Last Wednesday, the Senate adjourned sine die (finished for the year) after successfully passing a state budget, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. Hold ups over anti-police reforms and higher taxes pushed by the House and Governor Walz pushed legislators to the deadline, but Senate Republicans succeeded in avoiding any last-minute radical additions. Senator Julia Coleman (R-Chanhassen), after adjourning her first Session in the Minnesota Senate, said the following: 

“I am proud and honored to have wrapped up my first Session in the Senate with such an incredible team of legislators around me. The work we accomplished this year, given the huge roadblocks and challenges due to COVID and a split legislature, is worthy of celebrating. 

“I am ecstatic that the funding for Highway 212 is officially signed into law, making historic changes to an incredibly dangerous highway in my district. Minnesotans have been begging for these improvements for decades, being ignored by the government. As soon as I set foot on the campaign trail, I promised to get this done and I fought all Session to make sure I kept that promise. 

“At the end of the day, even though we went into overtime, it was so we could meticulously go through each budget, ensuring Minnesota was not stuck with bad policies. We fought off many proposals that would hurt our state, but we got so many positive, impactful projects that will help each and every one of you. 

“I am proud, but I am not even close to done. I will continue to work and fight for the needs of my district as long as they will have me.”