On January 3, the newly-elected legislators took their oath of office in the Minnesota State Capitol. The Capitol has undergone extensive renovation and it is quite impressive.
On January 4, the legislators attended the One Minnesota Legislative Conference held at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The morning agenda included panels on health insurance and business priorities. The afternoon was devoted to a workshop titled “Building Trust through Civil Discourse.” It was offered through Next Generation, a program of the National Institute for Public Discourse. The facilitators are legislators from other states.
On January 5th, the House met again and passed a tax conformity bill. Essentially , this makes the state tax form more compliant with the federal form. It is important that this is done in a timely manner to ensure that people will have the appropriate forms when they start filing their taxes later this month.
Some committees met this week and the rest will start next week.