It’s All Budget Bills

Following a weeklong break for Passover and Easter, the legislature is back to work and quickly moving omnibus bills through the legislative process. Finance committees had to pass their two-year budget recommendations before break. This week, those bills have been passing through the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, with each body even passing a handful of them off the floor. The expectation is that budget bills will be mostly passed out of each body a week from now, allowing conference committees to start meeting and negotiating a final budget.

With the tied House of Representatives, there are a few budget bills that have not yet been agreed to by both co-chairs. Those committees passed a shell bill to Ways and Means, and once the co-chairs have an agreement, they will meet in their committee of jurisdiction to walk through the bill, take testimony, and entertain possible amendments. After that, the language that is agreed to by the committee will be amended into the bill waiting in Ways and Means. Bills that have not been agreed to include the Health and Workforce Development bills.

Governor Delivers State of the State

Governor Tim Walz delivered his State of the State address on Wednesday of this week to a joint session of the House and the Senate. In a speech that lasted less than 30 minutes, the Governor touted his accomplishments for the last six years, took President Trump to task for “chaos” in Washington, D.C., and implored Republican legislators to collaborate with him to balance the state budget.

Governor Walz characterized his biennial budget proposal as protecting past ambitious investments “by embracing a spirit of responsibility and addressing some long-term budget challenges so that future leaders don’t have to make impossible choices.” In the GOP response, Republican leaders reminded the media that DFLers “squandered” an $18 billion surplus and then pledged to work with the Governor and DFL legislators to balance the budget without raising taxes.

Elon Musk’s X Sues Minnesota Over Deepfakes Law

Elon Musk’s social media company, X (formerly Twitter), has filed a federal lawsuit against Minnesota, challenging the constitutionality of the state’s 2023 law that criminalizes the dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes intended to influence elections. Minnesota’s law prohibits the knowing distribution of deepfakes within 90 days of an election if the content is intended to sway the election outcome or damage a candidate’s reputation.

In its lawsuit, X contends that the law infringes upon First Amendment rights by being overly vague, leading to potential over-censorship of protected political speech. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office has acknowledged the lawsuit and stated that it is reviewing the complaint.

Special Election to Fill Eichorn Seat

The Minnesota Senate District 6 special election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 29 to fill the vacancy left by Republican Justin Eichorn, who resigned on March 20 following his arrest on federal charges related to attempting to solicit a minor for sex. Republican Keri Heintzeman of Nisswa secured the GOP nomination by winning 46.77% of the vote in a crowded primary field of eight candidates in an April 15th Primary. DFLer Denise Slipy of Breezy Point ran unopposed in the DFL primary.

Lots of Effort, Little to Show

Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives have already introduced 3,250 bills as of today. This is despite the fact that the House started weeks late, and the first bills weren’t officially introduced until February 6. The Senate has introduced a slightly higher number of bills—3,445 bills as of today. Adding these together, 6,695 bills have been introduced. Why is this interesting? On April 22, just the fifth bill of legislative session was presented to the Governor for his signature. A list of the bills presented to the Governor can be found here.

April 25, 2025