The 2023 Minnesota legislative session is over.
Democrats returned to St. Paul in January with a $17.5 billion surplus and total control of state government, which hinges on their one-seat majority in the Senate that was decided by just a few hundred votes.
One dissenting voice would have been enough to derail their entire agenda. Instead, swing-district senators were reliable green votes on every major piece of legislation.
In just four months, the DFL majority:
- Established a “fundamental right” to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy;
- Declared Minnesota a “refuge” for children seeking sex changes;
- Passed the “Take Pride Act,” which will prohibit nonprofits that serve minors from discriminating based on “gender identity” in hiring practices;
- Passed protections for women who travel to Minnesota for abortions;
- Repealed protections for babies who survive abortions;
- Stripped pregnancy resource centers of state funding;
- Gutted reporting requirements for abortion facilities;
- Expanded medical assistance to include abortion (taxpayer-funded abortion);
- Repealed an informed consent law for abortion;
- Legalized recreational marijuana use;
- Increased government spending by 40 percent;
- Raised the gas tax by indexing it to inflation;
- Created a new delivery fee on all retail orders over $100;
- Increased sales taxes and fees for vehicle purchases and registration;
- Passed a metro-wide sales tax increase;
- Enacted automatic voter registration;
- Passed pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds;
- Joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact;
- Funded a study on ranked-choice voting;
- Passed a bill to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants;
- Passed a bill to provide health care to illegal immigrants;
- Restored the right to vote to violent felons who are on probation;
- Created a commission to design a new state flag;
- Replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day;
- Declared Juneteenth a state holiday;
- Raised the threshold for a political party to attain or maintain “major party” status from 5 percent to 8 percent beginning in the 2024 general election;
- Passed a bill to require Minnesota’s electricity grid to be 100% carbon-free by 2040;
- Banned so-called “conversion therapy;”
- Passed two gun control bills, including a red-flag law and universal background checks;
- Provided free college at state institutions to students in families with income under $80,000;
- Passed a bill to provide free lunch and breakfast to all Minnesota students regardless of family income;
- Increased spending on K-12 education by 10.2 percent;
- Banned Native American mascots;
- Raised fees for fishing, boating, and visiting state parks;
- Created a hate speech database;
- Banned no-knock warrants;
- Created a program that will allow inmates who complete certain programming to serve just half of their prison sentences;
- Created a state-run paid leave program that will raise taxes on employers and employees;
- Established a new legal avenue for prosecutors to seek lower sentences;
- Funded a new Office of Restorative Practices that will propose alternatives to incarceration for juveniles who commit serious crimes;
- Commissioned a study on abolishing cash bail;
- Created a new public database that will assign climate scores to large businesses;
- Capped rebate checks at $260 per filer, with income limits, and down from the $1,000 initially proposed by Gov. Tim Walz.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
