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Minnesota Update
On Friday, November 18th, 2022, leadership in the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives simultaneously released their committee structures for the 2023-24 biennium. The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL- Brooklyn Park), will feature 28 separate committees, while the Senate, led by Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic (DFL- Minneapolis), will utilize 20 committees. With the committee structures finalized, both chambers will spend the coming weeks determining who will serve on each committee, including who will serve as vice chair and minority lead. Final committee memberships must be released by December 3, 2022.
Notable committee appointments include Sen. John Marty (DFL- Roseville) and Rep. Liz Olson (DFL – Duluth) receiving the Senate Finance and the House Ways & Means gavels, respectively. Both committees have substantial influence on the state’s biennial budget process. Additionally, veteran legislator Sen. Ann Rest (DFL- Golden Valley) and third-term Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL- Minneapolis) will chair their chamber’s tax committees. Finally, Rep. Fue Lee (DFL- Minneapolis) will remain the chair of the House Capital Investment Committee, while former Senate President Sen. Sandra Pappas (DFL- St. Paul) will chair the Senate Capital Investment Committee.
Below is the full list of the biennial committee structure for 2023-24:
House Committee Chairs:
- Agriculture Finance & Policy: Rep. Samantha Vang (DFL – Brooklyn Center)
- Capital Investment: Rep. Fue Lee (DFL – Minneapolis)
- Commerce Finance & Policy: Rep. Zach Stephenson (DFL – Coon Rapids)
- Children and Families Finance & Policy: Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL – St. Paul)
- Economic Development Finance & Policy: Rep Hodan Hassan (DFL – Minneapolis)
- Elections Finance & Policy: Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL - Golden Valley)
- Environment and Natural Resources Finance & Policy: Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL – South St. Paul)
- Committee on Ethics: Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL – Shoreview)
- Health Finance & Policy: Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester)
- Higher Education Finance & Policy: Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL – Winona)
- Housing Finance & Policy: Rep. Michael Howard (DFL – Richfield)
- Human Services Finance: Rep. Mohamed Noor (DFL – Minneapolis)
- Human Services Policy: Rep. Peter Fischer (DFL – Maplewood)
- Judiciary Finance & Civil Law: Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn (DFL – Roseville)
- Education Finance: Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL – Hopkins)
- Education Policy: Rep. Laurie Pryor (DFL – Minnetonka)
- Labor and Industry Finance & Policy: Rep. Mike Nelson (DFL – Brooklyn Park)
- Legacy Finance: Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL – North St. Paul)
- Public Safety Finance & Policy: Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL – Shoreview)
- State and Local Government Finance & Policy: Rep. Ginny Klevorn (DFL – Plymouth)
- Sustainable Infostructure Policy: Rep. Erin Koegal (DFL – Spring Lake Park)
- Taxes: Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL – Minneapolis)
- Property Tax Division: Rep. Dave Lislegard (DFL – Aurora)
- Transportation Finance: Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL – Minneapolis)
- Veterans and Military Affairs Finance & Policy: Rep. Jerry Newton (DFL – Coon Rapids)
- Ways & Means: Rep. Liz Olson (DFL – Duluth)
- Workforce Development Finance: Rep. Xiong (DFL – St. Paul)
Senate Committee Chairs:
- Agriculture & Rural Development: Sen. Aric Putnam (DFL – St. Cloud)
- Housing Committee: Sen. Lindsey Port (DFL - Burnsville)
- Capital Investment: Sen Sandra Pappas (DFL – St. Paul)
- Commerce & Consumer Protection: Sen. Matt Klein (DFL – Mendota Heights)
- Education Finance: Sen. Mary Kunesh (DFL – New Brighton)
- Education Policy: Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (DFL – Eden Prairie)
- Committee on Elections: Sen. Jim Carlson (DFL – Eagan)
- Energy, Utilities, Environment & Climate: Sen. Nick Frentz (DFL – Mankato)
- Committee on Labor: Sen. Jennifer McEwan (DFL – Duluth)
- Finance: Sen. John Marty (DFL – Roseville)
- Health & Human Services: Sen. Melissa Wiklund (DFL – Bloomington)
- Human Services: Sen. John Hoffman (DFL – Champlin)
- Jobs & Economic Development: Sen. Bobby-Joe Champion (DFL – Minneapolis)
- Higher Education: Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL – Minneapolis)
- Judiciary and Public Safety: Sen. Ron Latz (DFL – St. Louis Park)
- Legacy & Natural Resources: Sen. Foung Hawj (DFL – St. Paul)
- Rules & Administration: Sen. Kari Dzeidzic (DFL – Minneapolis)
- State and Local Government and Veterans: Sen. Erin Murphy (DFL - St. Paul)
- Taxes: Sen. Ann Rest (DFL – Golden Valley)
- Transportation: Sen Scott Dibble (DFL – Minneapolis)
Commissioner Departures
The Walz administration announced the departure of several commissioners last week, with some cabinet members retiring while others cited new professional opportunities. With the legislative session beginning on January 3th, 2023, Gov. Tim Walz will likely announce his new appointees in the coming weeks. The list of departures includes Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington, Education Commissioner Dr. Heather Mueller, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Commissioner Mark Philips, and Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcom, all of whom have decided not to seek re-appointment.
Important Dates to Remember:
- December 5th: November Forecast to be released
- January 3rd: First of the 2023 legislative session
Federal Update
Lawmakers are in their districts this week for the Thanksgiving holiday. They return next week to a stack of unfinished spending bills for the fiscal year that started October 1, with a new deadline of December 16 laid out in a stopgap funding law to try to wrap up the 117th Congress. House and Senate appropriators have no budget framework to work with, having gone their own way on funding allocations for the dozen spending bills — and numerous differences over policy riders dealing with abortion, immigration, endangered species and more. That’s going to make it difficult to wrap up in time, particularly with lawmakers taking this week off for Thanksgiving, while leadership reshuffling adds another element of drama. A framework for the current fiscal year is needed by Thanksgiving to give leadership and appropriators time to write the legislation and move it through both chambers, people familiar with the talks say.
Minnesota’s Tom Emmer Elected to House Whip
House Republicans elected Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN), the chief of their campaign team, to be House majority whip in a closed-door conference vote last Tuesday, ending a closely-fought race with Congressmen Jim Banks (R-IN) and Drew Ferguson (R-GA). The conference separately voted to elect Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) as majority leader by voice vote. Scalise had been serving as minority whip. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected Speaker-designate. A vote on the House floor will eventually determine the Speakership. Emmer, the current chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, led the House Republicans through this month’s midterm elections and the 2020 cycle, focusing on how unexpected gains in 2020 set the groundwork for securing a GOP majority in 2022 despite smaller-than-expected gains this year. In materials allocated to members last week, the Minnesota Republican leaned into his “honest and direct engagement with members.”
Shuffle expected for GOP House Appropriations posts
The leadership of the House Appropriations Committee’s powerful subcommittees in the 118th Congress remains up in the air due to the Republican Conference’s term limit rules. Five of the current GOP ranking members who would be in line to be chairs, or "cardinals," next year have held their party's top spot on the panels for the maximum six years: Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida on Transportation-HUD; Harold Rogers of Kentucky on State-Foreign Operations; John Carter of Texas on Military Construction-VA; Mike Simpson of Idaho on Energy-Water and Tom Cole of Oklahoma on Labor-HHS-Education. House Republican leaders could grant waivers to lawmakers seeking to extend their terms. But the conference’s rules clearly state that no individual can serve more than three consecutive terms as the top Republican on a standing committee or subcommittee.
More moves: Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) is seeking the chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. This move clears the way for Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse to lead the Budget Committee. And Kentucky libertarian Rand Paul is giving up the top Republican seat on Senate HELP in favor of the top slot on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel. The HELP seat now goes to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA.) who is also planning to announce this week if he will run for governor in 2023. Current HELP ranking member Richard M. Burr of North Carolina is retiring at the end of this year.
Pelosi to step down; Hoyer to return to Appropriations
Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will not run for another term as Democratic leader, though she will remain in the House. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York is considered Pelosi’s most likely successor. He declined to reveal his leadership plans Thursday. Nor did Assistant Speaker Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar of California, who have been expected to run for the No. 2 and 3 slots. Pelosi's announcement that she plans to step down adhered to a self-imposed term limit pledge she made four years ago. “With great confidence in our caucus, I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” the Californian said from the House floor.
The 82-year-old Pelosi has served in Congress since 1987 and has led House Democrats since 2002. She was minority leader for four years until Democrats flipped the House, and she was elected the first female speaker in 2007. Pelosi doesn't plan to return to the Appropriations Committee, where she served from 1991 through 2002 before leaving the panel when she became minority leader. But her longtime No. 2 in party leadership, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) will head back to his roots on the Appropriations Committee.
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