So it is with two bills the DFL leadership in the Minnesota Legislature are trying to jam through before Monday’s end of the session. The DFL wants to authorize the unionization of day care workers, and to increase the minimum wage. We think the state will be just fine if neither of these bills pass.

The unionization bill took 17 hours of floor debate before passing the Senate this week. If it’s going to take that kind of effort to get through the House, it would take time away from the major task of setting the budget. House leaders are focusing most of their attention to the budget, as they should.

The unionization bill for day care workers would undoubtedly raise the cost of child care for parents, and some of the state subsidy the state pays to support them would wind up going into union coffers. We don’t think the state needs to rush into that.

House and Senate conferees are struggling over the minimum wage hike. The House wants to raise it to $9.50 an hour, the Senate to $7.75 an hour. With little time to hash out an agreement, this bill could be dead this session. We think small businesses will be hit hard enough with the taxes being proposed without having to deal with this as well.

The Legislature has enough to fill its few remaining hours with passing a budget. It should leave these two measures by the wayside.