FAIRMONT–With less than a month left in the current legislative session, State legislators are continuing to pursue their objectives.

State Representative Bjorn Olson said progress has been further on some bills than others.

“We’re about halfway through on the budget bill,” he said. “Public safety and transportation are good. Human services, childcare and environmental we’ve had issues. We’re further apart on that. We want to ensure Minnesota is funded responsibly, that cares about their taxes.”

The overall focus has been to decrease spending before the deficit hits.

“We campaigned on smaller government,” Olson said. “We spent $72 billion in the last two years. We were looking at some tough decisions with a deficit. We campaigned on tightening things up. We’re doing an alright job of it, but we have some more work to do before that deficit hits in two years. Our target is to cut $2 billion.”

A big target of this cut goal is Health and Human Services, which Olson said they would like to trim $300 million off of.

“That’d be easy if we didn’t let illegal immigrants have MNSure, which we started allowing January 1,” he said. “That costs Minnesotan taxpayers around $400 million.”

Despite these larger hurdles, Olson said he has heard the conversation shifting toward less spending.

“Over the last few years Minnesotans have signified they’re tired of continued spending,” he said. “Instead of talking about spending on programs now and fixing it later, the conversation is more to ensuring what’s passed is ready the first time. You’ve always got room to move in the right direction. For the first time in the last few years, we’re recognizing we can’t keep putting this strain on people.”

This year the State House of Representatives consists of 67 Republicans and Democrats in the 134-seat chamber. Olson said this has created an interesting dynamic.

“You find out how people feel about you when they have to decide who to work with,” he said. “I’ve had more conversations with people across the aisle over the last few months than the last few years. Underneath the rocky exterior surface, the waters are a lot calmer and we’ve been coming together.”

Regarding local projects, Olson said there are a few with the potential to be approved.

“Nothing’s panned out yet, but hopefully we should have some good money coming back in,” he said. “It’s a big caveat, but in drafts we have money for Fairmont roads and infrastructure for Lewisville and Blue Earth, as well as the Opera House roof. Those are in the current drafts and I will be fighting for them, but there is no guarantee. That would be around $10 million overall.”

State Senator Rich Draheim said he had two goals going forward into this session.

“The first is seniors,” he said. “We feel a lot of correspondence from seniors with fixed income and inflation. They have had a hard time surviving. The other area is those that no one else is gonna watch out for. The disabled.”

So far, Draheim said it is too early to tell how far his goals will go this session.

“There aren’t very many individual bills this year, which is disappointing,” he said. “It’s all being wrapped into omnibus bills.”

There has been progress in other areas. Draheim said they added key fobs and a 100-year-old business as exemptions to a ban on cadmium paint.

“Strict tests in Europe have been passed with flying colors,” he said.

Draheim also spearheaded a change for mandatory reporters.

“The mandatory reporters have a training every year for 45 minutes, but only three minutes are dedicated to signs of maltreatment or abuse,” he said. “My bill looked to increase that time spent. In the last year, there were 80,000 abuse reports in 2023 and 80 percent came from mandated reports.”

Though the Senate has a Democratic majority, Draheim concurred with Olson in dialogue increasing this year.

“This year’s better than the last two years, where it was their way or the highway,” Draheim said. “This year I think they are being more thoughtful and acceptive of our thoughts on the bills.”

From now until the end of the session, Draheim said he will have several responsibilities to juggle.

“I’ve been working on lobbying for my bills every day,” he said. “Im in the finance committee so I have changes on those bills, and I work on the floor and with bill authors to get provisions. It will be five days a week until right after Mother’s Day, then seven days a week.”

To contact Rich Draheim, call 651-296-5558 or 507-381-0808 or email at sen.rich.draheim@mnsenate.gov.

To contact Bjorn Olson, call 651-296-3240 or 507-525-3579 or email rep.bjorn.olson@house.mn.gov.