A holiday break may be the reset needed for state lawmakers in St. Paul, as they are taking some time off for Easter and Passover.
GOP Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) telling the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar that he's hopeful meaningful work can get done despite many differences between both parties.
"I'm hopeful that we can still get to the end of the session and put together a package that Minnesotans are going to really appreciate," says Johnson. "We've got a number of ideas from the Republican side. It seems like the Democrats are kind of going the same route that they have been for the last few years."
There are a number of major issues lawmakers are tackling. Those include preventing fraud, after constant issues have been coming to light inside Minnesota's government-run programs. This as the White House and Trump administration have begun to look at state fraud issues, and have started with Minnesota, with an Anti-Fraud Task Force led by Vice President JD Vance.
DFL lawmakers are working on gun violence prevention, something it appears will be difficult to get to the finish line without any Republican support. There are also proposals tied to immigration and public safety, after the chaos of Operation Metro Surge, the federal government's massive immigration crackdown in the state.
It is also a bonding year, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (DFL) touting a $907 million infrastructure proposal. That's something GOP leadership has not been in-step with so far.
House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R), have been saying since the start of the session they're looking for cuts, not cost increases.
"Our state does not have money right now, and that is a choice that was made over time," Demuth said. "And so that has to be considered."
The challenge with the bonding bill, or any other proposed legislation, is finding agreement on anything, with a one-seat DFL majority in the Senate and a 67-67 tie in the House. Johnson says that means both sides need to come together, and that is a challenge.
"In the Senate, things are going through committees at a pretty regular pace over there," Johnson says. "I think the House, you're going to see a little bit more, there's some more logjams that are happening. Because they are requiring bipartisanship on their bills. So it's really only those bills that have true bipartisanship that they're going through over in the House, which seem to be rare and rarer these day."
Regular legislative activities are set to resume next Tuesday, April 7. Lawmakers have until May 18 to get their work done.
