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
House workforce panel approves proposed updates to paid leave law
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It’s been nearly a year since the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act became law, and officials from the department in charge of implementing it are asking for changes to help man...
Bill to update law around family court proceedings about ‘what’s best for the kids’
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Corporations have mission statements defining its business, objectives, and how it will reach those goals.
The state may create something like a mission statement to guide f...
House passes protections for renters embroiled in utility disputes
By Rob Hubbard If you’re a renter, how you pay for your power, heat and water can be problematic if your landlord does the billing instead of the utilities. There have been instances in wh...Education policy conference committee lays out differences in House, Senate bills
By Brian Basham
With a laundry list of differences, the education policy conference committee met Wednesday to walk-through the differences between the House and Senate bills.
Largely, the ...
Northern MN helium discovery prompts proposed regulatory framework for gas, oil production
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Week in Review: April 15-19
By HPIS Staff
A look back at what happened in the Minnesota House of Representatives the week of April 15-19.
House Taxes Committee sends its final bill onward
By Rob Hubbard
While the 2023 tax law was mostly about targeted tax relief for lower earners and higher tax rates for those at the other end of the income spectrum, the product of this year’s ...
Health panel approves supplemental budget bill; next stop, ways and means
By Miranda Bryant The House Health Finance and Policy Committee passed a $43 million supplemental health budget bill Friday on a party-line vote. Sponsored by Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rocheste...House panel OK’s finance bill that sponsor says aims to tackle a Minnesota ‘workforce in crisis’
By Tim Walker
Legislation to distribute $16.75 million in onetime fiscal year 2025 funding among more than 40 organizations and municipalities for job training programs and other workforce de...
House passes cannabis legislation aiming to speed up retail sales
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Last summer, it became legal for adults to possess cannabis and grow cannabis plants for personal, recreational use.
But buying cannabis legally at a licensed retail busines...
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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...
