The legislature heads into its spring recess today, Friday, April 7. The House and Senate have spent the last several weeks finalizing and debating their budget and tax bills. When they reconvene on April 18, 2017 they will...more
This week, the House and Senate committees have been working toward the third committee deadline of March 31, 2017. The third and final deadline requires committees to act favorably on major appropriation bills.
Many of...more
With policy committee deadlines out of the way, legislators turned their attention to omnibus finance and tax bills. Finance and tax committees in both the House and Senate spent the week compiling bills, taking public...more
Legislators and committees are racing to meet the second deadline, which occurs at midnight tonight. All policy bills must be approved by committees in both the Minnesota House and Senate by this deadline to remain viable as...more
Today marks the first committee deadline in the legislative session. By midnight tonight, bills must be approved by policy committees in the House or the Senate. Next Friday is the second committee deadline, by which all...more
With the first committee deadline rapidly approaching, policy committees worked overtime this week processing bills. There was also House floor action on two higher profile issues the Legislature is addressing this session:...more
With two weeks before the first deadline, legislators are scrambling to get their bills heard and passed through policy committees. The Legislature also met in a joint floor session to elect four new members to the University...more
The seventh week of the legislative session is in the books, and the Minnesota Legislature is one week closer to the first committee deadline on March 10. This week, House Republicans increased their majority by one with the...more
Legislative committees continued hearing proposals on issues ranging from wetland funding and palliative care to redistricting and tax benefits for retired CIA employees. House and Senate Tax Committee’s heard Governor Mark...more
Committees Transition to Processing Bills -
Legislative committees completed the pivot from background briefings to processing bills this week, working on topics ranging from how best to provide paid parental leave and...more
This was a busy week for Governor Mark Dayton. On Monday, the House of Representatives and Senate held a joint session to hear the Governor’s annual State of the State Address. The evening took a startling twist when the...more
The Minnesota Legislature had a short week, with offices closed on Monday due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. On Tuesday, legislators were back and committees continued with introductory hearings and began hearing...more
Most House and Senate committees met for the first time this past week. Hearings were spent receiving introductory briefings and listening to caucus staff, experts and agencies review the issues each committee is expected to...more
In the first week of the 2017 session, the Minnesota legislature determined leadership positions in both the House and the Senate and got to work on high-priority issues.
2017 Session Convenes -
The House and Senate...more
On January 3, 2017, not only will the 90th session of the Minnesota Legislature convene, but the Minnesota Capitol building will once again be open to the public after undergoing a three-year, $272 million comprehensive...more
With the 2017 Minnesota Legislative Session approaching, we wanted to send a quick update on the recent budget and economic forecast.
Budget Forecast
On Friday, December 2, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB)...more
In January 2017, Donald Trump will begin his term as the nation’s 45th President. Both bodies of Congress will also be under Republican control. Trump’s win brought Republican victories to Minnesota as well. The Minnesota...more
On August 9, Minnesota held its 2016 primary elections, and November 8 is 2016 general election day. In addition to the presidential race, all eight of Minnesota’s congressional districts and all 201 seats in the Minnesota...more
This was the shortest Minnesota Legislative session in recent history, lasting a mere 77 days from March 8, 2016, to May 23, 2016. It produced a hectic pace which ended with mixed results. As lawmakers headed into the...more
When the 2016 Minnesota Legislative Session was adjourned sine die at midnight on Sunday, May 22, legislators had sent a $259 million Omnibus Tax Bill and a $182 million Supplemental Appropriations Bill to Governor Mark...more
Ten days remain before the last day of the Minnesota legislative session May 23, 2016. Governor Mark Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and House Speaker Kurt Daudt met twice in the past week to negotiate an agreement on...more
With just over two weeks of session remaining, the window for Minnesota legislators to pass a final transportation bill, tax bill, bonding bill and supplemental budget bill is closing quickly. Conference committee members...more
The House and Senate focused on their funding bills this week, with each body considering their respective set of supplemental budget recommendations. Legislators spent late nights working through the bills and abundant...more
Thursday, April 21 was the third bill deadline at the Legislature, by which date committees must act favorably upon all major appropriation and finance bills. During the week, committees in both the House and Senate met...more
This week, the Senate DFL majority released their budget targets, setting guidelines for committees to address the $900 million surplus. In their budget targets, $300 million will go toward tax relief. In addition, voluntary...more