Energy among bills left undone
Yesterday, the state legislature ended its 2025 regular session with most of the year’s work left unfinished. The hope is to have a one-day special session later this week (or month) to complete a two-year state budget. It looks like policy reforms will have to wait for another day (or year).
Session Daily reports:
Still left unfinished are agreements that would set budgets for the next two biennia in the areas of commerce, education, energy, environment and natural resources, health, higher education, human services, labor and workforce development, and transportation.
The above list, of course, represents virtually the entire state budget by dollar amount. A few smaller budget items managed to make it to the finish line before time expired.
Among the budget-based conference committee reports passed in both chambers on the Legislature’s final weekend were those providing funding to veterans programs, agriculture, housing, the judiciary and public safety, and programs supported by the Legacy Amendment.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports on the fate of my favorite policy reform:
Nuclear moratorium repeal: Early in the legislative session, Republicans pushed to lift a decades-old moratorium on construction of new nuclear power plants. Supporters of nuclear power see it as necessary to provide stable power to the grid as more coal plants are retired and wind and solar farms are built. Opponents raised concern about safe storage of radioactive waste from nuclear power generation.
Better luck next year?