House Majority Leader Jamie Long (left), House Speaker Melissa Hortman (center) and Rep. Kaohly Her (right) at a Capitol press conference on Thursday, May 16. Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer.
The Minnesota Legislature this year is likely to disappoint.
Democrats came into the session with a slender set of goals to begin with following last year’s historic legislative frenzy and in anticipation of a difficult election year.
Democrats are racing to get the Equal Rights Amendment on the 2026 ballot and pass a big infrastructure bill, but the clock is ticking toward 11:59 Sunday night, after which they can’t pass bills. Republicans are in full obstructionist mode, using every tool at their disposal to run out the clock and using their little bit of leverage — the infrastructure bill’s financing requires approval of a legislative supermajority, which means Republican votes — to win major concessions that Democrats seem unwilling to grant.
Having passed a two-year budget last year, lawmakers’ sense of urgency that was heavy in the air last year is missing in 2024, which means even uncontroversial bills are struggling to get across the finish line.
For example, Minnesota’s food shelves likely won’t receive much funding from lawmakers this year. Food banks statewide have seen increasing demand for food assistance in recent years, and this year they asked lawmakers to create a program that would allocate $5 million annually to the state’s six food banks to purchase food.
But that bill is dead, and food shelves will need to get by on their own for at least another year.
Many high-profile bills are either dead or on shaky ground this session. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said the infrastructure package won’t pass if Republicans continue to hinge their votes on the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Republican lawmakers earlier this week said they will not vote for an infrastructure package — known as a bonding bill around the Capitol because it’s funded with borrowed money — unless Democrats kill their ERA bill, a proposed constitutional amendment to protect Minnesotans from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, or sex.
Voters would decide on the constitutional amendment in 2026, which could be a difficult midterm election for Democrats if President Joe Biden is reelected. The ERA would also protect reproductive rights, effectively making abortion a protected right in the state’s constitution, and protect LGBT Minnesotans.
“If Republicans are conditioning their support for a bonding bill on denying civil rights to trans Minnesotans, then we won’t have a bonding bill,” Hortman said during a Thursday press conference.
Throughout the past week, Republicans have been prolonging floor sessions with long remarks, effectively filibustering DFL lawmakers’ agenda. Just after midnight Thursday, Hortman shut down floor debate after over eight hours of discussion on a bill making changes to the state’s paid family and medical leave program.
She defended her decision to end debate, which is rare in the Minnesota House. “Just as the rules provide that the minority has a right to be heard, the rules of the House also provide that the majority has the right and the responsibility to govern. So at a point when every speech is for a dilatory purpose, every speech is out of order,” Hortman said.
House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said the move will affect whether Republicans support an infrastructure package.
“By eliminating the debate, the majority party is not only disrespecting the minority, they are also disregarding every constituent that we are here and elected to serve. Every voice, regardless of party affiliation, deserves to be heard and given the opportunity to contribute to the decision-making process,” Demuth said.
Hortman said the fate of major bills will come down to the last few days of session.
Here are some of the bills that are still alive and could see passage by Sunday night.
One gun control bill
The House and Senate have taken up one gun control bill this session — a ban on certain rapid-fire triggers and increasing the penalty for so-called “straw purchases.”
The fatal Burnsville shooting of three first responders in February helped fuel the bill’s momentum. A straw purchase — buying a gun for someone when you know or “reasonably should know” that they are prohibited from having one — is currently a gross misdemeanor. The bill would make it a felony.
The Burnsville shooter allegedly used guns bought for him because he wasn’t legally allowed to purchase a gun. Republicans are in favor of increasing the penalty, but they are against the ban on binary triggers that’s also in the bill. A binary trigger fires one round when the trigger is pulled and one round when it’s released. Republicans have voted against the bill thus far.
House and Senate members on Thursday hashed out differences in the bill, and the conference committee report — the final version of the bill — will go before both chambers for final passage. It will then go to Gov. Tim Walz’s desk for his signature.
At least two other gun bills that were up for consideration earlier this session — a bill to require the safe storage of firearms and another mandating reporting of lost or stolen firearms — will not pass this year since they lack Democratic votes in the Senate.
Other gun control bills to restrict or ban the purchase or ownership of semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 also died early this session.
Cannabis adjustments
DFL lawmakers on Wednesday finalized a conference committee report to make updates to the law last year that made cannabis use legal for adults 21 and older.
Cannabis businesses that meet certain social equity criteria could begin growing marijuana plants early, if the bill passes and is signed by Walz. The idea is to prevent a thriving illicit market, so cannabis growers need to start now to have enough supply once businesses open next year.
Only those social equity applicants — e.g., people who have faced prior legal trouble over marijuana enforcement — would be allowed to start growing cannabis early. Everyone else will have to wait until next year when the broader licensing process begins.
Equal Rights Amendment
Hortman on Thursday said House Republicans all week have been filibustering on other bills to prevent the ERA bill from being heard.
House Minority Leader Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, noted that the U.S. has a long history of people filibustering civil rights legislation, citing the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Long said Republicans will not stop the ERA.
“We’re doing our work, and they’re not going to be able to prevent an Equal Rights Amendment from getting in front of the Minnesota public,” Long said.
The House will take up the ERA bill on Friday, and Hortman said the Senate has agreed to the House’s ERA language.
Uber/Lyft
DFL lawmakers say they have been working with drivers, the ride-hail companies and the governor’s office to reach a deal on minimum pay rates.
Long said the DFL is “working in good faith.” Last week, legislative leaders and members of the Minneapolis City Council announced an agreement on minimum pay rates — $1.27 per mile and 49 cents per minute — but Uber and Lyft said they’ll leave the state if those rates are enacted. Long filed an amendment on Thursday to replace those rates but without specifying new figures — leaving open the option for an amendment to his amendment when the bill comes to the floor.
A state analysis of more than 18 million rides in 2022 estimates minimum pay of 89 cents per mile and 49 cents per minute would guarantee drivers the Minneapolis minimum wage of $15.57 per hour after accounting for vehicle expenses and payroll takes. A higher rate of $1.21 per mile would compensate drivers for benefits including health insurance and retirement savings.
Complicating matters further, the city of Minneapolis enacted even higher rates that are set to take effect on July 1, and Uber says it will leave the Twin Cities metro if the rates take effect. Lyft says it will leave Minneapolis. State Democrats — especially those representing Minneapolis — do not want to preempt the city’s own minimum wage, but the governor has said he wants a deal that keeps the services operational in the state.
Infrastructure package
Democrats and Republicans are attempting to hash out a deal on an infrastructure package of roads, bridges, upgrades to water treatment plants, maintenance of university buildings and other public works. Its prospects look bleak.
The Legislature last year passed a $2.6 billion infrastructure package after failing to pass a bill in 2022. Infrastructure packages are normally passed during even years, which also happen to be election years, when candidates can brag about bringing projects home to their districts.
On Tuesday, Republicans held a press conference and said they are willing to pass a $890 million bonding bill, as long as the DFL majority refrains from passing an Equal Rights Amendment, a public health insurance option and that lawmakers pass a bipartisan election package, among other conditions.
Hortman said Thursday those other issues are off the table when it comes to negotiating the infrastructure bill.
Sports betting
A bill to legalize sports betting, which would give tribal nations exclusive rights to the gambling licenses, has run into roadblocks all session, though lawmakers are still attempting to come to an agreement.
On Thursday, Hortman said that if lawmakers cannot come to a deal on sports betting, they will pass legislation that would ban historic horse racing machines. The Minnesota Racing Commission last month approved the machines, which allow users to bet on races from the past.
Without DFL unanimity, the sports betting bill would require Republican support, and whether it passes this year will be up to her GOP colleagues, Hortman said.
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