Dear Friends,
This week, a few smaller bills were passed in the Minnesota House. Since there is not a lot to talk about with these bills, I thought I’d take the time to go over the final process that will happen over the next few weeks until session ends on May 22nd.
Over the next two weeks, the Minnesota House will be debating and voting on the various committee omnibus bills that the House majority has compiled. These bills will be on subject areas like education, elections, taxes, public safety, health and human services, and much more.
You already know my feelings about omnibus bills, which are full of a plethora of individual bills that have been put together by the committee chairs. Legislators are left with the job of weighing the good and the bad within these bills - and then either voting for provisions they would never support or against provisions that they would love to support. These big bills also lack the transparency that voters deserve so they can know how legislators are voting on various subjects.
At the same time the House is passing their omnibus bills, the Senate majority will be passing their own omnibus bills. Once both bodies approve their omnibus bills, each subject area will then go to a conference committee comprised of a small group of senate and house members controlled by the majority party. These committees will negotiate any differences between the Senate and House bills and then the final bills will return to each body for a final vote - and lastly to the Governor’s desk for a signature.
I will do my best to keep you informed as these big bills come to the House floor over the next number of days.
Have a good weekend,
Peggy