Minnesota State Senator Eric Lucero (R-St. Michael) and Senate Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a Repair Minnesota agenda aimed at fixing mistakes and reversing consequences from bills Democrats approved during the 2023 legislative session.
The rollout comes days after legislators had to quickly fix several mistakes in the 2023 tax bill, including a $350 million tax increase Democrats claim was unintended. Work is also progressing on repairs to a 2023 law that caused school resource officers (SROs) to be removed from schools. Both of these were issues caused directly by one-party control and the Democrat trifecta ramming through their extremist agenda.
Sen. Lucero said Senate Republicans also plan to address other Democrat errors from the last session, including repairing the damage done to family budgets after Democrats spent the entire $19 billion surplus and raised taxes by $10 billion to support a 40% increase in state spending.
“Unfortunately, the hyper-partisan and hyper-divisive Democrat majority has spent the last year channeling their energy to invent all manner of additional methods to intrude government and bureaucrats into the lives of individuals, families, and businesses,” Sen. Lucero said. “The Democrat trifecta has resulted in a broken Minnesota. The cost of housing continues to skyrocket, childcare crippling expensive, groceries through the roof, and on and on. Republicans will focus this year on fixing Democrat errors and undoing the immense damage the trifecta policies have caused to Minnesota families.”
One critical repair was missing from the tax corrections bill that legislators approved last week: a change to net operating loss subtractions that will hit small businesses with a big tax increase. The change was set to take effect in 2025, but an error in the bill caused it to begin this tax year. It means small businesses and entrepreneurs will be paying about $15 million more in taxes this year. The chairs of the House and Senate Tax Committees made a promise to fix this mistake at the earliest opportunity but broke that promise by leaving it out of the corrections bill.
The Republican Repair Minnesota agenda aims to give school districts more flexibility on how they can use last year’s funding and roll back mandates tied to that money. Despite historic increases in funding last year, more than 60 new mandates have chewed through half the increase. Senate Republicans propose allowing any of the 2023 funding to be used for a local need, effectively cutting the red tape of bureaucracy, and giving schools the freedom they need to educate students, hire staff, and keep schools safe.
Last year’s $2.6 billion bonding bill was the largest in Minnesota history. However, the bill included errors that now need to be repaired. A bonding corrections bill is expected in the coming weeks.
Senate Republicans are proposing a more modest bonding bill focusing on infrastructure basics like safe roads and clean water, not politically aligned special interest groups. The size and scope of the bill are pending the results of the February economic forecast, which is set to be released on February 29.
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
