The 91st legislative session ended on Sunday, May 17, 2020 with the Minnesota Legislature adjourning sine die.
The 2020 legislative session began on February 11 with a positive budget balance of $1.5 billion and a strong economic outlook for Minnesota. By mid-March, the COVID-19 pandemic had completely upended the state’s economic forecast and forced the Legislature to change how it did its work. Virtual committee hearings became the norm, and floor session changed dramatically with social distancing and some members voting remotely. A normal year became laser focused on measures to keep Minnesotans safe and to address the fallout of COVID-19.
With the costs of dealing with the pandemic rising and less revenue coming in for the state, Minnesota’s initial positive budget outlook swung to a $2.4 billion projected budget deficit. The updated May budget outlook confirms what we suspected: COVID-19 has created unprecedented economic disruption. This $4 billion swing in the economy presented a clear contrast on how to respond. Senate DFLers favored direct aid to help families and small businesses to weather this storm through support for housing, health care, education, and economic grants. Senate Republicans instead doubled down on costly tax cuts that would only make a dire situation worse.
While COVID-19 is an unforeseen and unprecedented crisis, Minnesota was better prepared to respond than many other states thanks to the sound management of the state’s budget over the past decade and our investment in a strong budget reserve. Investments are now needed to make Minnesotans secure in their housing, help small businesses, facilitate distance learning and telemedicine, and ensure we have the workforce we need to provide care for the elderly and people with disabilities. With new federal funding assistance available for the costs of responding to the pandemic, we can and should prioritize using our reserves before needlessly cutting the services our most vulnerable depend on.
With the state under a Stay at Home order, legislators found bipartisan agreement in addressing a series of immediate needs that helped the state build its public health care capacity and to help workers and small businesses affected by the economic disruption. However, as the Stay at Home order continued, Senate Republicans began to take legislative action to curtail the steps the governor had taken in responding to the crisis. Instead of prioritizing health and safety, they began to use the crisis as just another end of session bargaining chip.
It was disappointing that Senate Republicans politicized the lives and livelihood of thousands of state workers in the final hours of session by passing legislation to block negotiated pay raises for our front-line workers. The House ratified the contracts. Because of Senate Republican’s gamesmanship, the negotiated pay raises for police officers, firefighters, teachers, correctional officers, nurses, and other state employees– some of which had already gone into effect – were in jeopardy. It’s important to note that ratifying the contracts will not affect the current budget balance because are already paid for, since
they were negotiated within the budget appropriations from the 2019 legislative session. Additionally, there is no statutory authority for the Legislature to modify a collective bargaining agreement.
The capital investment infrastructure bill also became a contentious issue in the final weeks of session. Senate DFLers introduced our own bonding bill in early May as it is essential to the economic recovery of the state after COVID-19 and is one of the best tools we have to get Minnesotans back to work and strengthen our infrastructure. Senate Republicans didn’t release their final bonding proposal until the day before adjournment. House Republicans defeated a $2 billion bonding bill on May 16 in protest over Governor Walz’s emergency powers. On May 17, Senate DFLers rejected the Senate Republican bonding bill because of its failure to support the State Emergency Operations Center that has been overworked during the COVID crisis, its lack of any funding for corrections, very little for HEAPR and our higher education institutions, nothing for transit, and no equity in bonding funding. The bonding bill did not pass in regular session, but legislators are hopeful it will pass in special session slated for mid-June.
On May 13, Governor Walz announced a 30-day extension of the peacetime emergency while allowing his Stay at Home order to expire on May 18. The Stay at Home order was replaced by a new order encouraging Minnesotans to stay close to home but allows for gatherings of friends and family of 10 people or less. Retail businesses would be allowed to resume at 50% capacity if they have a social distancing plan. A plan for allowing restaurants, bars, gyms, salons and other venues to reopen as early as June 1 would also be announced by May 20. By last week, officials estimated roughly 91% of workers could remain on their jobs. The Department of Employment and Economic Development estimates that Walz’s new order will enable up to 37,000 more workers to safely return to work over the next several weeks.
Even under these difficult and unusual circumstances, we were able to pass the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act, important election security legislation, broadband infrastructure support for E-learning and telemedicine, and more funding to provide support for personal care attendants. We also provided support for our local businesses, made investments in housing and food security, and provided workers compensation benefits to our health care workers and public safety officials.
While the COVID-19 pandemic will require attention for some time, Senate DFLers will not lose focus on the unfinished business of the 2020 legislative session. We are committed to taking important steps forward to pass paid family leave, gun violence prevention, fair equity funding, affordable housing, a conversion therapy ban, medical cannabis reforms, addressing the opportunity gap, a stronger sexual harassment standard, restore the vote, Clean Energy First and 100% Clean Energy by 2050, and housing safety.
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| AGRICULTURE & HOUSING
COVID-19 provided unique challenges to the agricultural economy. The crisis struck workers in meat processing facilities across the country, resulting in difficult decisions for farmers. We are still in the middle of the pandemic, and its impact will not be completely known for some time. However, there will surely be lasting impacts on farmers and rural communities. |
CAPITAL INVESTMENT
The governor and caucus leaders all believed having a bonding bill was necessary. Bonding investments maintain and enhance our infrastructure, provide important investments in water infrastructure, and projects can be the catalyst for economic development in communities across the state. |
COMMERCE
COVID-19 bills passed Senate DFLers have been looking for ways to help Minnesota’s small business, including restaurants, to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the ways we’ve done this is by passing a bill allowing restaurants to offer wine and beer sales with take-out food orders. |
| E-12 EDUCATION
The Senate DFL believes all Minnesotans should have the opportunity to achieve their dreams and that includes a future in which all Minnesotans have a path to success. To ensure quality education in Minnesota, it’s not enough to just maintain the status quo — we need to make smart, significant funding increases in our schools to close the opportunity gaps our children are facing. |
ENERGY
A Senate-House compromise agreement was reached on financing renewable energy development projects from the Xcel Energy Renewable Development Account, allowing four energy projects to go forward. |
ENVIRONMENT
On a near-unanimous vote of 61-1, the Senate passed the “White Bear Area Neighborhood Concerned Citizens Group Ban TCE Act” banning the use of trichloroethylene (TCE), a volatile organic compound that is known to cause cancer and other detrimental health effects |
| HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators quickly realized funding was needed for public health response activities. With the scope of this crisis still uncertain, the Legislature urgently passed $21 million in funding for Minnesota’s public health response contingency account |
HIGHER EDUCATION
As part of the first COVID-19 relief package, the Legislature granted temporary powers to the Office of Higher Education to help students deal with effects of the pandemic both financially and academically. |
JOBS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Beginning the 2020 Legislative Session the state had a significant forecasted surplus. In a matter a few months the legislature took the unprecedented step of needing an update budget forecast as a result of the economic uncertainty COVID-19 created. |
| JUDICIARY
One of the COVID-19 response bills the Legislature passed included judiciary provisions to help Minnesotans take care of the important parts of their lives, even during a pandemic |
STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The Senate DFL caucus is committed to expanding – rather than suppressing – voter access and will continue to advocate for policies that make it more convenient and less onerous to vote. |
TAXES
The first COVID response bill passed by the Legislature in March transferred $11 million in FY 2020 from the general fund to the Revenue commissioner for grants to the following tribal nations for emergency response activities related to COVID-19 |
| TRANSPORTATION
Legislation passed this session to extend the expiration date for drivers’ licenses, including instruction permits, provisional licenses, operator permits, limited licenses, and farm work licenses, and any Minnesota identification cards during the peacetime emergency |
VETERANS
The first COVID-19 response bill the Legislature passed included $6.2 million dollars in special emergency grants for Minnesota’s veterans and their families who are facing financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic. The assistance requires an application and certification of eligibility |
The Minnesota Senate DFL is committed to working together to build the state all Minnesotans deserve with high-quality education, affordable and accessible health care, and increasing support for working families. The values we share bring our communities together and serve as a guide for how we make our state work better for all of us, no matter what we look like or where we come from.