3300 bills in 2023 session

The Minnesota legislature, with the DFL in control, introduced many new proposals in this legislative session and the results will impact almost everyone. Some of it has been pent up progressive ideas from the DFL party, and they did their best to get them through. Those that did not get passed will undoubtedly be on the agenda for next year’s session. All of this will have an impact for many years down the road.

Some of the key bills passed by the DFL were codification of abortion rights, 100% clean energy by 2040, restoration of felon rights and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. Those were passed early in the 2023 session.

About the Town

Gene Johnson

A historic 17.5 billion budget surplus gave the public reason to believe there would be no tax increases. Not so. Tax increases were authorized as certain local sales taxes like the transportation bill which included a metro sales tax increase, a new retail delivery fee, and a gas tax tied to inflation indexes. There was also an additional metro-wide sales tax increase in the housing bill.

Some of the other priorities of the DFL party that got through was the new child’s tax credit, paid family and medical leave and long-term transportation funding.

The 2.6 billion capital investment package providing 300 million in nursing home funding will be helpful to rural Minnesota.

Recreational cannabis legislation got a lot of attention. Now Minnesota is the 23rd state to legalize cannabis. Some positive bills passing include the red flag laws and private gun sale background checks, free school lunches and a transgender refuge law. The free school lunches can be helpful to many families, but there can be food waste. The cost may be offset by eliminating the administration of free and reduced lunch programs. I learned some students have fast food chicken sandwiches delivered to them at school because they don’t like the school lunch menu. I remember in elementary school having a great deal of macaroni and cheese, which I set aside in my adult life due to the frequency of it in school.

There were a lot of other bills passed that included a retail delivery fee and elimination of non-compete agreements.

When it comes to public notice as a newspaper, we have a keen interest. There are some new requirements for mandatory public meeting notices so that the public may be informed. This is so important when trying to maintain transparency in government.

The new employment laws for paid family and medical leave and earned sick and saved time, which will be implemented next year, is going to have quite an effect on small businesses regarding how they will cover the cost and how they will fill positions, especially now when there is limited availability of employees. It is important that individual businesses and corporations learn about all these new regulations. They will undoubtedly be campaigning and lobbying in advance of next year’s legislative session.

We elect these people to office to represent us, and if we don’t like what they do, we can always change it. Not everything they did needs to be discarded, but perhaps modified. A lot of times these things get passed so quickly, not everyone realizes the impact.

Sometimes I think government makes life more complicated.

Some of the material in my column this week was taken from the Minnesota Newspaper Association lobbying firm of Cook, Strong, and Sellwood.

Gene Johnson is the interim publisher of Press Publications