The Minnesota Senate Republicans have announced committee structures and Chairs for the upcoming session. Senator Mark Koran (R-North Branch) will serve as the Chair of the newly formed Senate’s Technology and Reform Committee when the new legislative session begins in January.

“I’m am honored to be selected to serve as Chair of the Senate’s new Committee on Technology and Reform,” said Senator Koran. “This committee will serve a vital role in the legislature, and our energies will be focused on reviewing how Minnesota is using your tax dollars to fund state operations. Our objective will be to push all our state agencies to review how they deliver critical services to Minnesotans and how they can operate more effectively. Now more than ever, our state should be focused on improving the quality of services while cutting costs, and we should be able to this without ever asking Minnesotans to give anymore.”

The priority for the session will be balancing the budget in light of an economy recovering from COVID. The Senate Finance Committee is the only committee with hearing time available three days a week, all others are limited to one or two hearings a week, or as needed. Less meeting time will help focus the agendas and ensure public participation can be done safely. There are more committees, 29 in total, from 2020, but with fewer members to accommodate for social distancing. The new committee areas are focused on: data practices and civil law, property taxes, mining and forestry, labor and industry, health and human services licensing, metropolitan governance, and redistricting.