As winter fades into spring, the MN 2025 legislative session is marching towards what could be a turbulent finish.
As MOHR members are aware, it was a highly unusual start to the MN 2025 legislative session. Leadership disagreements about how to co-govern during a period of a near tie at the start of session in the MN House led to an initial boycott by House DFL members. Agreement on a shared power structure brought the DFL members back to the Capitol, but not until three weeks into session. And an unexpected vacancy in the MN Senate temporarily upended the DFL majority in that body, also leading to some operational challenges.
Added on top of these operational challenges has been the news of the serious financial headwinds our state is facing. Both a November forecast as well as a subsequently updated February forecast show the state facing a growing structural imbalance, with spending projected to outpace revenue growth through 2029, and a projected deficit of $6 billion in FY 2028-29. Legislators of each party have disagreed on the cause of the state’s financial challenges. Regardless of opinions on how we arrived here, lawmakers will have to engage in difficult budget negotiations as they face decisions on how to address future deficits while balancing spending priorities. As a reminder, the Legislature must pass a two-year budget for our state’s operations by June 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
And to add another layer of complexity to this session’s work, it became clear in late February and early March that the yet-unknown impacts of possible federal reductions to dollars that flow to Minnesota could be significant. Late February saw events on the Federal level focused on possibly large cuts to funding for state programs, including the Medical Assistance program here in Minnesota. While the state is waiting for further details about the specifics of these proposals, the possibility of these impacts is weighing on lawmakers minds’, especially in the space of human services funding.
Against the backdrop of all these factors, this session has been a busy one for MOHR. The very first week of session included both the release of the Governor’s budget proposal with its inclusion of cuts to waiver-funded disability services, as well as the introduction of our Best Life Alliance bill. Given that, MOHR members hit the ground running with advocacy activities aimed at preserving access to disability employment and day support services, and have been going ever since.
Which brings us to the key takeaway message for MOHR members as we prepare to enter into the final months of session: we will need to keep the pressure on lawmakers to see their community members with disabilities and their support staff as a priority as they do the difficult work of balancing the state’s budget. Every additional conversation that takes place between a lawmaker and a local contact about the value of disability employment and day support services helps. So to MOHR members, thank you for your advocacy efforts so far, and please be ready to keep it up through the final days of session (whenever that might be!).
