Legislative update - March 19, 2025

Last week, the legislature dedicated a great deal of committee time working through the potential impacts of the changing economic situation presented in the February 2025 Economic and Budget Forecast released on March 6. The forecast showed a decrease in the projected budget surplus, down from $616 million in November to $456 million. The outlook for 2028-2029 also worsened, predicting a $5.9 billion deficit, a decrease of $856 million. 

The main issue MAPE continues to work on is the state budget and revenue. Given the federal uncertainty and the negative budget projections, much of our focus will be on increasing revenue and protecting against tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. This week, legislators will finally take up bills proposing raising taxes, including the fifth-tier income tax.  

MAPE also supports a version of the Governor’s budget proposal to broaden the sales tax base to include certain services while also opposing an expansion to the current tax exemption on data centers, which could see the state lose out on billions in revenue. MAPE also opposes a bill that gives $512 million in general fund dollars to insurance companies for reinsurance.  

MAPE will be reaching out to members to turn out to legislative townhalls and contact their legislators to increase taxes on the wealthy, stop giving carveouts to corporations and broaden the sales tax base to include business to business services.  

H.F. 11, a bill to delay the MN Paid Family and Medical Leave program by another year, was taken up on the House floor last week but was laid on the table. There has been no credible evidence the program is not on track to launch on Jan. 1, 2026, but rather a concerted push by the Chambers of Commerce and employer groups to delay and rollback the program. Additional bills proposing cuts and exemptions to workers currently covered by both Paid Family and Medical Leave and Earned Sick and Safe Time benefits were also introduced with support from a couple DFL senators.  

The House also passed H.F. 23, an expansion of the Minnesota Whistleblower Protection Act. MAPE worked with both Rep. Kristin Robbins and Rep. Dave Pinto to adopt an amendment to ensure unclassified state employees are provided the same protections as classified employees. It now heads to the Senate. 

S.F. 856, the bill creating an independent office of inspector general (OIG) and transferring executive branch OIG staff, had several committee stops and added numerous carveouts while retaining employee rights and classifications. We are working with our members in the OIG offices to determine the impact of the new amendments.