Weber: Perhaps bonding bill will be passed, but that could be it

District 21 Sen. Bill Weber said in a conversation with Radio Works earlier this week that he doesn't believe this session of the Minnesota Legislature will be very productive.

Said Weber: "Right now, I would guess that if a bonding bill got done, that might be all that gets done because the House blocks different pieces of legislation over there, and the Senate only has a one-seat majority for the Democrats, and they'll push some things through politically so that they can go to their base and say, 'Well, we approved this in the Senate and what have you,' but actually all I've seen so far is mostly posturing." 

Weber noted that the state budget is in place for another year, so the funds are there for the state to operate. While Republicans are concerned about fraud and mismanagement, he said, "the other side doesn't walk to about that" and "they just come back with some bad ICE issues" and attacks on President Trump. "At this stage, everybody is just talking past each other," Weber said.

After Friday, any bill that hasn't been heard by both the House and Senate will need to go through Rules Committee in order to get a hearing, Weber stated. One issue he said he's continuing to hear about is the Hennepin County sales tax for the Minnesota Twins' Target Field. He explained that there's desire to have that renewed and then allow Hennepin County to use part of those funds to save Hennepin County Medical Center and North Memorial  Hospital, which Weber indicated are both critical care access hospitals  that provide "probably the majority of critical care access for the population that is uninsured or underinsured in the area and who are in deep financial straits."