A Legal Challenge to an Unconstitutional Bill by Senator Steve Green
Recently it was announced that UnitedHealth was filing a lawsuit against Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Department of Human Service Commissioner Jodi Harpstead. This was not surprising to hear. Frankly, I’m glad to see it happening.
The lawsuit comes in response to the 1400-page mega omnibus bill that was passed at the end of the legislative session. To remind everyone what happened, in the final two hours of session, Democrats put together a massive omnibus bill comprised of all of their other omnibus bills. It was over 1400-pages, and was brought to a vote in the Senate just minutes before our constitutionally mandated adjournment time of 11:59 p.m. That meant we didn’t even have access to the bill language Democrats expected us to vote on. Shocking and appalling on all fronts.
After the end of session, I authored a column recounting that final hour: “Death of Democracy.” I noted that not only were the Democrats’ actions reprehensible, but the bill they passed was obviously unconstitutional. The Minnesota Constitution states that “no law shall embrace more than one subject.” Yet that bill somehow combined transportation, higher education, energy, human services, health and human services, taxes, paid family leave, and a host of gun laws… A far cry from a “one subject” bill. That is the basis of the lawsuit.
UnitedHealth’s lawsuit argues that the bill violates the Minnesota Constitution, and they are asking for portions of the bill to be overturned. The portion that is affecting them is a clause that bans for-profit HMOs from running Medicaid health plans in Minnesota. UnitedHealth is completely correct - this bill is absolutely unconstitutional, and it is clear proof that Democrats are willing to abandon our Constitution when it suits them. They will do anything to push through their radical agenda.
Republicans warned Democrats and Governor Walz that passing these massive bills would have unintended consequences. Governor Walz could’ve stepped in at any time to stop this – he could have not signed the bill, he could have vetoed it, he could have stopped this bill from even happening in negotiations. But again, Democrats do not care about constitutionality as long as it means their radical agenda continues. This is not what Minnesota wants or deserves. I’m glad UnitedHealth is speaking up.
What we saw at the end of session was a breach of public trust and a disregard for transparency, and it resulted in an unconstitutional bill that is having widespread effects. Democrat leadership, including Governor Walz, should be ashamed of their actions, and they must be held accountable for what they’ve done.
