SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — On Wednesday, the Minnesota House Subcommittee on Legislative Process Reform held the first of several public meetings to review the legislative budget process and seek improvements. Nonpartisan staff gave an overview of legislative process reform, the budget cycle, and the omnibus bill process.
“Minnesotans expect and deserve a modern, efficient, and transparent legislative process,” said Speaker Melissa Hortman. “House DFLers have led the way in implementing reforms and are committed to improving public engagement in the legislative process.”
“The House DFL has consistently looked for ways to make our state budget process more open and transparent, which is why we established this committee,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “Minnesotans regularly lead the nation in civic engagement – it’s clear that they want and deserve the opportunity to provide meaningful input as new laws are considered.”
“Having recently completed our 17th special session in the last 21 years, we can see that work needs to be done to improve the legislative process,” said Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Legislative Process Reform. “I look forward to our efforts to meaningfully address reforms that would allow the legislature to meet its Constitutional responsibility of completing the legislative session on time with a balanced budget.”
In future meetings, committee members and stakeholders will continue to discuss challenges and possible opportunities to making the process of creating a state budget more open and efficient.