Good morning. The Minnesota House is on record in a bipartisan vote for sticking around a bit longer.

The Minnesota Senate will be hospitable to some of the state’s youngest residents. A rule change will permit lawmakers and their staff to have children with them during floor sessions. It’s a major shift that didn’t come without resistance. Senators who have been told they can’t have their infants and young children with them pushed to relax traditional rules that kept children at bay. The bipartisan effort also had bipartisan opposition. With assistance from the “All Things Considered” team, Sam Stroozas recounts the debate and the significance of the change. 

The Minnesota Court of Appeals is deliberating on how to deal with sprawling omnibus bills after taking up a challenge to a massive 2024 law yesterday. That’s when the DFL-led Legislature approved and the governor signed into law a whopping 1,400-page policy passed in the final hours of the legislative session. A Ramsey County judge ruled in August that the law violated the single-subject rule and a provision banning binary triggers for firearms should be invalidated. That was after the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus sued the state. Depending on how the case shakes out, a gun law at the center of the legal challenge could be scrapped and the entire law could go with it. The courts have generally been reluctant, however, to strike down more than they have to when resolving a dispute. Dana was in the courtroom and has more on the hearing here.

The Legislature could tighten up laws around group home operations this year. An MPR/APM Investigation found that an explosion in growth in group homes in some northwestern suburbs has led to a raft of issues, including police calls, reports of neglect and deaths. The investigation focuses on Brooklyn Park , which has 300 group homes, more than any other city in the state. Police there say they are being overwhelmed with calls and spend between $3 million and $5 million a year on calls and other costs related to group homes. In total, it’s estimated the state payments to group home providers in Brooklyn Park was nearly $544 million in 2025. In some of these homes, oversight ranges from lax to brazenly unprofessional; in one case police pulled over an employee driving residents to a sex store while the driver had a blood alcohol level double the legal limit. The story says at least 12 residents of group homes in the city have died since 2022, including three from maltreatment and two drug overdoses. Reporters were not able to get clear answers from state agencies on the growth of the industry, or how much the state has paid providers. The state put a two-year pause on any new licenses for group homes. Some legislators have introduced bills focused on curbing adding new group homes near any existing group home.

State Rep. Kristin Robbins, who is seeking the GOP endorsement in the race for governor, has seemingly slammed the door on a run for state Senate. Robbins told MPR’s Cathy Wurzer that she’s not interested in running for an open Maple Grove seat. She was asked about reports of pressure from the GOP for Robbins to pursue the seat, “As I've said multiple times publicly to multiple reporters, no, I'm not going to be running for the Minnesota Senate, and so I don't know why it keeps coming up, but the answer is no.” Robbins said she’s still moving forward with her gubernatorial campaign. She has lagged in party polls so far in the governor's race, trailing House Speaker Lisa Demuth, businessman Kendall Qualls and MyPillow owner Mike Lindell.

 

Several DFL lawmakers say federal immigration agents tailed them, harassed them and showed up at their homes during the two-and-a-half month long immigration enforcement action. The Star Tribune spoke with several Democratic legislators , including Rep. Brad Tabke, who believes he was targeted after leading a training for legal observers. Tabke documented ICE agents showing up at his home at least a half dozen times. The Star Tribune found immigration enforcement agents ran his license plate 30 minutes before showing up at his home. Others reported that agents they’d never met greeted them by their first names, showed up at their homes, took photos of their houses, and were called vulgar terms for women after identifying themselves as legislators when they came out to an immigration raid happening in their neighborhood. “It was all a way of threatening and being very menacing in a way that perhaps would inhibit us from advocating the way that we had been,” said Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton. Bills to try to put up guardrails around what immigration agents can and cannot do in Minnesota have been stymied so far this session with party line votes.

Remember the bonding bill? Yep, still coming together. Gov. Tim Walz declared it his top priority for the legislative session Wednesday. He’s starting a tour aimed at getting approval for a finance plan to pay for construction projects across Minnesota. He kicked it off at a water treatment plant in Robbinsdale. There, he touted his $907 million bonding proposal to invest in public safety, clean water and transportation initiatives. Nicole Ki said Walz spoke of the plan as one of the “core responsibilities of government.” This one banks on pure bipartisan coalitions to assemble and pass because it requires three-fifths majorities. 

A measure to close gaps on firearms surrenders in cases of domestic violence is moving ahead at Minnesota's Capitol. A KARE 11 investigative analysis found that in 2016 court orders requiring abusers to transfer or surrender their firearms there were a majority of cases lacking records of firearms being turned over. A legislative task force was created on the issue in 2024 and produced several recommendations. Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, said Minnesota needs a uniform process for those transfers to ensure they happen: "They found, like in less than 2 percent of the cases, these hearings were happening and firearms were actually being turned over. So that was kind of the genesis of the bill,” she said. The bill passed by a House committee yesterday heads next for a floor vote. A committee hearing on the Senate companion bill is set for later this week.

Republicans in the House threatened to end the session early yesterday, trotting out a sine die motion after Gov. Walz said the state will opt out of a new federal tax policy. Dana asked Walz Tuesday what he thought of Republicans saying they’d hold up other education policy items unless the state opts into the program, which would give tax credits for scholarships to pay for private school tuition, or educational expenses like tutoring, school supplies, transportation or services for students with special needs. That could go to services or scholarships for public or private schools. “Well, then they can go home today. They can shut the whole session down,” Walz said. Some House GOP members tried to do just that in response. On the House floor, Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, said, “Governor Walz plays empty threats like I play bridge: poorly.” He said it as he pursued a motion to adjourn sine die, essentially to bring the session to a close. “You can call us back for special session when you're reasonable and ready to come to the table. I won't hold my breath.” The motion failed on a 72-58 vote. House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson called it a cynical gimmick, adding “The truth is that there's really important work to be done here at the Legislature, if anyone actually thinks that we should go home right now, what they're saying is that we shouldn't do anything about fraud and we shouldn't do anything about guns and we shouldn't do anything on unaffordability, and that's totally unacceptable.”