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Good afternoon!
Following weeks of negotiations, we met in St. Paul yesterday to pass our outstanding bills before the end of the biennium on June 30th. It was a long day, as we had over a dozen bills to pass, but we were able to secure key GOP provisions in each of them. Below is a short summary of the bills we passed.
Illegal Immigrant Healthcare Rollback
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Sunsets the free healthcare program for adult undocumented immigrants beginning on January 1, 2026, and closes enrollment for adults now.
Health & Children and Families Finance
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Funds rural EMS and hospitals, stops massive fee/surcharge hikes on healthcare, and increases protections for child safety.
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Blocks healthcare mandates and continues to fund reinsurance.
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Addresses potential fraud by billing practices for substance use disorder providers based on length of service time and rejects costly shifts to counties in waiver rate exceptions.
Education Finance and Policy
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Reaffirms our commitment to educational choice by protecting non-public pupil aid and enshrines the Science of Reading language into standards, a proven strategy for literacy. Blocks cuts to non public schools.
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Provides meaningful relief for schools that have been struggling with the many mandates that were passed last year, which have pulled funds and attention away from students in the classroom.
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There were no cuts to state road construction and maintenance; instead, the bill makes cuts to expensive and inefficient train lines such as the Blue Line.
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No tax increases for Minnesotan families, specifically in income tax rates or the general sales tax rate. We were able to protect LGA and CPA.
Bonding GO and Cash Bills
- Provides $206 million for clean water and drinking water projects as well as $86.5 million for roads and bridges, including funding for projects in Greater Minnesota.
- It blocks political handouts, which are typically included in bonding bills and take away from critical funding for roads, bridges, clean water, etc.
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Reduces fishing license fees for disabled veterans, makes the bass fishing season continuous, and includes meaningful permitting reform. The permitting reform will modify the current MPCA permitting process to make it easier for businesses to navigate with certainty, from firm timelines to clarifying the process for expedited permitting.
Data Center Bill
- Creates a "Very Large Customer" class with the PUC, requires high-water-use data centers (100M+ gallons/year) to submit preapplication info to the DNR, imposes a new fee on large-scale centers to support the Energy and Conservation Account, and extends the IT sales tax exemption to 35 years.
Higher Education Finance
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Makes appropriate cuts to address the $239M shortfall in the State Grant Program and does so while minimizing the impact on individual students.
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The greatest provision in this bill is the UI extension for our miners. Additionally, it includes language pertaining to non-competes and telecom installers.
This session was unprecedented, from the 23-day Democrat shutdown, to the special election, and topped off with a special session. I am proud of the work that we were able to accomplish, but we will continue fighting this interim and into next session. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns with my contact information below.
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Please Contact Me
If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any issue related to state government, please feel free to contact me at either 651-296-3201 or [email protected] I would love to hear from you.
It’s an honor to represent the best!
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2802 Centennial Office Building 658 Cedar Street Saint Paul, MN 55155 [email protected] 651.296.3201 |
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