For two legislators who say they enjoying working across the aisle to get things done, “tough” and “difficult” were the main words recently used to describe the 2024 legislative session.
Sen. John Jasinski (R-Faribault) and Rep. John Petersburg (R-Waseca) presented their annual legislative wrap-up this month during the final installment of the most recent Owatonna Chamber Growth Breakfast series. Hosted in the upstairs venue at Torey’s Restaurant and Bar in downtown Owatonna, the two local legislators were joined by Beth Kadoun, vice president of tax and fiscal policy with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, to discuss what took place — and what didn’t — during the legislative session.
Both men pointed to the difficulty that came with the state government bring in one-party control under the democrats, adding how they both believe the party took advantage of their majority to push through “extreme” agendas and bills, with Jasinski saying they blatantly broke rules of the Minnesota state governmental procedures and Petersburg saying they did not listen to the voice of the Minnesotans they represent.
Jasinski pointed out that Sen. Nicole Mitchell (D-Woodbury) was allowed to vote on the motion of whether or not Mitchell should still be allowed to vote following her felony burglary charge after breaking into a home in Detroit Lakes in April. Her vote allowed her to remain an active voter in the Senate, keeping the DFL the majority but her single vote alone. Jasinski felt that process was unethical.
He also got visibly fervent when he presented the attendants with a printed out copy of the “mega bill,” a 1,431-page bill presented to the senate an hour before the required adjournment. Jasinski noted the bill included a number of “controversial and extreme” proposals that had been prioritized by the DFL and that the title alone was six pages long. He said it was brought to vote immediately with zero debate, and ultimately did pass.
“That is not the way government should work,” a frustrated Jasinski said to the crowd, holding back emotions.
Petersburg said when the same bill was brought forward to the House, the representatives did not even receive of a copy of the bill to attempt to look at it and know what they were voting on.
Both legislators called the most recent session the “most mismanaged” session in the history of Minnesota.
On the mega bill specifically, Kadoun said she “would not be shocked” if there wasn’t litigation that would come forward following items that got passed at the eleventh hour in the bill. She specifically pointed out there single-subject rule in the state constitution designed to specifically stop this kind of legislation from happening.
“If there is any bill that the Supreme Court would say needs to get kicked out because of the single subject rule, this is the one,” Kadoun said. “We will have to see how it plays out in the courts.”
In order for the litigation to come forward, however, individuals or businesses who have been specifically harmed from the bill would have to file suit. Kadoun said she would not be surprised, though, to see suits filed from businesses, the gun lobbyists, railroads and for-profit health care, as just a few examples.
Kadoun said as her group tours the state to go over the legislative session and how new policies will impact local businesses, the reaction has not been “as bad” as in 2023.
“The comment is, ‘What can we do? How can we switch this around’” Kadoun said. “We have to get more pro-business people in, for both parties. It’s really on the democrat side, we used to have a lot more moderate, pro-business folks we could work with and now they’re basically gone. There’s less than a handful that we can really talk to and they can work behind the scenes. That’s what we’re missing and what we’re trying to encourage this election cycle.”
Both legislators said the state needs to find a way to get back to bi-partisan work, as that is the most effective way to serve the Minnesota people, but shared concerns about the democratic party being willing to do so.
“It’s been tougher over the last two years,” Jasinski said. “I’ve been very successful working across party lines — I have a whole wall full of awards for getting things done bi-partisan — that’s the thing I am most proud of, that I can work across the aisle.”
“But this year was much different, and things have gotten much more polarized,” he continued. “You have a socialist party taking over the democrat side. They are progressive and they admit to it and they want socialism in the United States. And that is not what our country is founded on, so I am there trying to protect the way we started our country and want to continue our country.”
Petersburg’s legacy
With Petersburg’s tenure as a politician coming to an end this year, having announced his retirement earlier in the year and not filing for re-election, he touched briefly on what he would like to consider his legacy during his time at the Minnesota House.
He naturally brought up finishing the expansion of Highway 14, one of the main platforms her initially ran on. But he also touched on an item that is much more behind the scenes and had an equally great impact on his time in St. Paul.
“We had sixth graders come up and testify two different times and we got a plaque commemorating the six people who died during the original construction of the capitol,” Petersburg said. “It was so important for those sixth graders to learn how legislation is created, actually have input into and input into the final design. That was something that was significant, not financially, but for what was going on.”
The Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism presented Petersburg at the end of the event with a plaque thanking him for his service to his district, the Owatonna community and the southern Minnesota business community.
The Chamber Growth Breakfast series, ran from September through June at Torey’s, and was sponsored this year by Cole’s Electric, Riverland Community College and Keen Bank. The series offers special presentations from experts around the state and locally that directly impact the business community. It’s available to Chamber members.
The series will pick up again in the fall.
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