At Issue: May 28 — End of Legislative Session recap, Walz vetoes rideshare bill and signs state budget

At Issue – May 28

At Issue - May 28

The Minnesota Legislative Session is finished, and lawmakers aren’t scheduled to return until February 2024.

Governor Walz signed a state budget that will include paid family and medical leave, free school lunches, better roads and options for free college.

Republicans say an increase in gas, payroll and sales taxes will make life more expensive for Minnesotans overall.

The “Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act” was scrapped in favor for a new nursing bill, called the “Nurse and Patient Safety Act.” The new bill addresses the rise in violence against healthcare workers by requiring response action plans and includes student loan forgiveness measures for nursing students.

The governor also vetoed a rideshare protection bill after Uber issued a warning that it would stop operating outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area if the bill passed.

This week’s edition of “At Issue” featured investigative reporting from Kirsten Swanson on the effort to have all energy produced in Minnesota to be fully renewable by 2040.

This week also features political analysis from former GOP House Speaker Kurt Zellers and former DFL State Senator Ember Reichgott.

Get the latest on state legislation by following the KSTP legislative tracker.