Legislative Session Reaches Halfway Point, Continues to Wrestle with Partisan Divide

April 2, 2026

When the Minnesota Legislature returns next week from its Easter-Passover break, it will have six weeks to finish its business before the May 18 adjournment.  

On March 27, House and Senate committees reached their first deadline. By this time, they were supposed to have acted favorably on bills in order for them to remain on track to pass this session. Several of the MMA’s five legislative priorities were heard prior to the deadline. 

Legislation to explicitly prohibit health insurance companies from using artificial intelligence in adverse utilization review decisions and in prior authorization denials, were acted on in both the House and Senate Commerce committees. They were laid over to be included in a future committee finance omnibus bill. Committees must act on major appropriation and finance bills ahead of the next and final legislative deadline on April 17. 

Another MMA priority, which would expand confidentiality protections to all healthcare professionals who participate in a wellness program, was heard in the House Health Finance and Policy Committee, and referred to the House floor for a vote. The House Health Finance and Policy Committee did not assemble an omnibus policy bill. The Senate omnibus policy bill, which included this legislation, was referred to the Senate Finance Committee on March 26 - the last stop before a floor vote. 

Also included in the Senate omnibus policy bill is MMA priority language to prohibit prior authorization and require coverage without cost-sharing for items listed on the recommended immunization schedule. The bill’s language also expands the list of recommended vaccines to those recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Council on Immunization Practices (ACIP) or those recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, or the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The MMA supports this legislation to offer patients clarity amidst changing guidelines from ACIP. The bill was not heard in the House. 

Other legislative priority bills to reduce death and injury by firearm are moving in the Minnesota Senate, but not in the House. These include statewide bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and removal of state preemption laws, which would allow local governments in Minnesota to pass stricter firearm safety laws than the state. These bills were all heard in committees in the  House, but failed on party-line votes. Legislation to create an Office of Gun Violence Prevention was heard in both the House and Senate health committees, and laid over for possible inclusion in a committee finance omnibus bill. 

The Legislature still must move legislation to comply with new federal regulations as part of House Resolution 1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), ahead of the April 17 deadline for major appropriation and finance bills. If Minnesota does not act to comply with new federal requirements, it will lose billions in federal funding. Given the partisan split control of the Minnesota House, it is unlikely that major funding initiatives beyond compliance with new federal laws will advance this year. 

Other initiatives, such as efforts to offer financial stability to Hennepin Healthcare, extend the state’s reinsurance program, and fund the state’s 340B Drug Pricing Program, may all move prior to the April 17 deadline for major appropriation and finance bills. Other policy changes such as rebranding physician assistants as physician “associates,” and removing the requirement that newly trained APRNs operate under physician supervision for one year will also be debated by lawmakers before the Legislature adjourns on May 18.