With just seven days left in the 2026 session and no global agreement on budget targets, the House and Senate are stubbornly passing their own version of policy and spending with no regard for reconciliation with the other body. They don’t even agree on the format, with one Senate staffer telling me, “The House is passing trucks, and the Senate is passing ships.” The House is passing single-subject bills while the Senate is passing multi-subject omnibus bills. Watch for the Senate to begin moving single-subject bills to the Senate floor to act as “vehicles” for policy and spending in case an agreement is reached this week.
Bonding press conference missing one key player: Senate Republicans.
The leaders of the House and Senate bonding committees held a press conference last week calling for funding to help cities replace lead pipes in their drinking water systems. Sen. Karin Housley, the Senate Republican lead on the Capital Investment Committee was noticeably absent from the press conference. Senate Republicans have been mostly shut out of all negotiations and discussions in the 2026 session, but since the bonding bill requires a supermajority to pass, they will have to be included.
Tax increase alert
Rep. Mary Franson, the House Republican Capital Investment Chair, proposed an excise tax on water bottle distributors to pay for the ongoing water infrastructure needs of cities. At the press conference Franson said, “Our bonding dollars don’t go as far as they once did.” We respectfully refer Franson and any other legislator interested in raising taxes to our Golden Turkey Awards, which often celebrate projects and programs funded through capital investments. We also encourage the bonding committees to eliminate the B3 environmental building standards that are mandatory for every project funded with state borrowing. As we’ve written here, the B3 standards add as much as 20% to the cost of every state project under the canard of saving the environment.
Inspector General bill finally passes the House
As predicted in this column on February 22, 2026, the House finally passed the bill creating the office of inspector general to investigate fraud in state government. The inspector general bill passed the Senate last year 60-7 and is very popular (72% support in our Thinking Minnesota Poll). Every House Democrat voted against the bill on the last day of the 2025 session and again on a procedural vote earlier this session. Ultimately, Democrats knew they couldn’t face the voters in November without passing this bill.
Democrats immediately took credit for passing what is widely understood to be House Republicans’ top legislative priority.
You gotta admire their chutzpah.
Gun bill passes Senate
The Senate debated and passed a bill Monday that prohibits firearms dealers from selling what the bill defines as “semiautomatic military-style assault weapons” and large capacity magazines that hold more than 17 rounds. The bill also requires anyone who already owns a firearm that fits the assault weapon definition to register it with the state. SF 4067 passed along party lines 34-33, with the help of two DFL Senators who represent districts in Greater Minnesota, Grant Hauschild of Hermantown and Rob Kupec of Moorhead. The vote banning firearms and requiring gun owners to register with the government will not play well with their rural constituencies.
Hauschild is already spinning the vote, telling a constituent the bill “has no chance of becoming law because it is opposed in the State House.”
Telling a constituent not to worry that you voted against their constitutional rights because the bill isn’t going to pass will not go over well in his district. The bill was sent to the House days ago but so far Speaker Demuth has not officially reported it to the body, effectively stalling a motion from House Democrats to take up the bill immediately instead of referring it to a committee. Watch for that procedural vote this week in the House.
A lot can happen in seven legislative days, so watch for the final Capitol Watch to be full of news next week.
