Legislative Update - Week 2 Friday, Jan. 24, 2025

Much of the political landscape has changed over the past week both nationally and here in Minnesota. 

On Friday, Jan. 17, the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered that the House District 40B special election be canceled as the writ for special election was prematurely issued by Governor Walz. Under Minnesota Statutes, if vacancy results from successful legal challenge to an election contest, the Governor must wait 22 days before issuing a writ. Based upon the new timeline, the new special election will likely be held on March 11. While House Republicans held performative unconstitutional hearings, House Democrats continued to withhold quorum until the Republicans provide assurances they won’t use a temporary numerical advantage to refuse to seat Rep. Brad Tabke despite him winning both a recount and a court challenge to the recount.  

On Thursday, Jan. 16, the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the House had a quorum to begin conducting legislative business. The Court issued a decision late Friday afternoon, holding that a quorum of the House is 68 members and not 67 as the House GOP had argued. This week, the House will hit reset and Secretary of State Steve Simon will attempt to organize the chamber. It is unlikely that the House DFL will return to provide a quorum absent a power-sharing agreement being reached and assurances that Rep. Tabke will be seated, but negotiations between the leaders resumed over the weekend. 

The Senate committees spent most of last week working through agency overviews and special topic discussions such as data centers, artificial intelligence and, the overarching theme for session, addressing fraud. On Jan. 16, MAPE testified on S.F. 475, a bill that would expand whistleblower protections for public employees. We successfully advocated for an amendment to expand coverage for all public employees, not just those in the classified service of state government, to communicate information regarding public services or financing of services to certain government officials without fear of retaliation. MAPE will continue to work on the bill to ensure that anti-fraud reporting legislation passed this session includes adequate employee protections. 

The governor released his 2025 bonding recommendations on Jan. 16. Totaling nearly $790 million in general obligation bonds, the governor proposes to spend $395 million in asset preservation for state facilities, including: 

•  $123.5 million for the Department of Corrections to perform general maintenance on facilities and add programming space at MCF-Rush City; 

• $102 million for Minnesota State to start addressing the more than $1 billion in deferred maintenance costs carried by campuses across the state; and  

• $61 million for the Department of Natural Resources for repairs to buildings, trails, public water access and physical infrastructure. 

At the federal level, President Trump was sworn into office on Jan. 20 and issued roughly 40 Executive Orders (EO) and repealed nearly 80 from the Biden administration. The new EOs span across numerous subject areas, including stripping away environmental protections and clean energy standards, withdrawing from the World Health Organization and ending federal grants and programs that promote or support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies. President Trump also reinstated “Schedule F,” which would allow for the reclassification of tens of thousands of federal workers, allowing them to be fired without civil service protections and reclassifying their jobs as political appointments.  MAPE is working with the governor’s office, Minnesota Management and Budget and MAPE leaders to determine the full impact these EOs will have on state employees in their positions or administering these programs to vulnerable communities.