put into state legislative districts, which typically consist of roughly 85,000 people per senate district, and about 42,500 per house district. We elect these leaders, and the current state makeup is 70-64 with a DFL majority in the House, and 34-33 with a DFL majority in the Senate as well. Having such narrow majorities in both legislative bodies makes it incredibly difficult for legislation to pass, because it means you need *every* DFLer on board, or your legislation might die.

Unfortunately, that happens often. I’ll start reviewing this past legislative session with what I consider the *wins* for Minnesotans. Powerful bills challenging oppressive institutions, like the Minnesota African-American Family Preservation Act, introduced in the house by Rep. Esther Agbaje (DFL) gained bipartisan support from DFLers and Republicans alike, including Sen. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL) and Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten (DFL), and Rep. Walter Hudson (R) and Sen. Jim Abeler (R), who ended up sponsoring this important piece of legislation. The goal of this legislation is to promote family reunification and appropriate social services for disproportionately affected African-American families.

They were also able to work with intergovernmental relations from the Minneapolis City Council and passed worker protections legislation for Uber/Lyft drivers. They also passed HR1989, a billed lovingly nicknamed the “Taylor Swift Ticketing Bill,” which was a bill basically saying that companies like Ticketmaster and AXS must disclose ticket prices with fees included, instead of just revealing right as people pay.

While this may not sound like a lot, you’re right, it’s not. I skipped over some of the really boring stuff, but mostly this year had a pretty blank slate, at least until the last day. The DFL realized they had a lot of work left to do due to some long, unnecessary debates from the Republicans. This leftover work notably included FairVote Minnesota’s Local Options Bill, which guarantees ranked choice voting as an option in local elections across the state. In addition to this, many activists and DFLers across the state were pushing for the Equal Rights Amendment to pass, which had been pushed to the last week of session for a second year now.

The DFL wanted to accomplish all of their legislative goals before that upcoming midnight deadline, so their solution was to make multiple omnibus bills, which means to combine pieces of legislation together and speed up the process. Once combing these omnibuses, they put it into one big omnibus: not so lovingly nicknamed “Omnibus Prime” or the “Megabus.”

This was appalling to Republicans. Despite admitting last year that they don’t read the bills (they accidentally legalized cannabis), now they suddenly care about having time to read this legislation. When Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL) recognized a motion from Rep. Jamie Long (DFL) for a roll call vote, Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R) began yelling “Madam Speaker!,” questioning her integrity as she thought she was not following the rules, along with several other Republican colleagues. This yelling went on for upwards of 30 minutes, which successfully left the legislature out of time to pass any legislation on to the Senate.

While I agree that the “Omnibus Prime” package was a lot to deliver on the final night of session, I also believe that Speaker Hortman, who has served in the House for 20 years now, is a reverent leader who knows what she’s doing. She recognized a motion, as she should, and they were going to begin a roll call vote, as they should. Because the *Republicans* didn’t understand the rules, we weren’t able to get nearly as much done this session as we could’ve. Although, despite not having the greatest record this past session, this has been the most productive biennium in 50 years.

My message for Republicans: you do not get to spin the rules just because they aren’t in your favor. You do not get to throw a hissy fit because you don’t want to progress our state. And lastly, the voters in November will look at the TV ads, campaign mailers, and lawn signs for your candidates and legislators and think of the way they acted like toddlers once given a position of power. And best believe they will vote accordingly.

By: Jocelyn Knorr

You’ve probably seen the social media buzz—Uber and Lyft are finally being held to Minnesota’s minimum wage laws. But how did we get here, and why weren’t they held to these laws in the first place? To find the answer, we have to go back to 2013, when the rideshare companies began operating unregulated in the Twin Cities. Minneapolis scrambled to let them operate legally, drafting amendments to the city’s taxi laws to allow them in; at the time pay was less of a priority than regulation of who could become a driver, as the lack of regulation made it attractive to people who would otherwise find it difficult to find jobs, such as those convicted of assault or other violent crimes.

Things moved fairly smoothly for a while—Uber and Lyft became the default way to get around the city without your own automobile, especially after they were allowed to pick people up at MSP airport.

Uber became the biggest startup in the world in 2019, and even COVID couldn’t stop it. When the pandemic impacted employment, more and more people turned to rideshares as a way to make money; they became an important source of income for students, and disabled people who couldn’t work a full day.

Immigrants also use rideshares as a source of income; according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, 61% of rideshare drivers in Minnesota are foreign-born. Rideshares allow immigrant workers to find work, skipping over the preconceived notions of hiring managers.

However, this is when issues began to arise—or rather, were noticed. Things like sales tax, meant to be borne by riders, began to be skimmed via “administrative fees.” Uber claimed that there was an option for drivers to charge riders for tolls and other fees, but no option for that ever seemed to have existed in the Uber app. While Uber and Lyft claimed that their drivers made above minimum wage, the truth is that it was actually well under.

At the same time, international strikes were staged by drivers, hoping to bring awareness of what companies were doing to them. A new group of Minnesota drivers, the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, spoke to the state’s Democrats in 2022. They pledged to strike a deal with rideshare companies, and began pushing a bill to set a minimum pay floor.

New York state began an inquiry about a year later; they found that rideshare companies had systematically shorted their drivers out of a collective $328 million via the methods outlined. They instituted a pay floor for drivers in accordance with New York minimum wage—Minneapolis did something similar, ensuring drivers a rate of $1.41 per mile.

This enraged Uber and Lyft, who threatened to leave the city of Minneapolis. They did something similar in Austin in 2016, over fingerprint background checks for drivers—the city council had to revoke the ordinance entirely to make the rideshare companies come back.

Meanwhile, in the Minnesota Senate, Omar Fateh (D), who represents District 62, spent most of 2023 pushing for a statewide minimum pay rate. The Democratic party only has a one-vote majority, and Senator Fateh (D) held up proceedings until the bill was passed—Democrats would be forced to either pass the pay minimum, or work with Republicans to get anything done.

The minimum pay bill passed just under the wire on May 18, 2024. It guarantees $1.28 per mile in accordance with both Uber and Lyft and U/LDA; under Minnesota laws, drivers will now make $15.57 per hour. The rideshare companies have since agreed not to pull out.

However, all is not completely sunny. There’s something to be said about the House and Senate going over Minneapolis’ head and acquiescing to large corporations. To quote Minneapolis City Council member Aisha Chughtai (D), “Preemption is bad. Period. Any and all attempts to undermine local control are bad. It’s a Republican and corporate tactic used around the country. Watching our [Governor Walz] cave to multibillion dollar corporations in insisting on preempting Minneapolis is gross.”

The law, too, doesn’t go into effect until January 1, 2025. How many people will be unable to keep their head above water until then? Will Uber and Lyft manage to alter the terms? We just can’t know. For now, we ought to keep these people in mind for the next year; both the rideshare drivers, whose income is still not safe, and the legislators that made this happen—especially in November, when many of them are up for re-election.

By: Charlie St. Dennis

If you’ve at all been watching the news over the past few months, you might be aware that there’s a presidential election coming up in November. The two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, have nominated President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, respectively. Even though that’s getting a lot of attention, rightfully so, the ballot is going to be full of elections this year. Here is your guide to what you will be voting for.

US Senate

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL) has represented Minnesota in the Senate since 2007, and is expected to be the DFL’s nominee for a third term in the Senate. Currently, 7 Republicans have filed to be on the ballot for the August primary, where they will ultimately decide their nominee. The DFL is expected to endorse Sen. Klobuchar at their State Convention in Duluth later this spring. The MN GOP has declined to endorse thus far.

US Representative

If you live in St. Paul or Minneapolis, you either live in District 4 or District 5. District 4 contains all of Ramsey County and a portion of Washington County. This means it contains all of Saint Paul and its Eastern surrounding suburbs, like Woodbury, Stillwater, West St. Paul, and more. District 4 has been represented by Rep. Betty McCollum (DFL) since 2001, and in her 23 year tenure, she has yet to face a formidable primary challenge. That remains unwavered this year. The DFL is expected to endorse her at the CD4 Convention later this month. May Lor Xiong, an educator, is the Republican poised to win the nomination. She ran in 2022 and lost with roughly 32% of the vote.

If you live in Minneapolis and it’s surrounding suburbs, however, you are likely in CD5. The district has been represented by Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has held the seat since 2019. Rep. Omar is currently facing a formidable primary challenge from Former Councilmember Don Samuels, who resides in North Minneapolis. Samuels has painted himself to be a more “pragmatic” alternative to Omar, who has proven to be one of the most progressive members of Congress. This race will likely be close, but Rep. Omar is expected to secure endorsements of many elected officials and potentially the DFL party, which will be decided on May 11th. Samuels previously ran a well-funded campaign against Omar in 2022, but was defeated in the primary.

State Legislature

This year, every state house seat will be up for election. State house seats are up every two years, and many Twin Cities Metro candidates are not facing formidable primary or general election challengers. The state legislature makes decisions that directly affect you, more so than the federal government. While these races may not seem exciting, they determine your rights.

Ballot Measures

In St. Paul, voters will vote on a childcare ballot measure. Voters would be voting on an increased property tax. The money from the increased tax would fully cover childcare for newborns to 5-year-olds from low-income families who fall 185 percent below the poverty line. That makes up the majority of the children in our city.

School Board (Minneapolis Only)

Since St. Paul voted on 4 school board seats last year, this year we have off. Minneapolis, on the other hand, will be voting for 4 seats. The seats are currently occupied by Kim Ellison, Ira Jourdain, Sharon El-Amin, and Adriana Cerrillo. Cerrillo and Ellison are running for re-election unopposed, Ira Jourdain is stepping down to run for State House, and El-Amin faces a challenger in Janie Gholston. Minneapolis Federation of Teachers President Greta Callahan is running against Lara Bergman for Jourdain’s seat. The Minneapolis DFL will reconvene their convention in May to endorse in that race.

Important Dates

It is important to note that regardless of the endorsement process, the voters will ultimately be selecting each party’s respective nominee. The statewide primary will be Tuesday, August 13th. Those nominees will engage in a 3-month general election campaign cycle, which will come down to Election Day, which is Tuesday, November 5th.

All elections are important, not just the ones getting attention. All 16, 17, and 18 year olds are able to pre register with the Secretary of State’s Office. Once you are 18, you can vote in all of these elections. Check your voter status at: www.mnvotes.org