I Think We All Saw This Coming

The 2021 regular session adjourned Monday; however, we will be back for a special session in June to attempt to pass the state budget. But why?!

During the 1973-1974 legislative biennium, 1,366 bills were signed into law. This past biennium, only 150 bills were signed into law. This isn't because less legislation is getting through; rather, it is because many of our elected leaders no longer follow the single subject provision of our State's Constitution that requires all bills to pertain to one single subject. Instead, bills are lumped together into massive omnibus bills that require only one vote. Why? To obfuscate, to cajole, to pass controversial party agenda items. See the video I prepared below to talk about why this result was almost inevitable.

And Now The Triumvirate...

Now that we have officially adjourned with no budget, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader and the Governor announced that they have agreed to "targets."

This means that the legislature will be coming back again in June for a special session in order to pass the budget. The $52 billion agreement between the leaders included full federal conformity for both PPP loans and unemployment payments, as well as no tax increases. However, this budget agreement is strictly an agreement on numbers and not on policy provisions so standing committees will continue to meet during the interim to discuss various policy measures and how to assemble bills that will fit into the numbers agreed to by the people who tell us all what to do.

I have included the agreement letter below.

Vote to End the Emergency Powers

And one last time before we adjourned, the Minnesota House voted on ending the Governor’s emergency powers. It is abundantly clear that there is no emergency in the state of Minnesota; however, House democrats continue to support Governor Walz in keeping the "State of Emergency" powers in place.

Representative Munson spoke on the House floor about our lawsuit challenging the Governor’s use of emergency powers, and how the appellate court believes that the Governor should have the option to veto our legislation ending the peacetime emergency. If the Supreme Court agrees with this ruling, the Governor will have completely unchecked power that the legislature can never take back.

The only way to hold the Governor accountable would be at the ballot box.

Choose Freedom,

Cal Bahr
State Representative, 31B

Contact:

We are still attempting to provide regular contact remotely regardless of our COVID-19 restrictions so If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us - please email my Legislative Assistant, Barbara, at barbara.smith@house.mn.

Watch the Minnesota House on Public TV

Video: Streaming Website. Also you can watch committees and Floor Sessions on YouTube.