Minnesota session agendas start to emerge as power fight drags on, acrimony picks up

Minnesota House Republicans set the table Monday with their priorities for the 2025 legislative session, saying their one-seat edge gives them extra sway and a license to advance policies that had stalled during DFL trifecta.

Democrats, meanwhile, floated the possibility of steering clear of the Capitol to deprive Republicans of the quorum needed to open the session. It’s a rare legislative tactic that comes with risk of voter backlash.

The Republican to-do list includes bills to curb improper state spending, rolling back taxes on retirees and automatic bumps to the gasoline tax, repeal a restriction on new nuclear power facilities in the state and reduce state requirements imposed on school districts and local governments.

Republicans said they would create a new committee specifically tasked with investigating fraud in government programs and crafting bills to add more legislative oversight to executive branch functions.

The session is due to begin next Tuesday with a shifted political power structure and an ongoing sense of uncertainty. Republicans are set to hold a one-vote advantage in the House — 67 seats to 66 for the DFL pending at least one special election — and the Senate will be evenly split 33-33 with no tiebreaker.

“There is not a tie right now in the state of Minnesota,” House Republican Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said. “There is a special election that’s been called for the 28th of January, and even that is in question.”

“We will be showing up on Jan. 14 ready to do the work that Minnesotans have sent us to the House of Representatives to do,” Demuth added at a news conference.

That was a response to a new threat the House would ground to a standstill because Republicans lack the minimum votes to pass bills. It’s an open question how much can be accomplished and whether Democrats will put up roadblocks or throw procedural wrenches into the fray.

“If there is no power-sharing agreement, we will not be here,” Democratic House Leader Melissa Hortman said, noting that DFLers planned to meet with constituents or community leaders in their districts on the first day of the legislative session if Republicans pull back on prior negotiations to have equal representation on committees and a joint say in House activities.

“No union wants to go out on strike, but if they get to an impasse, first, they’ll do an informational ticket. That’s kind of what you’re seeing here today,” Hortman said. “If they have to preserve the rights of the workers, they will go out on strike, and the people in the union check to make sure there’s no scabs and nobody’s going to cross the picket line.”

Special elections for one suburban House seat and one Minneapolis-area Senate seat could alter control in the chambers — and set the trajectory for what could move forward during the bulk of the legislative session.

But legislative leaders suggested with just a week until they gaveled in that there remains a lot of uncertainty about what they’d be able to accomplish.

Republicans said they would organize as a majority caucus and they would take steps to penalize Democrats who don’t show up for work next week.

“There is no reason why taxpayers should be on the hook for paying for people that are not going to be at their jobs, so our expectation is House Republicans will be here ready to go, and we expect that Democrats don’t, if they are not here, we will exercise every opportunity to either look at recalls,” Demuth said.

“We definitely know that constituents expect their people to be here at work and we do not stand for anyone that chooses not to show up,” she continued.

Hortman said even if lawmakers weren’t in St. Paul in the first days of the legislative session to put up votes, they would not be off the job.

“We will absolutely be doing our jobs,” Hortman said. “We will absolutely be doing our jobs every single day, and so there'll be no basis for recall.”

Hortman said that she and Demuth met Sunday to discuss a power-sharing agreement but Demuth rejected an offer that Hortman put forward. It wasn’t clear whether additional meetings were scheduled, and Demuth told reporters that the meetings were no longer necessary given the changed legislative make-up.

In addition to the special elections for open legislative seats, an election challenge for another Shakopee-area House seat is still open. A judge is expected to rule soon and issue a recommendation to lawmakers about whether to seat Rep. Brad Tabke, a Democrat, call a new election or consider another outcome. Ultimately, lawmakers set their own rules for seating members of the Legislature, so they could take the advice or move forward without it.

Republicans also filed a legal challenge to a Roseville-area special election scheduled for Jan. 28.

The seat of another senator could again become a flashpoint as she stands trial this month on a burglary charge. Republicans and some Democrats in the chamber have said Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, should step down following her arrest last year. Last session, she was barred from DFL caucus meetings and legislative committees.

A motions hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 14, the first day of the legislative session.

• Democrats show discord over rollbacks of paid family leave, other past priorities
• Trump tightens control of independent agency overseeing nuclear safety
• Casey Means, Trump's new pick for surgeon general, faces pushback
• Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a Republican who became a liberal darling, has died