One of the most critical achievements this year was preventing over $8 billion in proposed tax increases that would have hurt hardworking Minnesotans. House Republicans stopped efforts to create a new fifth-tier income tax bracket and blocked expanded sales taxes on services, which would have added over $400 million in new costs to consumers. We also prevented new taxes on employers and rejected an HMO surcharge that would have increased healthcare costs by hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time, we led the charge to cut more than $5 billion from bloated spending plans, delivering the largest spending reduction in state history and averting a potential government shutdown. 

Unfortunately, the tax bill did have a tax increase, although it won’t affect most Minnesota families directly. The bill increases the tax on sales of marijuana and THC products from 10% to 15%. While I do not support legalized marijuana and led the fight against it two years ago, I do not support this tax increase. Since marijuana is legal, we should not have such a big discrepancy between the tax on legal marijuana (which will supposedly be tested and have appropriate serving sizes) and illegal marijuana. The tax will create an incentive for people to keep buying the black-market marijuana, which can be laced with other drugs or toxins or have unknown potency levels. If we are going to have a legal market, we should not be increasing the tax to fund the state’s General Fund spending – it will only encourage more people to go to the illicit market, which legalization was purporting to curb. 

Noticeably absent from the Tax bill, however, were tax cuts for families, disabled Veterans or charities, who pay an exorbitant tax on their charitable gaming proceeds to the state General Fund. You can watch my floor speech on the Tax bill here. 

I will keep fighting for tax relief for families, small businesses, Veterans and charities, who would be able to do better in our communities if they could keep more of their money.

Republicans prioritized the safety of our communities by increasing penalties for sex trafficking, fentanyl exposure to children, assaults on first responders, and arson. We secured over $10 million in funding for police and first responders and protected school resource officers from harmful restrictions.   

While I supported these provisions, I did not support a last-minute agreement to close the Stillwater Prison. I certainly agree that this prison needs to be renovated or scrapped, but a decision of that magnitude should have had public hearings and input from advocates and employees. There is no well-formed plan for transferring the current inmates or where future inmates will go. We also have no cost estimates.  This type of backroom deal usually makes bad policy and erodes trust in government

We ended taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrant adults, which was essential to preserving Medical Assistance and MN Care, which serve Minnesota citizens on Medicaid or who fall between 133%-200% of the federal poverty guidelines. Minnesota would have been only one of a handful of states to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants. Many states, including CA and IL, who have been doing this for years, have reversed course due to the unsustainable costs. 

As a noted in my floor speech, the fiscal analysis on the costs of providing free healthcare to illegal immigrants was incredibly out of date. It assumed 7,700 would sign up for the program in the first year, but over 20,000 signed up in the first four months. A revised estimate, based on 17,000 signing up (still a significant under-count), showed that it would put the Healthcare Access Fund in a huge deficit by the next biennium. 

We should not make taxpayers pay for free healthcare for illegal immigrants when they are struggling to afford healthcare for their families, nor should we put low-income Minnesotans’ healthcare in jeopardy by bankrupting the program they rely on.

This final bill also stopped the DFL’s attempt to raise the provider tax, which would have increased costs on Minnesotans every time they went to the doctor and disproportionately impacts Minnesotans who are the sickest. 

House Republicans also fought for stronger accountability in DHS programs by requiring licensing for autism providers, background checks for housing stabilization services, and compliance training before enrollment. In addition to securing $95 million in new nursing home funding and making some limited reforms to the nursing home workforce standards, we made new investments in substance abuse treatment and supported counties with $20 million in funding to help place patients with severe mental illness.

House Republicans protected nonpublic pupil aid and ensured charter schools were shielded from disproportionate cuts. We stopped harmful mandates that would have required background checks for homeschooling parents and defeated efforts to force ideological sex education into the state’s health standards. We also passed reforms to strengthen literacy instruction by enshrining the Science of Reading into law, increased consolidation aid for schools, and provided tools to reduce fraud in Department of Education grants. These actions reaffirmed our commitment to academic achievement and local control in education. 

Unfortunately, this bill did nothing to repeal the unfunded mandates passed on schools last session, which are causing incredible strain on schools’ budgets and local taxpayers. Instead of cutting mandates and giving schools needed flexibility to spend money on their local priorities, the bill increased the budget of the MN Dept. Of Education by $17.7 million. We shouldn’t be growing government when schools had to cut $351 million in Special Education and $71 million in support personnel and library aid. Even though we are facing a $6 billion deficit, we should be prioritizing the funds we do have to schools, not state agencies. 

Finally, I am very disappointed that we were not able to pass the bill to protect girls’ sports. Our female student athletes should not have to compete against, or share locker rooms with, male athletes. It is neither safe nor fair and we are harming a generation of girls who will lose out on championships, scholarships and the pride of fair competition. We may also be causing serious mental health challenges or physical harm as many girls feel unsafe sharing bathrooms/locker rooms with boys and can be more severely injured by the real differences in physical strength and body mass. We will keep trying to protect girls’ sports next year! 

We secured commonsense election reforms by ensuring each precinct includes judges from both major parties and requiring more secure absentee ballot practices. We blocked attempts to expand ranked choice voting statewide and stopped efforts to lower the voting age to 16.  

We also got significant anti-fraud provisions passed, including new whistleblower protections and requiring all new bills have a “fraud note” that provides a fraud risk analysis for legislators to consider, just as they currently get a fiscal note to consider the costs.

Unfortunately, despite months of hard work and strong bipartisan support in the Senate (60-7), we did not get the Office of Inspector General bill in the final agreement. This is incredibly disappointing because this new IG would have had real power to stop payments, subpoena documents and witness, and hold agency staff and service providers accountable for fraud. Although the Governor and House Democrats said they supported this new office at the beginning of session, they didn’t actually want anything with real authority to pass. This is incredibly disappointing, but we will try again next year! 

While Democrats continue pushing costly and unattainable energy mandates, Republicans were able to scale back spending in the energy budget and prevent new green mandates. We eliminated funding for pet DFL projects and secured cost-saving reforms like securitization and natural gas access improvements.  

On the permitting side, we delivered long-overdue permitting reform at the MPCA and invested in tools to support businesses navigating the permitting process. We also made important changes to the Community Grants Program to ensure trail maintenance and Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) management are prioritized over grants to nonprofits.

We successfully fought to keep $93 million in county road and bridge funding from being shifted to the Met Council’s transit priorities. We also made EVs pay their fair share through a new surcharge which goes to the state’s highway fund, much like the gas tax does, for road maintenance projects, and blocked the expansion of the electric bike rebate program. The Republican transportation negotiation team also secured exemptions for road construction materials from the retail delivery tax and included funding for Deputy Registrars and the Duluth Airport tower. Most importantly, we stopped expensive fixed rail projects including a “train to Big Sky” and the Northern Lights Express to Duluth, which will save hundreds of millions of dollars in the long run.

I am pleased I was able to get a requirement for a cost-benefit analysis study of the proposed expansion of the Blue Line Light Rail, which would run from North Minneapolis through Robbinsdale and Crystal up to Brooklyn Park. Current estimates project more than $1 billion in cost, despite low ridership estimates. I expect that Bus Rapid Transit will be shown to be a much more cost-effective transit option, and it would also be much less disruptive to local businesses in that corridor, who are very concerned they will not survive being shut down for 6 years of construction. I am so grateful for the hard work of community members and local business owners who advocated for this study and for more flexible, cost-effective transit!

House Republicans delivered for our veterans by fully funding the operation of three new Veterans Homes and expanding suicide prevention efforts. We preserved the definition of “veteran” and rejected harmful “claim shark” provisions that would have eliminated private veterans benefit services. Additionally, we secured pension offsets for National Guard members on state active duty and removed questionable therapy grants to politically connected nonprofits. 

I know many Veterans do have concerns about “claim sharks” preying on Veterans, which I share. My understanding is that a working group will meet over the Interim to come up with a solution that all stakeholders support, rather than pitting different Veterans groups against each other. I look forward to continued work on this important issue next session! 

We blocked the creation of costly new housing programs and tenant mandates while supporting targeted investments in workforce housing, infrastructure, and homeownership assistance. We did not include language that would have restricted local control on housing/zoning, although I do have concerns about the compromise language, which created a points-system that still incentivizes local governments to adopt certain high-density policies, including only one parking stall/unit. All of our communities should be able to apply for this housing money and have the flexibility to develop affordable housing that meets their particular needs. As we see time and time again, one-size-fits-all state mandates do not work. 

On the judiciary front, we cut funding for the Democrat-created “bias registry,” reduced wasteful spending by $17 million, and restored transparency to Met Council investigations.

In labor, we stopped tax hikes on families, preserved the subminimum wage, and secured funding for a new statewide teacher apprenticeship program. We were also able to secure targeted unemployment insurance benefits for northern Minnesota’s miners, who are the driving force behind one of our state’s most vital industries.

This session proved what House Republicans can do, even in a tied chamber. We fought back against tax hikes and mandates, delivered needed reforms, and restored balance to the budget process. But much work remains. To truly fix what’s broken in St. Paul, we need new leadership that puts Minnesota families, students, seniors, and small businesses first.  

I remain committed to working for a better future for all Minnesotans, one that is more affordable, more accountable, and more focused on results. Thank you for following along and staying engaged. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions, concerns, or ideas.