Paid Leave, Marijuana, More: 5 Bills MN Dems Could Pass With Trifecta

ST. PAUL, MN — Instead of a "red wave," Minnesotans woke up after Election Day with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party winning a "trifecta" victory in state government.

When the next legislative session begins on Jan. 3, 2023, Democrats will control the Minnesota House, Senate, and the governor's mansion.

There has only been one other trifecta in the previous 31 years of the Minnesota government, which took place in 2013 and 2014.

During that term, Democrats passed bills for all-day kindergarten, raised the minimum wage, and legalized same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

Now, armed with another trifecta, here are five laws the Democrats could try to pass during the upcoming session:

Legalize recreational marijuana

Minnesota Democrats plan to use their newly-won majority to legalize recreational marijuana in the coming legislative session, according to former governor Jesse Ventura.

On his podcast Thursday, Ventura said Gov. Tim Walz called and invited him to the future bill-signing ceremony.

"The sticking point for cannabis in Minnesota was the Republicans and the House they controlled," Ventura said. "Well, they've lost it now and the governor reassured me that one of the first items that will be passed, Minnesota get ready, cannabis is gonna have its prohibition lifted."

In April, Walz endorsed legalizing adult-use cannabis and the expunging of cannabis convictions in Minnesota.

Abortion constitutional amendment

With a majority in both the Minnesota House and Senate, Democrats have a path to proposing a constitutional amendment, which votes could approve at the ballot box.

In Minnesota, a constitutional amendment proposal must be approved by a simple majority in both legislative sessions. After that, the constitutional amendment will appear on a ballot in the next Election Day, where it must receive a majority of all votes cast in the election.

Recent constitution amendment proposals include:

2016: To authorize a council to establish salaries for legislators. (Passed)

2012: To require all voters to present valid photo identification to vote. (Rejected)

2012: To provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota. (Rejected)

Abortion is currently legal in Minnesota due to a 1995 state Supreme Court decision, Doe v. Gomez. State Democrats say they won Tuesday in part because they promised voters they would protect abortion rights.

However, Democrats could explicitly enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution, similar to what other states did on Election Day.

Michigan, California, and Vermont residents voted in favor of enshrining abortion rights in their state constitutions on Tuesday.

Paid leave

In the 2022 legislative session, state Democrats proposed a paid leave law that would require employers to provide workers with at least one hour of health-related paid time off for every 30 hours worked.

Universal Preschool

For more than a decade, Minnesota Democrats have pushed bills that would create a universal preschool program, but none of them have passed. Advocates say that access to pre-kindergarten helps kids from the middle and lower classes succeed in school and later in life.

At the end of his last term in office, Gov. Mark Dayton called for a $175 million increase in funding for public preschool, but the measure stalled.

Universal transit

In the 2022 legislative session, Rep. Alice Hausman — a Democrat from Falcon Heights — proposed a bill for "universal transit mobility."

The measure aimed to end the Twin Cities metro's traditional hub-and-spoke model of transit, which primarily serves central business districts in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

In its place, the bill would aim to ensure that anyone living anywhere in the metro has access to public transit.