Dear Neighbors,
Just like that, session has come and gone. We started about halfway through February and wrapped everything up on May 18. Though Democrats tried to play games through the last weekend, I’m happy to report a lot of their bad ideas were stopped. That’s good news for Minnesota, because our families and state budget are still reeling from the policies and tax hikes pushed by the Democrat trifecta in 2023-2024.
It was a bonding year, so it wasn’t necessary for any budget items to pass. In my opinion, I don’t even think we needed a bonding bill either. But Democrats just can’t help themselves from finding ways to spend your money. So there were things that still got done. But there are a few I want to highlight: new safety and security funding, more land purchasing by the state, and some anti-fraud legislation.
First, I want to start with the safety and security funding. This was talked about at length this year. Democrats made a concerted effort to spend more on the safety of state legislators. Of course we want people to feel safe when visiting the people’s house, but this was championed by the same party that recently made 92% of Minnesota criminals eligible for early release. You can see the irony. It really does feel like they will invest in their own safety, but not the safety of families across the state. It’s laughable.
The final bill included $1.7 million per year for increased safety for legislators, and about $12 million in funding for Capitol security over two years. This funding could have been used more wisely. We should be focusing on safety initiatives that make our entire state safer, not a select few. This is something I think people should be aware of.
There was also a controversial land purchase included in the Outdoor Heritage portion of the Legacy Bill. This bill buys about three times more land that what we’ve seen in the past. We’ve got over 35,000 acres being taken out of private hands and being purchased by the state. This year’s land purchases will happen primarily in St. Louis and Lake counties.
I’ve been vocal on this topic because of how it harms people in rural Minnesota. When these lands are purchased, they disappear from the tax rolls, which drives up property taxes for everyone in those counties. Considering the skyrocketing property taxes already happening in our state thanks to Democrat policies, people can’t afford this. Yet another cost shift onto taxpayers. It must stop.
On the positive side, we did take some steps to address fraud. We passed a bill that creates an Office of the Inspector General. This is a win for Minnesota taxpayers who are tired of seeing their hard-earned money funneled to people defrauding the state without consequence. This will be an independent office tasked with investigating fraud and creating policies to stop it before it begins. It’s a commonsense bill, so it’s hard to believe House Democrats kept it from passing last year, but they did. Imagine how much money we could’ve saved taxpayers if they didn’t play games and we already had this in law.
We’re also helping counties modernize the systems they use to administer Medicaid services. This is something they’ve been asking us to do for years and we’re finally starting that process. Counties are feeling over-burdened by mandates passed by the Democrat trifecta in 2023-2024, in turn creating higher property taxes for you. This change relieves one burden on them, hopefully saving everyone in the long run.
Democrats also tried to pass their typical partisan agenda: anti-ICE legislation, a bill to take your firearms away, rent control, and more. Luckily with a divided House, we were able to stop these ridiculous bills.
Overall, we got a few good things done, but I think we should’ve done less and focused instead on cutting the useless spending that’s making life unaffordable and bleeding our budget dry. There was no need for a non-budget year to essentially become a supplemental budget year. That’s not the way things should be done, but in a Democrat-run state, that’s what you can expect.
That being said, next year will see a new legislature. I am hopeful it is finally one that responds to the needs of Minnesota families, rather than taxing them out of the state.
