The 2013 Minnesota Legislature: What Passed and What Didn't This Session

Minnesota State Capitol building in Saint Paul, designed by Cass Gilbert (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another year, another session has passed in the Minnesota Legislature.

Besides making gay marriage legal, what else have they done?  With a Democratic majority in both houses and in the Governor's mansion, you would think that most of their agenda was passed, and you'd be right.

The biggest thing to pass was a $2.1 billion bill that would raise taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans and on smokers.  It accomplishes three things:  (1) The tax increase fulfills one of Governor Mark Dayton's campaign promises, even if it ends up biting the hands that fed him.  (2) It helps balance the state's budget, which had been running a $627 million deficit.  (3) It finds a way to plug a hole in financing the Minnesota Vikings' new glass football palace in Minneapolis when electronic pulltabs could not.

Republicans, naturally, see this and other new laws as an incentive for the wealthy and other businesses to flee the state.  Also, will new taxes on cigarettes backfire because smokers now have a real incentive to quit--they can't afford them any more?

Here's what else the Legislature said yes to:

• Funding for improvements on the State Capitol, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and the Mall of America.
• Unions for child and personal care workers.
• Raises for nursing home workers.
• All-day kindergarten
• A state-run health exchange, in compliance with Obamacare.

Here's what they said no to:

• Anti-bullying legislation.
• Sales taxes on clothing, liquor and gasoline.
• Minimum wage increases.
• Raising lawmakers' pay.

It's too soon to know how Minnesotans are going to be affected by all the changes in one way or another.  But we do know this:  No special session this year.

Then again, there's always 2014.