Representatives Jim Davnie (DFL- Minneapolis) and Paul Thissen (DFL- Bloomington) raise questions about what Republicans are calling meetings to “informally gain feedback” on property tax issues. Davnie said there has been no public notice on what Republicans are calling “listening sessions” and questioned why House committee members were being told not to have a quorum present at the meetings.
Representative Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) says not providing public notice about all of the meetings was “an oversight.” Thissen questioned whether Republicans were going down an “Orwellian” hole to avoid providing the transparency they had promised when they took over the majority this year.
Bluestem Prairie reports “the listening sessions announced so far are taking place in Republican-held districts”.
UPDATE: The House Property Tax And Local Government Finance Committee website now lists at least two of these “listening sessions” with the notice “This will be an official hearing where public testimony will be provided to the committee.”
[/media-credit] What were once just “listening sessions” are now official meetings after transparency questions were raised about the process.
(Editors note: In the video we’ve removed the long pauses where people flipped through rule books and held conversations away from the microphone)
