Here is the latest on what’s happening in Government Affairs!

MAR
MAR’s Government Affairs Committee in conjunction with the Minnesota RPAC Trustees sent letters to all filed candidates in its service area, and is currently collecting candidate survey responses. The group will be interviewing individuals before determining which candidates to support.

Local
Plenty of policy discussions at the local level. Mayor Frey held his budget address. Minneapolis is facing significant financial strain.

State
Governor Walz called a third special session last week to extend the peacetime emergency declaration. The Minnesota Senate responded by voting to not confirm his Labor and Industry Commissioner, Nancy Leppik, which was seen as a sharp partisan rebuke for continuing to govern by executive order. Speaking of executive orders, the state level eviction and foreclosure moratorium now continues through September 11, 2020.

National
The U.S. House of Representatives was called back from their summer recess to vote on legislation to block changes at the Postal Service. Hard to argue that funding the Postal Service is not a critical government function. We’ll have to wait and see if a deal can be reached. President Trump issued four executive orders after Congressional action on pandemic responses and additional stimulus stalled prior to the recess. There’s no word on plans to implement those orders just yet.