Today marks the end of week five of Minnesota’s legislative session. The three-week House Democrat boycott to deny quorum that halted House business came to an end on Feb. 5. House Democrat members returned to the Capitol on Feb. 6 after a co-governing agreement was reached by the two House parties.
The co-governing agreement states that House Republican Leader Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring will be the chamber’s speaker through 2026 and that Republicans will chair all 26 House committees for the next month while they hold a 67-66 advantage. All but one committee will have a one-vote Republican advantage.
A March 11 special election for a Roseville-area seat could bring the chamber to a 67-67 tie. If the House becomes evenly divided, Democrats and Republicans will co-chair the committees. One exception to this is the new House Fraud Prevention and Agency Oversight Committee, which will retain a 5-3 Republican majority, even after the special election.
Now that the House can begin their work, they have a lot to accomplish. Millions of Minnesotans are relying on the Legislature to pass a $60+ billion budget by June 30 to fund schools, public safety, roads, health care, parks, and aid to their cities and counties for the next two years. They must also address the projected $5.1 billion budget deficit in the 2028-2029 biennium. If the Legislature does not pass a budget by June 30, it will force a government shutdown.
Below are the bills we are monitoring so far.
We welcome your input on the issues we monitor. Feel free to be in touch about these or any other bills you feel are important to rural communities. I can be reached at [email protected] or 507.581.8545.
Let your voice be known.
It’s critical that legislators hear from the people they represent. We encourage you to get involved in the legislative process by communicating with elected officials about the issues you care about. If you don’t know who your legislators are, you can find them at this link.
Members of the general public can and are encouraged to testify before committees. This needs to be arranged with committee staff assigned to the bill prior to a scheduled hearing. Email addresses can be found here by clicking on the specific committee within the House or Senate.
Energy and environment
Senate File (SF) 441 - Support: This bill, brought by Sen. Coleman, would create a temporary income tax credit for the purchase and installation of solar energy systems. This credit would apply to classifications of business property and homesteads, including agricultural homesteads. This bill was heard on Jan. 30 in the Committee on Taxes. It was amended and laid over. Laying over a bill delays its consideration. It will be heard again in the committee at a later date.
SF 486 - Support: This bill, brought by Sen. Dibble, requests an appropriation for a supplemental energy assistance program to provide financial support to complement Minnesota’s Energy Assistance Program (EAP) and the income-qualified Minnesotans whom it helps. This bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate.
House File (HF) 9 & SF 572 - Monitor: These bills, brought separately by Rep. Swedzinski in the House and Sen. Mathews in the Senate, would allow hydroelectric facilities of any capacity and age to qualify under the renewable energy standard; delay the deadline by three years for electric utilities to meet standards set in the 100% clean electricity law; prohibit the demolition of fossil fuel powered electric generating plants; make it a policy of the state to support the development and deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technologies; and expand the sales tax exemption for residential heating fuels and electricity.
Notably, this bill also seeks to lift the nuclear moratorium and aims to delay many standards set in the 100% clean electricity law passed in 2023, which committed all utilities to provide their Minnesota customers with 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040. In the Senate, this bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate.
In the House, this bill was heard on Feb. 11 by the Committee on Energy Finance and Policy. The committee approved the bill on an 8-7 party-line vote and forwarded it to the House Taxes Committee, as some provisions would require altering tax law.
SF 733 - Support: This bill, brought by Sen. Kunesh, lays out the responsibilities for abandoning a pipeline, including a timeline and land restoration, and requires the approval of an abandonment plan prior to abandonment, which includes mandatory public hearings. This would ensure proper decommissioning of a pipeline and make sure that landowners do not get stuck removing pipeline infrastructure. This bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate.
SF 761 - Support: This bill, brought by Sen. Xiong, seeks to establish a one-time appropriation of $5 million from the renewable development account in the special revenue fund to Minnesota Energy Alley, an initiative to secure the state's energy and economic development future. The money from the grant may be used to establish and support the initiative, provide seed funding for businesses, develop a training and development program, support recruitment of entrepreneurs to Minnesota, and secure funding from federal programs and corporate partners to establish a self-sustaining, long-term revenue model. This bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate.
SF 997 - Monitor: This bill, brought by Sen. Koran, requires community solar garden subscribers to reside in the same county as the solar garden generating facility. Currently, a community solar garden subscriber must only be located in the Minnesota service territory of the utility operating the solar garden. This bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate.
Economic and community development
Senate File (SF) 29, SF 217, and SF 478 - Support: Seeking the same outcome, these bills, brought by Sens. Nelson, Jasinski, and Housley respectively, are looking to appropriate $25 million from the bond proceeds fund to the commissioner of transportation for the small cities assistance program. This program supplies road aid to smaller Minnesota cities; eligibility is limited to cities that are not receiving municipal state-aid street funds, which generally means that the city must have a population of under 5,000. SF 29 and SF 478 were introduced and referred to the Committee on Capital Investment. SF 217 was introduced and referred to the Committee on Transportation.
SF 843 - Support: This bill, brought by Sen. Hauschild, would allow for more rapid expansion of broadband services by increasing the cap on the Lower Population Density Grant Program from 75% of the total cost of a project to 90%.
As part of Minnesota’s Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program, projects located in unserved or underserved areas of the state are eligible to apply for funding from the Lower Population Density Grant Program to expand broadband access. With some stipulations, eligible applicants include incorporated businesses or partnerships, political subdivisions, Tribes, nonprofit organizations, cooperative associations, or limited liability corporations. This bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Veterans, Broadband, and Rural Development.
