ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Legislature adjourned Monday, putting a bow on a two-year cycle Rep. Jeff Dotseth, R-Silver Township, said was marked by reckless spending, needless tax increases, extreme policies and broken promises with Democrats in full control of the Capitol.
Meanwhile, legislation Dotseth worked on to save the CARE Carlton facility for women after the governor proposed closing it received legislative approval late in the session. Language Dotseth authored to study the reopening of the General C.C. Andrews Tree Nursery near Willow River also recently was sent to the governor for enactment.
“These are two big local victories I’m proud to have gotten to the governor’s desk to sign into law,” Dotseth said. “It’s unfortunate the majority’s time mismanagement prevented a bonding bill from coming to the floor this year. It would have been nice to have built on the $17.5 million we delivered for the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, $10 million for the Carlton County female offender and judicial and $5 million for Cloquet water infrastructure we achieved last year. Our government failed Minnesota this year.”
With the record $18 billion surplus last year, Dotseth said Minnesotans deserved meaningful tax cuts at a time when in?ation and rising costs of living have family budgets stretched thin. Instead, Dotseth said House Democrats went on a spending spree, increasing the budget by 40% – the largest budget increase in Minnesota history – and raising taxes by $10 billion in the process.
When the 2024 session began, Dotseth said Democrats were right back at it, raising the cost of a new worker leave program by half a billion dollars before it even begins, and many other unpopular and unnecessary tax and fee increases that take money out of the pockets of Minnesota families.
Along the way, Dotseth said Democrats officially put Minnesota taxpayers on the hook for a $730 million State Office Building remodel despite Republicans proposing more reasonably priced alternatives.
“It may be the understatement of the year to say we need more balance in St. Paul because one-party control under Democrats is bad for Minnesota,” Dotseth said. “So many extreme laws were passed into law the last two years, but at least we were able to stop some along the way, from a very controversial ERA bill to proposals that even further undermine our Second Amendment rights. I’m proud of the work we did to stop those from becoming law.”
Dotseth said Republicans spent part of the 2024 session successfully resolving significant problems he said Democrats created in 2023. Most notably, he said this includes a fix to the tax bill, getting school resource officers back in all the buildings they had been serving, and correcting a net-operating loss issue. Legislation Republicans championed to provide an additional $30 million for Emergency Ambulance Service Aid also received legislative approval late in the 2024 session.
Dotseth indicated Democrats enacted several highly controversial, partisan policy measures with one party in control the last two years. He said this includes adopting some of the world’s most extreme abortion policy, enacting a state-funded speech registry that could undermine First Amendment rights, and declaring Minnesota a sanctuary state for transgender healthcare – for children. In addition, Dotseth said a Democrat provision ended electronic pull tabs as we knew them, dealing a major blow to local charitable organizations.
Religious freedom was another high-profile issue this session after Democrats last year eliminated religious protections against discrimination claims that had been in our state for decades. A variation of Republican legislation was enacted into law this session re-establishing protections for religious entities.
Dotseth said a number of things that did not happen this biennium were the result of Democrats failing to deliver on promises they made to Minnesotans. In particular, he said this includes voting against bills that would ensure our of?cers have the resources they need, reneging on delivering full Social Security tax relief, failing to provide $2,000 rebate checks.
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