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Pa




Dear Neighbor,

The 2025 session was unique for several reasons, from elections landing in court to a tied House, a 23-day holdout by House Democrats and beyond. It took a one-day special session to complete our budget work that was unfinished at the regular session’s May 19 deadline.

In the end, it is good to see House Republicans restored balance at the Capitol after two years of one party having total control. For starters, we eliminated free health insurance for illegal immigrants, made the largest spending cut in state history and rejected tax increases on Minnesota families during a special session Monday.

It was a challenge to find agreement on bills this year, with a tied House and a narrow, one-vote Democrat majority in the Senate. In addition, some of the bills are controversial so it’s taken this extra time to put them together. Of course, it didn't help matters that DFL House members missed nearly four weeks of session, either.

On the budget, it was especially important to bring back some stability after Democrats spent the $18 billion surplus, increased state spending by nearly 40 percent and raised taxes by $10 billion in the last biennium.

In response, House Republicans delivered the largest reduction to government spending in state history with $2 billion in budget cuts and, overall, $5 billion less spending than the previous budget to help offset a looming $6 billion shortfall. Proposals to further raise taxes on Minnesota families were defeated, including a fifth-tier income tax bracket ($8 billion), the governor’s sales tax increase ($400 million), and the expansion of sales taxes to professional services ($334 million).

Taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants is another issue House Republicans worked to address. Enrollment and projected costs have soared since the expansion of MinnesotaCare to include people here illegally took effect just five months ago, causing sustainability concerns. The House on Monday approved a bill making adult illegal immigrants ineligible for the program.

The agriculture bill was among budget packages that passed last month. As chair of the House committee on agriculture, I am pleased with the resources we provided to combat infectious diseases in flocks and herds and help the state’s agriculture industry in general.

Minnesota is a powerhouse in agriculture, and overall, this is a solid bill that supports the industry and helps our farmers. We had to tweak a few things from the original House version after the overall funding total was trimmed, but I’m especially glad we kept the increased funding for the Board of Animal Health. That will go a long way in tackling disease outbreaks in our flocks and herds.

Overall, I’m sure both sides of the aisle wish there were things they could have done a bit differently this session but that’s the reality of a legislature that is split 101-100 between Democrats and Republicans. Neither party got all it wanted and, in the House, bipartisanship was necessary for any bill to pass. The new state budget will help get our state pointed in the right direction, with House Republicans providing some much-needed balance in the process.

Look for more news as developments occur during these interim months and hope to see you around the district this summer.

Sincerely,

Paul






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State Rep. Paul Anderson
2nd Floor, Centennial Office Building
658 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55155
[email protected]
(651) 296-4317







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