93rd Minnesota Legislature

The Ninety-third Minnesota Legislature was the meeting of the legislative branch of the state of Minnesota, composed of the Minnesota Senate and the Minnesota House of Representatives between 2023 and 2024. It convened in Saint Paul on January 3, 2023 and adjourned sine die on May 20, 2024.

Background

This was the first legislature to be fully DFL-controlled since the 88th Minnesota Legislature in 2013–15. During the first session (2023), the body passed a number of major reforms to Minnesota law, including requiring paid leave, banning noncompete agreements, cannabis legalization, increased spending on infrastructure and environmental protection, modernizing the state's tax code, codifying abortion rights, universal free school meals, and universal gun background checks, among others. The Star Tribune called it "one of the most consequential" ever in Minnesota, while Governor Tim Walz stated that it was the "most productive session in Minnesota history." Some journalists compared the session to the 67th Minnesota Legislature, which from 1971–1973 enacted major changes to school finance known as the "Minnesota Miracle".

Governor Walz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, and DFL lawmakers holding a ceremonial bill signing of the major legislation of the 2023 legislative session

At the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's session priorities gathering in St. Paul in early 2024, the state's four legislative leaders expressed opposition to changing the law to allow strong beer in grocery stores and a constitutional amendment for a full-time Legislature.

The second legislative session (2024) began in February. Given the $72 billion two-year budget adopted in the previous session, the primary agenda for the second session was the passage of new policy initiatives. There was legislative success in refining the state's newly legalized adult-use cannabis market to streamline the licensing process and to provide clarity to businesses regarding employee drug testing. Other significant changes made involved the role and responsibilities of school resource officers, banning shadow noncompetes, establishing unemployment benefits for striking workers, and requiring companies to post salary ranges for jobs. Another central task for the session was the assembly of a public construction bill to finance infrastructure projects. However, lawmakers did not pass it before the end of session deadline. A sanctuary state bill to limit state cooperation with ICE was introduced, but was not considered. An Equal Rights Amendment ballot measure passed the House, but was not voted on in the Senate.

Major events

  • January 3, 2023: On the first day of the 93rd Minnesota Legislature, new legislators were sworn in in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • April 19, 2023: Governor Tim Walz delivers his 2023 State of the State address to a joint sitting of the Legislature.
  • March 26, 2024: Governor Walz delivered his 2024 State of the State address at Owatonna High School.
  • May 20, 2024: The 2024 session concluded with the passage of a 1,430-page "mega-omnibus bill" (HF 5247), barely meeting a midnight constitutional deadline for legislative business. The bill's text faced vocal opposition and significant amounts of attempted amendments from Republicans throughout the session. It passed both chambers along party lines only a few minutes before the end of session.

Major legislation

2023 session

Enacted in 2023

Proposed in 2023

Boldface indicates the bill was passed by its house of origin.

Vetoed in 2023

2024 session

Enacted in 2024

Proposed in 2024

Legislative initiatives

2023 session

In the 2023 legislative session in Minnesota, state lawmakers faced the task of creating a two-year state budget with a $17.5 billion surplus, significantly larger than in previous years. This led to a budget of $71.5 billion, a 40% increase over the previous period. Key financial decisions included $3 billion in tax relief measures, substantial investments in infrastructure totaling $2.6 billion, and significant expansions in social programs.

State funding for education increased by over $2.2 billion. The increase updated the per pupil funding formula and enhanced financial predictability for districts. The reform also tackled the long-standing issue of the cross subsidy for special education and English learner programs. Early childhood education received substantial attention, with $300 million allocated towards early education initiatives, managed by the newly created Department of Children, Youth and Families. This department consolidates several programs previously spread across different state agencies. Curricular changes included the addition of required courses in civics, personal finance, Holocaust and genocide studies, and ethnic studies. The Legislature also prohibited highly realistic active shooter drills, replacing them with violence prevention training. The reforms also provided for free breakfast and lunch for all students and mandates the provision of menstrual products and Naloxone in schools.

The $3 billion tax bill was one of the largest omnibus bills in the 2023 session. Components of the bill included rebate checks for 2.5 million Minnesotans, designed to return a portion of the surplus to taxpayers, but less than initially proposed by Governor Tim Walz. The legislation introduced a substantial child and working family tax credit intended to cut childhood poverty rates by a third, benefiting low-income families with phased-out credits based on income levels. Additionally, the bill made strides towards progressive taxation by eliminating state income tax on Social Security for over 75% of recipients. Other notable tax increases included a global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) tax on businesses with global earnings and regional sales tax hikes in the Twin Cities metro area for housing and transportation initiatives. Moreover, the bill increased funding for local government aid, provided a boost to property tax refunds, and revived a historic tax credit for building renovations. It also expanded a film production tax credit to attract more film and television production to Minnesota.

2024 session

The recreational cannabis law saw a substantial update, introducing a vetted lottery system for distributing licenses and allowing pre-approved licenses for early cultivation to ensure product availability when retail stores open next spring. Additionally, the prohibition on serving THC and alcoholic beverages within five hours was replaced with a rule against serving intoxicants to already intoxicated patrons. For medical cannabis, patients can now assign registered caregivers to grow up to eight plants on their behalf.

In transportation, labor, and housing, the session addressed the lawsuits against the Minneapolis 2040 comprehensive plan and limited the use of environmental laws to challenge future city plans. Aimed at combating worker misclassification, legislation now defines independent contractor qualifications and increases penalties for fraud. The session also set statewide standards for ride-share driver pay rates, preempting local control and ensuring increased pay for drivers.

Regarding public safety, the legislature allowed limited use of prone restraints in schools and increasing penalties for gun straw purchases. Binary triggers, which allow firearms to fire on both trigger pull and release, were banned.

In social media and child protection, Minnesota became the first state to ban profiting from social media accounts featuring children, requiring profits to be set aside for the children when they turn 18, with exceptions for child actors and models.

The session allocated $24 million for emergency medical services (EMS) in greater Minnesota, $6 million for a pilot program in the Northeast, and created a new Office of Emergency Medical Services. Consumer protection saw the passage of the 'Taylor Swift bill,' mandating ticket sellers list full prices upfront, and the Debt Fairness Act, which bans reporting medical debt to credit bureaus and prevents withholding treatment due to unpaid debt.

Environmental and health legislation included requiring consultation between the Met Council and the MnDOT on light rail projects, prioritizing land sales within reservation boundaries to Indian reservations, and allocating $5.8 million for nitrate pollution mitigation. The state aims to reduce nitrogen fertilizer purchases by 25% by 2030. Funding was also provided for ATV trail construction and ice rescue operations.

Broadband development legislation prioritized grant applications from organizations adhering to specific labor rules, though it faced opposition from the Minnesota Cable Communications Association. Health and education saw midwives being allowed to administer certain medications, permitting Native American smudging ceremonies in schools, and requiring health plans to cover medically necessary gender-affirming care with some religious exemptions. Schools must implement cell phone policies by March 2025, and book bans based on viewpoint were prohibited.

Energy and waste management legislation required producers to contribute to state recycling programs and aimed to speed up permitting for clean energy projects. The Voting Rights Act added state protections against voter suppression and mandated courts to support voters. Lastly, legislation regulated and banned many so-called junk fees, requiring businesses to disclose the full price of products or services upfront.

The African American Family Preservation Act, renamed the Layla Jackson Law, focused initially on addressing the disproportionate number of African American children affected by child welfare practices but was expanded to include any child "disproportionately encountered, engaged, or identified in the child welfare system." The broader scope means that nearly all foster children in Minnesota will receive enhanced protections, similar to those afforded under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which applies only to Native American children.

Several key bills did not make it through the 2024 session. These include the Equal Rights Amendment, which aimed to protect gender rights and included provisions for abortion access and gender identity protections, passed the House but did not come to a Senate vote. Sports betting legislation was not finalized before the deadline, nor was a measure to allow strong beer sales in grocery stores. Additional measures that did not pass include: requiring cities to allow duplexes and triplexes in single-family zones; preventing landlords from rejecting tenants based on government rent vouchers; making Metropolitan Council members elected instead of appointed; local ranked choice voting expansion; establishing a statewide $15 minimum wage; and, allowing physician-assisted suicide in certain cases.

Political composition

Senate

House of Representatives

Leadership

Senate

Senate President
Bobby Joe Champion (DFL)

Majority (DFL) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

House of Representatives

House Speaker
Melissa Hortman (DFL)

Majority (DFL) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

Demographics

At the start of the 93rd legislature, 35 of the 203 members (17.2%) identified as a member of an ethnic or racial minority. This included 13 members identifying as African American (5 of whom further identified as Somali), 9 members as Hmong, 4 members as Native American Indian, 4 members as Hispanic and Latino (1 of whom further identified as Puerto Rican), and 1 member as Japanese. 3 members reported multiracial identities: Lisa Demuth (R) was born to a White mother and African American father; Aisha Gomez (DFL) describes herself as "a mixed-heritage Latina, Arab and Jewish woman", and Alicia Kozlowski (DFL) was raised by their Ojibwe mother and Mexican father.

Of the 78 members who reported a religious affiliation, 47 are Protestants (including 20 Lutherans), 22 are Catholic, 7 are Jewish, and 2 are Muslim.

Members

Senate districts by party
  Republican
  DFL

Senate

House of Representatives

House districts by party
  DFL
  Republican

Changes in membership

House of Representatives

Senate

Committees

Senate

House of Representatives

See also

Notes

References

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Uses material from the Wikipedia article 93rd Minnesota Legislature, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.