Rep. Altendorf Legislative Update

WHAT'S NEW?

At the beginning of the 2025 session, I wrote that this was going to be yet another “historic” session.

Boy, was it.

With the House tallying 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats, most of us knew compromises were going to be necessary in order to move any bills forward. The problem was we couldn’t make any compromises for weeks as House Democrats refused to show up for work for 23 days, collecting their legislative paychecks that entire time.

In hindsight, those 23 days of nothingness have proven to be very costly now that the 2025 session has ended, and a good share of our budget work remains unfinished.

If there’s any good news to come from this, it’s that we won’t be entering a special session starting from scratch. Late last week, legislative leaders and Governor Walz announced that an agreement had been reached on a state budget framework.

That framework will provide the largest cut to government spending in state history. It will eliminate nearly half of the projected budget deficit Democrats created when they grew government by 40% and raised taxes by $10 billion two years ago. In fact, no Minnesota family will see a tax increase from state government this year.

With leadership having agreed on the broad parameters of our next budget, joint House/Senate conference committees worked on the specifics within their respective areas within government. During the final weekend of session, we approved several of these compromise finance proposals, such as public safety, agriculture, and state government. But others, like the health and transportation conference committees, came close but did not finalize agreements before adjournment, which means a special session is needed to finish things up.

I believe the governor will only call a special session when agreements have been reached on all of the outstanding budget bills and am expecting that will happen before the end of May.

I will be sure to keep you updated on the progress we make and will provide you with some highlights next month once special session concludes.

LEGISLATION HIGHLIGHTS

ELECTIONS COMPROMISE MOVES FORWARD

The State Government and Elections conference committee report was the last bill to be voted on and approved during the regular session before we ran out of time. I went into this year as the vice-chair of Elections with a goal to make technical changes and to start incrementally pushing back on the election system that the Democrats have really dominated the last few years.

This last year there were several election-related lawsuits. Our bill addressed tightening up the laws to make them clearer and leave little room for doubt on how elections are to be implemented.

There were many hours of negotiations with Chair Freiberg and the Democrat senators, but I am very happy with the results and that we were able to hold the line and get Republican wins into this bill. The biggest is having absentee ballot drop off time moved back to 5:00 p.m., which Democrats resisted until the very end.  

Click on the photo below of Rep. Freiberg and me to read an elections conference committee article in which we are both quoted. Who said Democrats and Republicans can’t get along?

Long floor sessions are always more tolerable with good Republican friends. Joining me are Reps. Wiener, Engen and Davis.

LAWSUIT TO PROTECT GIRLS’ SPORTS

I’m hearing from many parents and student athletes who are all saying “enough is enough” when it comes to boys playing in girls sports.

This week, three metro-area high school softball players sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other state leaders to remove transgender athletes from their sport.

I support their efforts needed here in Minnesota to protect girls and defend their rights promised by Title IX for girl-only sports.

Learn more here.

Finally, I wish you all a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. It’s a good time to remember that freedom isn’t free. Please join me in honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice in order to preserve our liberties.

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PLEASE CONTACT ME

It’s an honor and privilege to work for you at the Capitol. Don’t hesitate to contact my office at any time this session to share your thoughts, concerns or ideas. I am here to serve you!