| After a legislative session that frequently focused on rooting out fraud and waste in state government, lawmakers returned to the Capitol Tuesday for a hearing on Medicaid eligibility and state efforts to police misuse. Members of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee acknowledged the solemnity of returning to work after the shooting death of a colleague less than a month before. They started outlining areas where they might pick up work ahead of the 2026 legislative session. Both Democrats and Republicans lauded changes lawmakers made this year to root out improper use of state dollars. They said efforts to create an independent state Office of the Inspector General could be on the horizon. They also set up more difficult conversations coming down the pike related to how the state, counties and health organizations handle federal changes to Medicaid eligibility and reduced reimbursement rates.
The House hearing was the first since the June 14 tragedy that shattered the sense of security among public officials and others at the Capitol. How the Legislature moves ahead after the shooting death of Rep. Melissa Hortman and wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman will be something that tests all lawmakers and especially leaders. Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth wrote an op-ed published Tuesday in the Star Tribune that focused on the need to cool the rhetoric even as disagreements are baked into the institution. This paragraph stood out: “A lot of the time, we see outrage rewarded instead of outcomes, and the loudest voices valued over the most thoughtful ones. Decency is mistaken for weakness. Melissa never made that mistake. She was the only House speaker I’ve served under, and she taught me well how to lead in that way.” State Sen. Carla Nelson, a Rochester Republican, struck a similar tone in an essay posted this week. She said all have a duty and role to play in “turning down the volume.” Nelson writes: “I don’t know exactly what happens next. But I do know that we owe it to Melissa and Mark, and to John and Yvette, to do better. Let’s honor them and their sacrifices with a renewed commitment to kindness, decency, and the peaceful, respectful (yet still vigorous) exchange of ideas.” Following Tuesday’s hearing, Rep. Dave Pinto, DFL-St. Paul, said he’s seen many colleagues in the Legislature working to turn the temperature down when it comes to how they speak to one another. “As Minnesotans, we have more in common than we have different and that includes those of us representing sometimes sharply different districts. So yeah, I do think that there is that sense. We'll see how long that lasts.”
The effects of congressionally approved changes to Medicaid will take years to play out. The main changes don’t kick in right away. But people on the program and their advocates, hospitals and state officials might not wait until then to make adjustments. MPR’s Erica Zurek frames up what could be at stake if the Medicaid remake sets in. Up to 250,000 people in Minnesota could lose their coverage and hospitals expect to face a squeeze from uncompensated care. Health insurance rates for others could rise to make up the difference. But a lot of this is what we see on paper or in forecasts. It could take many months for the actual impact to hit.
Next week brings the second quarter fundraising reporting deadline for federal candidates, so we’ll be in for a sprinkling of numbers in the lead up. The main races to watch are the open U.S. Senate race and the open 2nd Congressional District race. Democratic Rep. Angie Craig is at the nexus because she’s running for Senate instead of a new term in the House. Craig’s first report since her entry will show her with $2.4 million brought into the account. Of that, about $590,000 was transferred from her House account. But it all spends the same. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is also running for the seat that Sen. Tina Smith is departing after next year. She has been racking up endorsements, but we’ll get a better sense of her fundraising. She entered the quarter with about $366,000 in the bank.
There won’t be another U.S. senator named Coleman after next year’s Minnesota election. State Sen. Julia Coleman ruled herself out of the race for a seat once held by her father in law, Republican Norm Coleman. Julia Coleman, also a Republican, posted a picture of her with her young children online saying she had given thought to the federal race but decided against it. She teased that another statewide office might be more attractive: Minnesota governor. “My focus remains on fighting for our future from home, uniting Minnesotans across the aisle—because our state thrives when we work together, regardless of party, for the common good. (My oldest, by the way, is lobbying to move closer to his grandparents near Summit Ave.” (Summit Avenue is where the official governor’s residence is located.) Coleman is the second state senator to tamp down talk of a big campaign move. Over the holiday weekend, GOP Sen. Zach Duckworth said he’d run for his current seat rather than try to climb the ladder in 2026. Expect more statements on 2026 intentions soon because all 201 legislative seats are on the line and caucus leaders want to know where they’ll have incumbents and where they’ll be recruiting.
The agency that licenses Minnesota police officers is fighting a judge's ruling in a lawsuit over the release of information about undercover officers. Matt Sepic reports that the mid-case appeal is the latest volley in a lawsuit brought by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association against the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. The association says the POST Board put 257 undercover cops at risk by failing to redact their names from a list of 29,000 officers it sent to an independent journalist in response to his data request. The POST Board argues that the information is public licensing data that's not subject to the same restrictions under Minnesota law as private personnel data. Ramsey County Judge Leonardo Castro disagreed. Last month he ruled that the lawsuit may proceed, and he granted the police officers' association class action status. The POST Board is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to reverse Castro's decision and notes it would be the first class-action data practices case that the state has had if allowed to move ahead. Background on the original lawsuit can be found here.
The Board of Pardons meets today and has a long list of cases to consider. The body made up of the governor, attorney general and Supreme Court chief justice decides whether to clear the records of people who come to say how their crimes changed lives, including their own, and why they want to move past it for good. Most applicants have served their time and any probation. Some are still incarcerated. Certain offenses, especially those involving severe violence or sexual offenses, usually get a dim reception from the board. There are also cases where people still incarcerated apply to have their circumstances heard. One on tomorrow’s list is a woman convicted of manslaughter in 2015 who applied previously for a pardon that was denied; she’s asking to have a waiting period waived so she can apply again. While Amreya Shefa lost the previous time she applied for a pardon, her case and a parallel legal fight did help pave the way for a law change that made it so pardons could be approved on a 2-1 vote rather than require a unanimous decision. | 
