ST PAUL, Minn. — As the clock ticks down on the Minnesota Legislature's 2023 session, several major finance bills haven't made it through committee, let alone reached floor votes.
And, while the Democrat majority most likely has the votes to pass the final versions of those bills, the Republican majority has drawn out the debates for hours in an effort to slow down the process and make their views heard
Lawmakers must still pass the tax bill, transportation bill, health and finance bill before the 11:59 p.m. Monday to avoid a special session. Other high-interest legislation still in limbo includes a bill on nurse staffing and another relating to minimum compensation for Uber and Lyft drivers.
Friday the House and Senate both charged the Human Services Finance bill and the State Government Finance bill. The votes in both cases came after debates that stretched more than five hours, as Republicans raised questions and criticized their DFL counterparts for the legislation.
The state government bill includes a new commission that will be tasked with designing a new state seal and state flag. They will submit a new design to the legislature at the beginning of the 2024 Session for review. The design will become law if the legislature chooses not to act on it.
The bill also includes a provision from Rep. Emma Greenman of Minneapolis to light the Minnesota Capitol Rotunda chandelier every time the House or Senate is in session. Currently, it's only turned on three times each year -- the opening day of the session, Statehood Day on May 11, and during the Minnesota Historical Society's Halloween Haunted Capitol Tour event.
Late Friday night the Tax Conference Committee released the exact language of the omnibus tax bill. It came two nights after the panel struck a final deal on taxes. The final meeting of that committee, which had been slated for Thursday morning, hadn't been held yet as of Friday evening.
The biggest question marks surrounded the Transportation Finance bill. The conference committee had not agreed to the final language yet. That bill has drawn much interest because the House version featured a road impact delivery fee of 75 cents per order.
The final bill may or may not contain a three-quarter cent sales tax for pay for bus transit in the seven-county metro areas. There are also rumblings about a possible gas tax hike, in the form of an automatic increase indexed to the cost of living.
Early Saturday morning the Senate passed the final version of the recreational cannabis bill, which would be the last stop for that legislation. The bill passed the House Thursday night following a six-hour debate.
Governor Walz has said he will sign it, first and foremost because it offers automatic expungement of low-level marijuana offenses. Walz and other supporters cite the fact that enforcement of cannabis prohibition has fallen disproportionately upon persons of color.
Scorecard for final weeks
Finance bills sent to governor:
- Veterans, Housing
- Higher Education
- Outdoor and Cultural Legacy
- Agriculture
- Public Safety
- Early Education
- K-12 Education
- Jobs and Labor
- Commerce
- Paid Family and Medical Leave
- Human Services Finance
- State Government Finance
- Environment and Natural Resources
- Adult-use Cannabis
- Deep Fake imagery criminalized
Bills awaiting final action
- Taxes
- Transportation
- Health Finance
- Infrastructure Bonding
- Nurses at the Bedside
- Uber and Lyft pay increase
If the remaining debates run as long as the others have, DFL leaders may consider forcing votes on key bills. The only way to cut off debate in the legislature is a parliamentary maneuver known as "calling the question" but it's rarely used. In fact, it's referred to as the "nuclear option" by lawmakers.
When House Democrats called the question to end a debate in 2007, Republican lawmakers taped their mouths shut in protest, essentially saying they'd been silenced by the majority.
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