Minnesota Legislature
House closes 2024 session in chaotic fashion, trading bonding for budget boosts
By Rob Hubbard
After 2023 produced a record $72 billion in biennial funding, Minnesota’s legislative leaders were dampening expectations for anything resembling an encore. Tweaks and bonding seemed to be the chief items on the agenda.
Before the session started, House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) said, “The state’s borrowing bill will be the biggest order of business.” House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) said early in the session that fixing an issue with potential use of force by school resource officers was a top Republican priority, and a bill was signed into law relatively early in the session to address that issue.
On Sunday, both chambers of the Legislature finished their business for the year by the midnight deadline, and bonding bills fell by the wayside in the closing hours as DFL priorities in the House shifted toward getting a state equal rights amendment on the 2026 statewide ballot, cutting a deal for drivers with the companies that run rideshare services Lyft and Uber, and approving more than $450 million in supplemental funding for the current biennium.
Recent Dailies
Licensing, scope bill targets shortage of mental health workers
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By Brian Basham Changes to the Read Act, allowing military connected schools to add a Purple Star designation, and putting a ban on book bans are part of a conference committee report that appe...Proposed PEIP changes that aim to lower costs, provide stability, receive strong House support
By Mike Cook
Per its website, “The Public Employees Insurance Program (PEIP) was created by special legislation to make a comprehensive package of medical, dental and life insurance benefits...
Policy paramount in capital investment bill that calls for $38.7 million from General Fund
By Margaret Stevens One year after passing an historic $2.58 billion infrastructure package, including more than $1 billion paid with cash, lawmakers showed little appetite for another big bite fro...House passes bill to require lost, stolen guns be reported to law enforcement
By Tim Walker
Rep. Kaohly Vang Her (DFL-St. Paul) says lost and stolen firearms are “an appealing source of firearms for people who are illegally prohibited from owning guns.”
Hoping to d...
Bonding committee unveils $980 million capital investment proposal
By Margaret Stevens
Money for asset preservation, infrastructure projects and public housing are included in a $980 million capital investment proposal.
The House Capital Investment Committee h...
Week in Review: April 22-26
By HPIS Staff
Members got back to work after a Passover break this week that meant official House business didn’t begin until Wednesday, when committees convened and members gathered for a fl...
Transportation policy bill flies through conference committee
By Margaret Stevens
Flying cars could be able to drive legally on Minnesota roads in the not-so-distant future following action by a conference committee Thursday.
Provisions allowing registrat...
Labor, industry conferees begin work on striking agreement
By Brian Basham
With only a few major differences between House and Senate language in the labor and industry policy bills, HF3947/SF3852*, conferees walked through side-by-sides and began disc...
With finish line in mind, ways and means committee melds eight supplemental spending bills into three
By Rob Hubbard
There was a lot of merging traffic at Thursday’s House Ways and Means Committee hearing.
With less than four weeks remaining in the 2024 session, the agenda was designe...
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Ways and Means Committee OKs proposed $512 million supplemental budget on party-line vote
By Mike Cook
Meeting more needs or fiscal irresponsibility is one way to sum up the differences among the two parties on a supplemental spending package a year after a $72 billion state budg...
Minnesota’s projected budget surplus balloons to $3.7 billion, but fiscal pressure still looms
By Rob Hubbard
Just as Minnesota has experienced a warmer winter than usual, so has the state’s budget outlook warmed over the past few months.
On Thursday, Minnesota Management and Budget...
