Democrats will try to claim this session offered the biggest tax cut in state history. Democrats will also try to say that the bills they passed are what Minnesotans want. I, along with many others, have been hearing the exact opposite. In reality, taxes will go up by nearly $10 billion, government is growing by 40%, businesses will be crushed by the various burdensome mandates, and Minnesota will be worse off. This year marks the largest budget increase in state history, and Minnesotans will bear the bill.

I’ve shared many updates from the Capitol, oftentimes more negative than positive, and that trend didn’t change during the last weeks of session. There was no transparency as we closed out the legislative year. Before conference committees met, bills were debated in both the House and Senate. During that period of debate, we offered multiple common-sense amendments to bills. Most were immediately struck down, but a handful made it through. Unsurprisingly, they were all stripped out of the bills in conference committee. In fact, a number of conference committees didn’t even include a single Republican. That means nearly half of the state was ignored, and there was a lack of balance in the process.

Conference committee also served as a breeding ground for more extremism. During those committees, House and Senate members came together to match up their version of bills, until they had one singular bill to send back to both chambers. Somehow, the House ended up dictating everything in these final bills. As a result, at the last minute, we were left with a whole host of bills that were even more extreme than they were when they started. This is how we ended up with some of the worst provisions we’ve seen: red flag gun laws, background checks, a delivery tax, a gas tax, an expansion of abortion, and more. Some of these bills came back from conference committee and were double the length of the bills the Senate originally went in with. House Democrats basically steamrolled their policies through, and Senate Democrats ceded full control. Almost every single Republican amendment was stripped out in final bills. This is made even worse when you realize conference committee reports cannot be amended, and every Democrat was willing to blindly vote down party lines. The whole process was shameful.

However, in the end of session negotiations, there was one small bright spot. Republicans were able to secure $300 million in funding for nursing homes. Democrats repeatedly recognized the crisis facing nursing homes, and promptly failed to address it. Republicans worked up until the last day to see this funding through. Unfortunately, it came at a cost—it was tied to a massive $3 billion in bonding projects. Helping our nursing homes was the right thing to do, as these are the folks that take care of our parents, grandparents, and loved ones. But I hope Minnesota remembers that even with an $18 billion surplus, Democrats were willing to leave them in the dark. This funding would not have happened without Republicans stepping up. 

As this legislative session ends, I plan to spend more time speaking with constituents at town halls. If you have any questions or issues, or you would like to sign up for my newsletter to receive interim updates and information on future town halls, you can email me at Sen.Steve.Green@senate.mn.