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Retracing his time at Minnesota’s helm for “pivotal moments in our state’s history,” Gov. Tim Walz proudly touted initiatives that will outlast him but didn’t gloss over the difficulties that also shaped the state and will endure when he leaves office.

“It has been a complicated seven years to say the least,” Walz said in his final State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature.

His speech Tuesday night was part reflective and part call to action for lawmakers – his immediate audience in the House chamber — as the session heads toward a required finish a few weeks from now. 

“I’m hopeful that this chapter will be as productive as the previous seven,” he told assembled lawmakers in a chamber that was not quite full. “In fact, I’m insistent that it will.”

Reaction inside the chamber underscored the intense partisan divide at the Capitol. Democrats sprang to their feet and cheered loudly as Walz listed off a battery of progressive law changes he helped usher in; Republicans remained in their seats, groaned or, at times, made quiet retorts to Walz remarks.

Walz made light of differing reception, inviting Republicans to clap as he talked about the wind down of his final term. Then he mischievously added a parting shot when he said, “the things we implemented will be here for decades.” That line elicited huge cheers from Democrats in the chamber and cold glances from GOP lawmakers.

Walz also touched on the persistent fraud problem that contributed to his decision to step away from a reelection race. A series of raids earlier Tuesday by federal agents looking into irregularities in government-sponsored childcare programs pushed that issue back to the political front-burner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHPaQk2GD6U

“I know some of you will take that as an open invitation to play politics with every incident of fraud that takes place here in Minnesota, even though far more is happening in red states across the country,” Walz said. “So be it. But taking responsibility doesn’t just mean taking the blame. It means taking it upon yourself to fix the problem.”

Republicans were quick to lay blame at Walz’s feet anyway.

House GOP Leader Harry Niska said Walz downplayed fraud by waiting too long to mention “the biggest national story about Minnesota, the shocking multi-billion dollar fraud that struck our state.”

He added, “It would have been good to hear some accountability on the record of fraud.”

The 40-minute Walz speech included tributes to Minnesotans who died in tragedy over the prior year. 

He mentioned former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated along with her husband, Mark; Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski, both children killed in a mass shooting inside their Catholic school; and Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by immigration agents during this winter’s enforcement surge.

Walz called all of them “tragic, transformative losses. And yet, the state of our state remains strong.”

That strength, Walz said, “comes not from our politics, but from our people.”

As he and lawmakers lurch toward their final negotiations, Walz described what he sees as priorities: an expansion of a dependent care tax credit, a major infrastructure finance bill, preparations for the spread of artificial intelligence that could displace workers and additional restrictions on guns and ammunition.

Several of those will face difficulty in the narrowly divided Legislature, where Republicans have joint control of the House.

One area of possible consensus is fraud controls. Walz and key lawmakers are rallying behind new oversight, criminal penalties and payment suspension measures. The Legislature could create an independent Office of the Inspector General that would operate outside of the governor’s chain of command. 

“If you take fraud seriously, take your responsibility to help me stop it seriously,” Walz said. “If you talk about oversight, vote for oversight. Act on these measures immediately.”

As Walz gets closer to departing after eight years, he said he wants fellow state leaders to keep work at the Capitol  “a place worthy of the incredible people who live here” in Minnesota. 

He has started to discuss his post-governor plans: writing a book, starting a political operation and maybe going back to his teaching roots. 

As for the next State of the State address, Walz noted, “next year, someone else will be giving this speech.”

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Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged his complicated record as he urged lawmakers to put an exclamation mark on their session. The divide in reaction in the room for his annual speech demonstrates the difficulty he faces in enacting agenda.

In farewell State of the State, Gov. Tim Walz seeks action after Minnesota’s trying year

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