Friends and neighbors,
The 2025 regular legislative session officially ended at midnight on May 20. It should’ve been enough time to finish the work on our agenda, but House Democrats refused to show up for the first three weeks. It was a deliberate, cynical tactic to block House Republicans from using their majority to govern. That lost time set us back, and now we’ll need a special session to pass a full state budget as required by the Constitution.
There’s a lot left on the table. Nine budget bills remain unfinished. So does the tax bill. And a few other policy bills are still in limbo.
I’m especially concerned about a few really bad ideas that are still in the mix. Gov. Walz and Senate Democrats have proposed cuts to nursing homes and disability services. They have also recommended closing the $6 billion deficit they created by shifting state costs to counties, which would cause significant property tax increases or cuts to services. These cost shifts don’t fix anything. They just pass the buck, and Minnesotans will be the ones paying for it.
Despite the gridlock, some good work has been done. We passed a bipartisan Human Services policy bill that will help us crack down on fraud, strengthen oversight in long-term care, and ease burdens on mental health providers.
The agriculture budget delivers real wins for rural Minnesota, including support for farmers dealing with wolf and elk depredation, better Farm-to-School programs, and improvements to cottage food laws that help small food producers.
We will continue to work over the next few days in preparation for the upcoming special session. While I am ready to work together with anyone to get a good budget done, I won’t rubber-stamp or support a deal that raises taxes, shortchanges rural Minnesota, or fails to put Minnesotans first.
If you have any questions or feedback, I would love to hear from you!
Sincerely,