Dear Neighbors,

The 2025 session was another historic one, marked by a 67-67 tie in the House. While Democrats were absent for the first 23 days of session, we ultimately wrapped up 22 days past the scheduled end — something that didn’t surprise many. But most importantly, we got the job done, just as Minnesotans elected us to do. 

I am very pleased to say we cut the budget by 8% from 72 billion to 66 billion. We cut the deficit from 6 billion to 3 billion, and we created the first fraud committee, with tighter parameters for grant appropriations and vetting. 

I am pleased to say there were many anti-fraud provisions in our bills, including my House File 3, which gives funding for two new fraud investigators at the OLA. Another fraud provision was expanding whistleblower protections for state agency employees. I am glad we were able to add these measures take control to stop the waste, fraud, and abuse that has been running rampant in Minnesota.

One of House Republicans and my own top priority was to stop the Governors cuts to non-public pupil aid and we successfully did that, protecting our private, charter, and homeschool families. We also were able to protect the vaccine exemptions as we are committed to standing up for your parental rights. 

Below is a list of bills we passed on Monday during the Special Session.  

Illegal Immigrant Healthcare Rollback  

• Sunsets the free healthcare program for adult undocumented immigrants beginning on January 1, 2026, and closes enrollment for adults now.  

Health & Children and Families Finance  

• Funded rural EMS and hospitals, stopped massive fee/surcharge hikes on healthcare, and increased protections for child safety.   

Commerce Finance  

• Blocked healthcare mandates and continued to fund reinsurance.  

Human Services Finance  

• Addresses potential fraud by billing practices for substance use disorder providers based on length of service time and rejected costly shifts to counties in waiver rate exceptions.   

Education Finance and Policy  

• Reaffirms our commitment to educational choice by protecting non-public pupil aid and enshrines the Science of Reading language into standards, a proven strategy for literacy.  

• Provides meaningful relief for schools that have been struggling with the many mandates that were passed last year, which have pulled funds and attention away from students in the classroom.  

Transportation Finance  

• There were no cuts to state road construction and maintenance; instead, the bill made cuts to expensive and inefficient train lines such as the Blue Line.  

Tax Bill  

• No tax increases for Minnesotan families, specifically in income tax rates or the general sales tax rate. We were able to protect LGA and CPA.  

Bonding GO and Cash Bills  

• Provides $206 million for clean water and drinking water projects as well as $86.5 million for roads and bridges, including funding for projects in Greater Minnesota.  

Environment Finance  

• Reduces fishing license fees for disabled veterans, makes the bass fishing season continuous, and includes meaningful permitting reform.  The permitting reform will modify the current MPCA permitting process to make it easier for businesses to navigate with certainty, from firm timelines to clarifying the process for expedited permitting.  

Higher Education Finance  

• Makes appropriate cuts to address the $239M shortfall in the State Grant Program and does so while minimizing the impact on individual students.  

Labor Bill  

• The greatest provision in this bill is the UI extension for our miners. Additionally, it includes language pertaining to non-competes and telecom installers.   

While there is still work to be done I am happy to be back in district and am happy to be back out on the lake doing what I love most. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns, I look forward to seeing everyone around. Have a great summer and enjoy the weather! 

Jim