Just before midnight, the 2024 legislative session came crashing to an end. Two hours earlier, Democrat leaders unveiled their plans to jam all remaining bills into the Tax omnibus bill, which received less than ten minutes of a hearing, with no language available for the conferees to review. The bill contains ten different provisions relating to taxes, abortion, gun control, higher education, energy, and others. Minnesota constitution requires bills to be related to a single subject, making this bill ripe for legal challenge.

“Last night as session was coming to an end, Democrats brought forward a 1,400 page omnibus bill that included all of the bills they didn’t have time to pass,” Sen. Robert Farnsworth (R-Hibbing) said. “This was at 11:30 pm, a half-hour before the constitutional deadline to pass legislation. Because long standing Senate rules would have prevented passage of this bill, Senate Democrats simply ignored the rules and passed this huge bill that no one was able to read beforehand.”

Democrats also failed to complete before midnight a floor vote on $71 million cash bonding bill that was revealed at the same time as the tax bill. Bonding requires a supermajority to pass and would have required Republican votes.

Despite good faith efforts on the part of Senate Republicans to help pass more than 12 bills between Saturday night and Sunday, Democrats simply could not find a path forward with Republicans. Instead, Democrats relied on Sen. Nicole Mitchell (D-Woodbury), who was charged with first-degree burglary after being arrested in her stepmother’s basement, to cast the deciding vote on the tax bill. They also allowed a Socialist Senator to stall floor work for 11 hours on Saturday while they negotiated one bill among themselves to keep ride share companies in the state, rather than compromise with Republicans.

“I am ashamed at the behavior of Senate Democrats to ignore the wishes of the people who are asking us to work together. Instead, they allowed a charged felon to cast deciding votes on legislation that will have huge implications for our state for years to come,” Farnsworth concluded.

 

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