 Dear neighbors, The 2025 regular session adjourned on May 19th. While many budget bills did pass in time, about ten did not. This means that a special session will be needed. The way these work is that the Governor must call any special session, and typically that doesn’t happen until all remaining budget negotiations are resolved, so the session is short and focused. There is a lot of good work going on, so I believe it should happen within the next week or so. We absolutely have to be done by July 1st because after this, government services in areas not yet passed would begin shutting down. Amid federal chaos and dysfunction in D.C., Minnesotans expect their elected leaders to work together, especially in times of divided government. Special sessions have been pretty common in prior divided government situations in Minnesota. Even though we have some serious disagreements with Republicans, the top level agreement made between House and Senate leaders and the Governor on budget targets is guiding our efforts and I’m pretty hopeful that we’ll complete our work next week. Don’t get me wrong; there are definitely things I’m not happy about in the top level agreement. One of the most controversial items is to kick our undocumented adult neighbors off of MN Care health insurance, though at least kids will still be covered. This was the Republicans’ #1 demand to pass a budget and not shut down the government. It is claimed that this is for fiscal responsibility, but that is not the case. Our undocumented neighbors pay $220M in local and state taxes annually, and they do pay for this health insurance. It was unnecessary to take this action to balance the budget. In addition to being cruel, this is not sound financial policy, because when people don’t have insurance they don’t do preventative care, and then turn up at emergency rooms needing expensive crisis care. These costs are then passed on to taxpayers and others with insurance. The good news is that many major budget bills were passed, as well as important stand-alone initiatives like my law for stricter DWI policies (I’ll expand on this below), and Unemployment Insurance for Iron Range miners and hourly school workers. We also passed a strong pensions bill that enacts early retirement benefits for our teachers and increases cost-of-living adjustments for police officers and firefighters. The completed compromise House and Senate Veterans budget bill also passed with broad bipartisan support. Here is some more information on final budget bills passed before the end of the regular session: Bills Still Being Worked OnOne of the bills still being worked on is Education. Progress has been made towards achieving a compromise education budget that preserves unemployment benefits for our paraprofessionals, bus drivers, nutrition staff, and clerical employees. This is a win for Minnesota as these essential hourly school workers, who feed, transport, and care for our kids throughout the academic year, are among our lowest-paid. Until 2023, they were the only hourly workers employed more than four months annually who couldn't access unemployment benefits. Their stability has reduced turnover and staffing shortages in these critical areas. We’re also fighting hard to maintain strong education investments, including the linking of the funding formula to inflation. It looks like our work over the past two years may be having an impact, as it was really encouraging to see the recent news that Minnesota's graduation rates are reaching historic highs! Another budget bill being worked on is Transportation. You may remember that I voted against this budget bill when it came out of the House, especially due to its unnecessary rollbacks of important climate legislation that has no impact on the budget we need to pass. As I’m writing this, I’m involved in negotiations on a final version of this bill with folks from the Senate and Governor’s office. Other bills still being worked on include Health, Human Services, Energy (I’m on this conference committee and it is going slowly), Taxes, and Capital Investment. DWI Legislation is Signed by Governor WalzOne of my top priorities this session was borne out of the horrific tragedy at Park Tavern last September, when an extremely intoxicated man drove through an outdoor patio at Park Tavern, killing two and injuring twelve others. That caused me to investigate our DWI laws in Minnesota. I’m pleased to report that after a short conference committee to resolve small differences in the bill originally passed in the House and Senate, this bipartisan legislation passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law by Governor Walz on Thursday, May 22nd. Thank you to the Park Tavern and Methodist Hospital communities, really families, that shared their stories with me and helped shepherd this legislation into law. I hope those impacted can take some solace in knowing that the tragedy has now resulted in changes to our laws that will save lives. Thank you also to Senator Ron Latz, my Senate partner and Senate lead author of this legislation, as well as Rep Jeff Witte, my Republican partner in the House.  With Senator Latz during our Conference Committee  During House passage, with SLP Mayor Nadia Mohamed, Rep Jeff Witte, Methodist community members, and other House authors As a reminder, the legislation focuses on repeat offenders, because unbelievably, the driver had five prior Minnesota DWI convictions. I provided more information about the details of the law in this prior legislative update. Protecting Policies that Help Working FamiliesThis year, we’re also working to protect our major policy wins from 2023, like Paid Family and Medical Leave. Minnesotans believe in caring for one another. But right now, most workers in our state — and across the country — don’t have access to paid family and medical leave. But starting January 1, 2026, our new Paid Family & Medical Leave program will allow workers to take time off to recover from a serious health condition, welcome a new child, care for a loved one, or navigate personal safety challenges – all without having to sacrifice their economic security. Republican efforts to roll back Minnesota’s universal school meals program did not move forward. I’m also glad to report that our final budget agreement protects free breakfast and lunch for all students. This program is helping kids stay focused in the classroom and easing financial pressure for families across the state. World Bee Day & Protecting our PollinatorsThis week we celebrated World Bee Day. I was reminded of the critical importance of protecting our pollinators who sustain not only Minnesota's agricultural economy, but our entire ecosystem. This is another area that is being impacted by climate change. We must remember that a future with healthy pollinator populations is a better, more sustainable future for all Minnesotans.  |