Today, the Minnesota Senate passed a significant State Government bill. The legislation works to increase election transparency and participation, improve state government, and support Minnesota’s veterans.

“The legislation passed today preserves our election integrity without threatening anyone’s ability to vote,” Senator Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) said. “We want all Minnesotans involved in our election process, but we also want to give folks the confidence and transparency necessary to trust outcomes. This bill does just that while ensuring our system is not co-opted by outside influences.”

Ensuring Transparency and Increasing Participation in the Election Process

The State Government portion of the package contains three central objectives: increase transparency for Minnesotans, protect taxpayer dollars, and give voters more opportunities to participate in the election process. 

This legislation contains two key provisions to keep our elections safe and secure. Highlights include requiring specific security markings to identify genuine absentee ballots, making changes explicitly related to drop boxes, and banning agent return of absentee ballots to absentee ballot drop boxes.

Additionally, these provisions provide the Secretary of State’s Office with one-time funding of $6 million for local election grants to help hire temporary staff to enter voter registration applications into the Statewide Voter Registration System. Further, the Minnesota IT Services receives $4 million in the 2023 Fiscal Year, and $1 million each Fiscal Year after that, to publicly provide and maintain election live stream recordings and requirements for absentee ballot boards.

The State Government package also includes a vital policy provision to block special interests from buying access to state government. This addresses a current issue where many contracted lawyers in the Attorney General’s office have ties to other politically affiliated groups and may use their influence to achieve their outside agenda. This provision, therefore, requires all legal services of the Attorney General’s office to be performed by employees of the office or another entity.

To keep Minnesota elections free of outside influence, the bill also contains a significant provision prohibiting non-governmental groups from paying for election-related expenses. Under this bill, counties, municipalities, and school districts are prohibited from accepting contributions from a for-profit or non-profit organization related to local or federal elections expenses. In other words, this bans ‘Zuckerbucks’ from being used by locals to execute or influence any election activity.

Finally, to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure they are not misused, this legislation includes a provision to ensure non-profits receiving grants from Minnesota have a track record of quality financial management. It changes the requirements for grants going to tax-exempt non-governmental organizations, such as requiring the organization to submit two years of Internal Revenue Service Form 990 and prohibiting the hiring of public employees or elected officials.

Other notable state government policy provisions include:

• Pollution Control Agency (PCA) Unadopted Rules:Prohibits the PCA from enforcing or attempting to enforce any unadopted rules.
• Consumer Choice of Fuel Act: Prohibits a state agency from adopting rules that restrict consumer choice of motorized equipment based on the equipment itself or the equipment’s fuel source.
• Gambling Control Board (GCB) Modifications: Prohibits the GCB from deactivating E-pull tab devices, games, or systems approved under the rules of the GCB at the time of enactment in future rulemaking decisions.

Additional elections and campaign finance provisions include:

• In-Person Absentee Voting Requirements: Adapts where voters can go to participate in in-person absentee voting (i.e., early voting).
• Non-Governmental Voter Registration Mailing Modifications: Requires that any mailing sent by or on behalf of a committee or any other private organization, such as a sample ballot or absentee ballot application to make multiple statements of transparency to the recipient.
• Classification of Voter Data: Modifies how the state classifies voter data. Specifically, it classifies most voter registration system data as public, except for birth dates, social security numbers, DL numbers, ID numbers, and passport numbers, which are classified as private data under chapter 13.
• Absentee Ballot Envelope Technical Changes: Makes technical changes to statute relating to the delivery of absentee ballot envelopes, including language referencing the signature envelope and the secrecy envelopes for ballots.

Supporting Minnesota’s Veterans

I’m also glad that we could support veterans across generations,” Senator Gazelka continued. “The legislation continues our commitment to our veterans that have done so much for us.”

As part of the package, the State Government bill also includes provisions from the Senate Veterans Committee.

Last year, homes in Bemidji, Preston, and Montevideo secured the federal funding necessary to complete construction. Funding in this bill serves as the final capstone to make these homes operational by funding upgrades and improvements to strengthen the structures, medical equipment, and internal fixtures needed to make the homes operational. 

To compete with the modern workforce, The legislation also includes a program to retain and reward active service members for enlistment and a re-enlistment bonus program.