It’s been a weird, scary, frustrating, deadlocked six months for Minnesota lawmakers.
It’s also been a productive stretch for the 92nd Legislature — but it took a while.
Lawmakers returned to the Capitol in St. Paul in January when the deadliest surge of the coronavirus pandemic was ebbing. Vaccines had just started to trickle out.
Many lawmakers started the legislative session remotely. A chain-link fence surrounding the Capitol and many state office buildings were closed to the public — because of both the pandemic and recent protests against the police killings of two Black men.
As vaccination rates rose and coronavirus numbers waned, some normalcy returned to the Capitol grounds. The statehouse reopened June 10.
Divided government once again proved to be slow, messy and unpredictable. With Democrat Tim Walz in the governor’s office, Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka leading the Senate and DFLer Melissa Hortman speaker of the House, deal making was bound to take time.
Lawmakers easily blew past their first budget deadline, the May 17 end to the regular session.
They then rolled by two more artificial deadlines to get budget bills in shape before the start of a special session June 14. In the end, it took the threat of a government shutdown for lawmakers to finish the next two-year budget.
It comes in more than a month late and tops $52 billion. The state also has a record $2.4 billion in its rainy day fund and current tax collections are roughly $1.8 billion higher than projected.
Here’s a closer look at what got done and a few things that didn’t:
TAXES
How much Minnesotans pay into state coffers is always a point of contention between Republicans and Democrats, and this year was no different.
Session began with Democrats proposing adding a fifth tier to the state income tax, exempting some pandemic unemployment from taxes and tying the gas tax to inflation.
Republicans vowed to support no new taxes and pretty much got their way. The two parties agreed not to tax federal coronavirus aid to businesses and workers.
Doing so cost more than $751 million, but much of the money will come from the American Rescue Plan stimulus. There are no new taxes in the final budget.
PUBLIC SAFETY
The most impassioned policy debates for the past year at the Capitol surrounded potential changes to policing following the deaths of George Floyd and Daunte Wright, unarmed Black men killed by police officers.
Led by a group of non-white lawmakers, Democrats offered scores of proposals to change the way police interact with the public and suspects and how they’re held accountable. Republicans opposed most, arguing they would hamstring police in the midst of a wave of shootings. The final compromise scored some victories for Democrats but left many disappointed.
The changes ultimately adopted are numerous. Among them: new restrictions on police obtaining no-knock warrants, more transparency and better data tracking of officer misconduct, changes to civil forfeiture, creating “sign-and-release” warrants so officers are far less often compelled to arrest a suspect for missing a court date, new policies regarding use of confidential informants, changes to jail safety policies, and greater use of mental health specialists during 911 calls.
Additionally, the new laws will include Republican-backed initiatives such as tougher penalties for injuring police officers and an anti-doxing measure that prohibits publicizing personal information about cops. The bill also increases funding for public defenders, awards pay raises for some law enforcement officers, and closes an “intoxication loophole” that shielded some rapists from certain charges if the victim was drunk.
EMERGENCY POWERS
The partisan divide over the coronavirus pandemic that has been stewing for more than a year — Democrats largely followed public health experts while many Republicans resisted — manifested itself at the Legislature via regular attempts by Republicans to end Walz’s emergency powers, which gave him unprecedented control over commerce and personal liberties. With the DFL-controlled House consistently backing Walz, Republicans had little leverage — until the budget deadline was upon the state.
With COVID-19 cases at the lowest levels since early in the pandemic, vaccinations slowly increasing and nearly every aspect of society free from any state restrictions, Walz was prepared to relinquish control Aug. 1. However, Republicans managed to speed that up by a month, and after assurances from the federal government that $45 million in federal hunger relief could still flow, Walz agreed to end the 16-month emergency July 1. The House voted unanimously to remove his powers, and approved a new measure that allows for a “health emergency” with more limited authorities.
Nonetheless, Walz could still declare a new emergency tomorrow; talk of changing the laws that allow him to take control never gained traction.
EDUCATION
Public schools are the largest piece of the state’s general fund and the vast majority of that goes toward preschool through high school. Education funding also supports state colleges and universities and public education.
Combined, the two are nearly $24.5 billion, with $20.9 billion going to public schools and $3.5 billion to support higher education.
The education budget includes a more than $1 billion spending increase over current funding levels for public schools and more than $554 million in new money beyond what was anticipated because of inflation and other growing costs.
Most of that, $457 million, goes toward the general funding formula schools use to pay for most operating costs. The per-student formula will rise 2.45 percent the first year and 2 percent in the second.
There’s also new money to recruit teachers of color and to help districts afford special-education costs for programs mandated by the state and federal governments.
Higher education institutions will get a $100 million increase overall. Minnesota State will get about $56 million in new funding while the University of Minnesota will receive nearly $39 million.
The budget bill also directs more money to student aid and gives campuses flexibility to target money to address workforce shortages.
Finally, the higher education bill implements a “zero-cost” textbook program to help keep down the cost of attendance.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
The HHS budget is the state’s second-largest budget bill. Over the next two years, Minnesota will spend more than $16.5 billion on state health programs and other social services, and that doesn’t include federal money that passes through the state’s coffers.
The budget bill provides more funding to make child care affordable, new money to help people live independently, more pay for personal care assistants as well as increased aid to lower income residents.
Another year of the state’s reinsurance program, with a cost of about $130 million in new money, is also included. Reinsurance helps insurance companies afford the claims of their costliest patients, which in turn keeps rates on the individual market down.
BROADBAND
If the pandemic made anything clear it was the importance of high-speed internet, and Minnesota leaders have known for years that access to broadband is uneven across the state.
The Jobs and Economic Development bill includes $70 million in new funding for border-to-border broadband infrastructure.
The money will come from the federal stimulus bill and will help Minnesotans across the state with poor internet access. Minnesota aims to provide broadband at 100 megabits per second download and 20 mbps upload by 2026.
TRANSPORTATION
Minnesota’s summer road construction season will proceed on schedule this year after lawmakers passed a $7.27 billion bill to fund transportation projects for the next two years.
If the Legislature had failed to act before July 1, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said it was prepared to shut down or delay more than 200 road and bridge construction projects across the state.
The bill provides $6.5 billion to MnDOT for the state’s transportation systems, $516 million to the Department of Public Safety for the Minnesota State Patrol and other transportation services and $236 million to the Metropolitan Council for bus and rail transit.
“Roads and bridges. That has been the top Republican priority from day one, and that’s what we’re emphasizing in this bill,” said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson. “Most importantly, this was done without new taxes, new fees or mileage taxes.”
While roads and bridges get most of the money in the bill, House Transportation Committee Chairman Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, said, the measure “takes care of everyone … and every mode (of transportation) is taken care of. … We have every part of the state included.”
The bill is a bipartisan compromise in which both parties made concessions. House Democrats dropped their demand for automatic gas tax increases tied to inflation to provide long-term, dedicated funding for roads and bridges; Republicans backed off their proposal to shift sales tax revenue from auto parts and repairs to a transportation fund.
HOUSING
Walz’s 15-month moratorium on rental housing evictions will be phased out over the next 11 months under a $115 million housing budget bill.
The bill provides an “off ramp” to the eviction ban. Landlords must give renters 15 days’ notice before evicting them.
The state and its largest cities and counties are receiving $672 million in federal COVID-19 rental assistance. Renters who have applied for but have not received government rent payments are protected from evictions until June 1, 2022.
The new law restores the property rights of landlords while offering protections to renters who need it, said Senate Housing Committee Chairman Rich Draheim, R-Madison Lake. Without the off ramp, state officials, legislators and judges feared courts would be swamped by an avalanche of evictions when the moratorium ended.
The budget bill also aims to provide more affordable housing and reduce the homeownership gap between whites and people of color. It provides a record $100 million in housing infrastructure bonds, plus $18.33 million to build single-family homes and $15 million for manufactured home park acquisition and improvements.
ENVIRONMENT
While the budget includes a number of grants and other funding mechanisms for solar and wind power, Democrats failed to gain many of their environmental items — but Republicans failed on their priorities as well.
At the center of the debate was a Republican effort to block a Walz administration “clean cars” plan to require auto dealers to stock more electric and hybrid vehicles in a program similar to those adopted in at least 12 other largely Democratic states.
Republicans ultimately abandoned their efforts, emphasizing that the plan couldn’t take effect until 2024 at the earliest — after Walz would have to stand for re-election next year. A Republican governor could undo the plan.
The environment and natural resources bill also includes a ban of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as “PFAS,” in food packaging anywhere in the state — a Democrat-backed measure. The bill also includes new funds for communities to cut down and replace trees to combat the emerald ash borer, as well as new funds for aquatic invasive species. There will be no increase in fees for state parks or general fishing and hunting licenses.
Also, gar — a fish — gained protections.
BONDING
As time was running out for proposing new bills, legislative leaders were still talking about passing a bill to borrow money for public infrastructure construction projects, but no deal was imminent. As a result, the Legislature will likely wait to pass a big bonding bill until 2022, which will be a traditional, even-numbered year for funding building projects.
Lawmakers did, however, pass legislation that made technical corrections in a $1.9 billion bonding bill they passed in October. Those modifications were needed to proceed with more than $200 million in previously authorized projects. They include local road improvements in Anoka, Dakota and Ramsey counties and the cities of Blaine and Inver Grove Heights, water infrastructure projects in Arden Hills and Mendota, more than 30 flood-control projects, several railroad grade separations and numerous small local projects.
