With the 2023 Legislative Session just a couple weeks from kicking off, I wanted to take some time to update you on where things stand at the Capitol, developments since the election and helpful resources to be using in the final push before session starts.
House and Senate Leadership
The Senate DFL majority elected Sen. Kari Dziedzic (60) as the new Majority Leader; Sen. Bobby Jo Champion (59) will serve as President of the Senate and Sen. Mark Johnson (01) was elected Minority Leader.
In the House, Rep. Melissa Hortman (34B) was re-elected Speaker of the House; Rep. Jamie Long (61B) was elected Majority Leader and Rep. Lisa Demuth (13A) will serve as Minority Leader.
Committees
Committee chairs and rosters have also become available over the last couple weeks. At the time of this posting, Senate committee rosters were not yet public, however, House rosters and chairs in both the House and Senate have been made available. ARRM staff have been meeting with both chairs and committee members. Here are the chairs and rosters of relevant committees:
- Senate Human Services Committee Chair: Sen. John Hoffman (34)
- Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chair: Sen. Melissa Wiklund (51)
- Senate Finance Committee Chair: Sen. John Marty (40)
- House Human Services Finance Chair: Rep. Mohamud Noor (60B)
- Bahner (37B)
- Rep-Elect. Clardy (53A)
- Fischer (44A)
- Rep-Elect. Hicks (25A)
- Keeler (04A)
- Kotyza-Witthuhn (49B)
- Pryor (49A)
- Reyer (52A)
- Neu Brindley (28B)
- Baker (16B)
- Franson (12B)
- Rep-Elect. Gillman (17A)
- Quam (24A)
- Rep-Elect. Zeliznikar (03B)
- House Human Services Policy Chair: Rep. Peter Fischer (44A)
- Frederick (18B)
- Rep-Elect. Curran (36B)
- Edelson (50A)
- Rep-Elect. Finke (66A)
- Hanson, J (55A)
- Rep-Elect. Hicks (25A)
- Noor (60B)
- Kiel (01B)
- Backer (09A)
- Baker (16B)
- Engen (36A)
- Novotny (30B)
- Ways and Means Committee Chair: Rep. Liz Olson (08A)
- House Health Finance and Policy Chair: Rep. Tina Liebling (24B)
Budget Surplus
In early December, Minnesota Management and Budget released the November Budget Forecast. This document is what the Governor will use to develop his preliminary budget, which is scheduled to be released on January 24th. The forecast showed that the state’s budget surplus had grown to a record setting $17.6 billion, it should be noted however that nearly 2/3 of this surplus is one-time dollars and not ongoing.
A large portion of the surplus comes directly from Health and Human Services with nearly $1.8 billion being tied to the enhanced FMAP for Medicaid services and underspending. ARRM recently partnered with the Best Life Alliance and members of the Long-Term Care Imperative and Minnesota First Provider Alliance to send this letter to the Governor and House and Senate Leadership, drawing attention to the large part of the surplus tied to Medicaid services and calling on the legislature to act quickly in session to pass funding to support HCBS and Long-Term Care services.
ARRM’s 2023 Legislative Agenda
ARRM’s 2023 Legislative Agenda can be found here. Please share this document with your legislators and reach out to me with any questions.
Finally, if you are trying to figure out who your new legislators are for the upcoming session, the “Who Represents Me” link on the Minnesota Legislature’s website is now updated. You can click here to access that information.
Looking ahead, I will plan to share information about what is happening at the legislature every Friday, as always, please reach out with any questions. The ARRM Team is looking forward to a productive 2023 Legislative Session and working with you all to continue to raise awareness about the workforce crisis in disability services and the immediate action we need legislators to take.
--Sara Grafstrom, Director of State and Federal Policy