Minnesota Legislature to begin session with record surplus, total DFL control

ST. PAUL, Minn. –  The Minnesota Legislature will begin the 2023 session Tuesday with a record surplus and single party control for the first time in a decade. 

During his inaugural address for his second term on Monday, Gov. Tim Walz expressed optimism about working with lawmakers this term, noting the opportunity a DFL trifecta presents to see through policy proposals he supports.  

"The era of gridlock in St. Paul is over," said Walz, who pledged legislation that would give the "largest" investment in public education in state history and boost mental health supports for students, among other priorities. "This is not a list of nice-to-have things. These are a list of things we will do for the children and families of Minnesota to improve their lives." 

The House and Senate will gavel in at noon to begin their work over the next several months, including the task they must complete before the end of June: passing a two-year budget. 

A record-breaking budget surplus of more than $17 billion will shape conversations about how policymakers should use that money, whether it be funding long-term investments or returning some of it to the taxpayer in the form of a rebate check or rate cuts.  

Democrats with their majorities will look to advance an agenda that had been previously thwarted by a Republican-led Senate the past few years, including passing paid family and medical leave, tackling climate change, legalizing recreational marijuana and putting abortion rights into law -- a bill to do the latter has a hearing as early as Thursday.  

"I expect this session to be the great catch-up session and I expect folks to go big," said Abou Amara, a Democratic strategist who worked for the House DFL when Democrats previously had total control in 2013. "Ten years ago there were a lot of things enacted -- the Women's Economic Security Act, raising the minimum wage -- a lot of policies that went through, but there were things left on the table undone."   

But Amara acknowledged that DFL members can diverge on specific issues and finding agreement will at times be challenging. There's already evidence of emerging political fault lines: a few newly-elected DFL Senators came out publicly and said they support exempting social security income from state taxes for all seniors, after their party leaders expressed concern about doing so.  

"On the policy there's going to be significant disagreements, and especially when you have a one-seat majority in the Senate, that means every single ... Democratic senator essentially has a veto pen, and so there's going to be a lot of compromise, and that's naturally going to bring things kind of to the middle of where Minnesotans are," Amara said. 

Even though Democrats have the majorities, they will need to compromise with Republicans on legislation, especially any bonding proposals for construction projects, which require a supermajority vote to pass.  

"People kind of assume the majority is what matters but the dissenting minority -- their voice is really important," said Amy Koch, a Republican strategist who previously served as senate majority leader. "It's very close in the senate. It's 34-33. That's one vote. So Republicans in the Senate actually do have a lot of power." 

This session will be the most diverse ever, with 35 of the 201 members in both the House and Senate who identify as people of color, according to a list from the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. That's a notable increase from just nine Black, Indigenous of people of color - BIPOC members - who served in St. Paul a decade ago.