Sturdevant: Leaders, don’t let this be a quiet, gridlocked year at the Minnesota Legislature

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This week, somebody is bound to trot out a quip that’s nearly as old as this state itself: “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.”

Once upon a time, that somebody might have been me. But not this time.

Welcome back into session, Minnesota Legislature. You are needed now. This year, you owe it to an afflicted people to be the best Minnesota asset you can be.

You’ve likely heard prognosticators project that you won’t get much done this year — not with a politically tied House, a nearly tied Senate, a lame-duck governor, a House speaker and two other House members running for governor, an election for all 201 seats looming this fall, and a tight money forecast that might get tighter in a few weeks.

Ordinarily, those conditions would augur for a less-than-ambitious lawmaking agenda.

And the barrage of defamation. For months, Minnesotans have endured an almost daily pummeling of smears and falsehoods by powerful partisan voices with large platforms. They’ve undoubtedly taken a real toll — even though Minnesotans have responded, to their great credit, with courageous, principled action that has evoked praise the world over.

But the ordeal has left many in this “voting-est” state longing for an assist from a government that’s clearly on their side — preferably one that’s competent enough to function in orderly fashion. A rebuilding of Minnesotans’ trust in government can and should begin in St. Paul.

Legislators, please don’t arrive at the Capitol on Tuesday with the notion that gridlock is an acceptable outcome this year. Or that your highest duty is to placate your respective political bases. The very name of your office — state senator, state representative — tells you that you have a higher calling.

Fulfilling that call should start with the basics — and one of the basics of state governance is investing in Minnesota’s built resources via enactment of a bonding bill.

For decades, passing a bonding bill was considered almost automatic in even-year sessions. Then partisan gamesmanship invaded even routine legislative business. None passed in 2016, 2022 or 2024, though catch-up bills were enacted in 2023 and 2025. Getting back to regular bonding-bill order would be a fine way for the 2026 Legislature to signal competence and reliability.

To be sure, the state human services programs that have been rocked by fraud scandals in the past year are housed in the executive branch of state government. But the legislative branch’s power of the purse gives it both a right and a responsibility to scrutinize and amend such programs. A redoubling of the Legislature’s fiscal oversight work — in committees willing to engage in more than partisan theatrics — is in order this year.

But as Gov. Tim Walz said Thursday as he welcomed word that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Operation Metro Surge was winding down, the 2026 Legislature has a particular duty to hasten a rebound from that siege. It should also erect as many legal safeguards as possible to protect Minnesotans from ICE overreach, should the surge return.

The Legislature would do well to consider rescue efforts for two state sectors that have been especially hard hit in the past two months — businesses that serve and employ immigrants and education, including early ed.

Legislators won’t be paddling into uncharted waters. Plenty of bipartisan precedent exists for assisting Minnesotans caught in maelstroms not of their making. What’s more, the successes and mistakes of the COVID years should have taught legislators something about how to make such efforts both effective and fraud-proof. Even an evenly divided state House should be able to find consensus around a well-designed aid package for schools and businesses.

How much more one state can do by statute to check federal immigration enforcement excesses is not clear. But legislators should remember that they can do more than enact bills and spend state money. They can conduct hearings, launch study commissions, call for congressional action, form alliances with counterparts in other states, convene town meetings and engage with their constituents in ways that shore up democracy.