February Forecast Shows Worsening Budget Outlook Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) delivered the delayed February budget and economic forecast yesterday. While MMB projects a $456 million surplus for the FY 2026-27 biennium, this projected surplus is now $160 million lower than estimates from the November Forecast. In a statement, MMB said the “budget outlook has been ...
No Committee Deadlines While House and Senate committees met and heard a variety of policy and spending bills this past week, legislative leaders again failed to agree on setting committee deadlines. DFL leaders have been advocating for later deadlines because they expect the House DFL to return to parity with the House Republicans after the ...
Providers who offer telehealth services to Medicare patients take note: many key telehealth flexibilities that have been in effect since the COVID-19 public health emergency will expire on March 31, 2025. These changes are crucial for both healthcare providers and patients to understand, as they impact the availability of telehealth services for Medicare patients. Below ...
Busy Week at the Capitol After a turbulent January and early February, activities at the Legislature returned to normal this past week. The halls of the Capitol were filled with people from all over Minnesota as numerous stakeholders held “Day at the Capitol” events. House and Senate committees met to consider policy and spending bills ...
Back to Business This past week was the first full week that all legislators were present and working in St. Paul. The House of Representatives has been playing catch-up, quickly introducing 786 bills over just three days on the floor. While the Senate has already introduced 1,417 bills, it took them 11 days to do ...
House Organizes (Finally!) After more than three weeks of Democrat members boycotting session to deny quorum and multiple lawsuits playing out in the Court system, the DFL and GOP leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives penned an agreement on Wednesday night regarding organization of the House. Key points of the agreement, which was approved ...
Impact of Minnesota Supreme Court Quorum Decision Last Friday, the Minnesota Supreme Court weighed in on the question of whether 67 or 68 members of the House of Representatives are needed to constitute a quorum, deciding that 68 members must be present for official actions to take place. That decision invalidated all activity that House ...
Courts Alter Political Landscape Just before close of business last Friday (January 16), two separate courts handed down opinions that will impact the 2025 legislative session. One decision, by a District Court in Becker County, granted the request of Senator Nicole Mitchell to postpone her trial for felony burglary charges until after the legislative session. ...
What’s a Quorum? When Secretary of State Steve Simon convened the Minnesota House of Representatives at Noon on Tuesday, January 14, 67 Republicans were in attendance but the 66 DFLers were notably absent. DFLers boycotted the first day over concerns that Republicans would not abide by a previously agreed upon power sharing agreement and that ...
On Monday, January 6, 2025, Governor Walz issued the first Executive Order of 2025, EO 25-01, which creates a centralized state fraud investigations unit administered and overseen by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (“BCA”). The BCA’s new Financial Crimes and Fraud Section (“Fraud Section”) will focus on financial crimes, insurance fraud, and state government ...