2023 Session Preview: Democrats To Wield Power When MN Legislature Convenes

CBS Minnesota

December 27, 2022

Democrats will control both the House and Senate for the first time in eight years when the Minnesota Legislature convenes Jan. 3, giving them power to decide how to use a $17.6 billion projected budget surplus — and new opportunities to pass liberal initiatives that the outgoing Senate Republican majority had blocked.

The main job of Minnesota's legislative sessions in odd-numbered years is to set the budget for the next two years. The surplus theoretically makes that job easier. But Democrats will have to reach agreements among themselves on how much of it to spend, on what, and whether to return any of it to taxpayers. The Democratic majorities are just 70-64 in the House and 64-63 in the Senate, which could mean some tough, closed-door deal-making ahead.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is the third element of the party's political "trifecta" in the state. He has already said he would like to revive his 2022 proposal to give part of the surplus back via tax rebate checks. The governor will have more to say about his priorities when he releases his budget proposal Jan. 24.

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