Republican initiatives

Lawmakers worked quickly to introduce and pass bills lifting Minnesota's nuclear moratorium, but the measure is now stuck in procedural quicksand. Gov. Mark Dayton offered very unsavory conditions for signing the bill to a panel resolving the two versions, which one lawmaker said "just shuts the whole bill down." Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, said Friday that the measure will now have to take a back seat to budget bills working through the Legislature.

Following a spirited anti-abortion rally at the Capitol, Republican legislators introduced bills that would ban taxpayer funding of abortions for low-income women and prohibit all abortions after 20 weeks. Neither has reached a vote on the floor, and House Speaker Kurt Zellers said Friday that the 20-week ban -- which has passed through committee -- is "not moving" until later this session. The big question is whether Republicans have enough anti-abortion rights DFLers to override a certain veto from Dayton.

GOP leaders are proudly touting their changes to Minnesota's education structure, which Zellers described on Friday as "nation leading." The education budget bills increase per-pupil funding while freezing special education levels and eliminating extra support money for the Twin Cities. They are also peppered with policies limiting bargaining rights for teachers and would create a new system to evaluate teachers based heavily on student testing. Dayton is opposed to the bills.

ERIC ROPER