After months at the Capitol, the Legislative Session has finally reached a rather uneventful conclusion, adjourning Sine Die at midnight on May 23rd. Unfortunately, we were left without the passage of major bills providing tax relief, support for public safety and law enforcement, investments in student-first education, and resources to stabilize our struggling long-term care facilities. The Session ended with a disappointing fizzle.
Throughout negotiations, Senate Republicans provided offers that met the terms of the leadership agreement released on May 16. Every offer we sent fell within the budget agreement terms. Unfortunately, House Democrats would send counteroffers that were either far outside of our agreed-upon budgets or would introduce new and controversial policy items as political bargaining tools. To make the situation worse, in the last 48 hours of Session, Governor Walz interfered with the Legislative process and instructed House Democrats to rescind the agreed upon offers we had. It was disappointing, but not surprising. The bottom line is that we had a deadline, and Democrats blew it by playing political games.
House Democrats have repeatedly blown through deadlines this session, notably passing a bill to refill and pay back a federal loan to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund the day the tax payments were due for thousands of businesses. The delay on UI caused many businesses to overpay their taxes – an especially unfair burden when businesses are still recovering from the past few years of closures, coupled with rising inflation. Democrats also delayed the renewal of the highly successful reinsurance program until the day before the federal government required passage to approve a waiver for the program. Not passing reinsurance would have led to increased health care costs for farmers, small business owners, and others in the individual insurance market.
In the midst of these follies, Senate Republicans continued negotiations in good faith. We focused on 3 priorities that would get our state back on track: funding public safety to keep crime from bleeding into greater Minnesota, empowering parents to have a say in their kids’ education, and permanent and ongoing tax relief for all Minnesotans. Our tax proposal was slated to be the biggest tax cut in state history and included a full repeal of the outdated tax on social security benefits. Instead of passing these important bills, Democrats walked away at the insistence of the Governor. The House barely spent an hour in their Legislative Chamber on the final day of Session. They had no interest in getting a deal done.
We left the Session adjourned Sine Die with no guaranteed Special Session in sight. Governor Walz is the only one who can call a special session, and he has said multiple times he would not do so. However, after successfully killing bill negotiations, it seems like he changed his tune on the issue. Our Governor wanted to bully his way into the Legislative process by pushing extremist deals that Senate Republicans refused to agree to. We tried to get the work done, and we have little interest in playing into these political games.
Despite a lackluster end of Session, a lot of great work was done throughout the year. In addition to UI and frontline worker bonus checks, and the reinsurance extension, the legislature passed bills to modernize liquor and increased the growler limit. A budget bill for veterans included funding for three vets’ homes and bonuses for veterans in the War on Terror. The final day of the session included: A significant Agriculture, Broadband, and Drought relief bill to assist farmers and greater Minnesotans, major investments in mental health and competency restoration to help students and individuals in crisis get the help they need.
While the end of Session may have come and gone with little fanfare, I am proud of the good work we did get done for Minnesotans. We accomplished some wonderful things this year, but there’s always more work to be done on behalf of the constituents we represent. Whether that work requires a Special Session or not remains to be seen, but I will continue advocating on behalf of my constituents as we work to help families across the state.