Who represents you: Legislative session overview with Representative Finke

Politics is extremely unpredictable… We have five dollar a gallon gas, we have an active war in Iran. We have a president who’s destroying the healthcare system nationwide. Anything can happen. But I’m encouraged, and I think Minnesotans are ready to see some important change.”

Leigh Finke

Audio

Who represents you Legislative session overview with Representative Finke_Anika Hanisch.mp3

Representative Leigh Finke (D-Minnesota House District 66A) described the most recent legislative session as “not a year where we moved a lot of legislation,” attributing challenges to the “House tie”–the current 67-67 split in the Minnesota House of Representatives. The tie necessitated complex negotiations and resulted in many failed bills. It is only the second time in Minnesota history that the House has been tied; the first was in 1979.

Finke summarized the implications of that tie. Generally, single-issue bills were still passed, but larger omnibus bills that convey more felt effects were not possible.

This was a striking difference compared to Finke’s first term when her party held “trifecta power” in the Senate, House, and governor’s office. Finke, the state’s first openly transgender legislator, is perhaps best-known for introducing and shepherding the 2023 passage of The Trans Refuge Law (HF146), which protects transgender people, their families, and their practitioners when they travel to Minnesota for gender-affirming care.

Despite the current tie, some of the successful small bipartisan bills focused on “cost-saving measures” that “won’t garner a lot of headlines but will help people… in terms of affordability,” Finke said. Other economic measures provided property tax relief and funding for $1.2 billion in statewide infrastructure projects.

One cost-related measure had far greater impact and was a result of ultimate bipartisan agreement: funding for Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC). “We have to save HCMC,” Finke said days before the final vote. “It’s one of the most important hospitals and clinics in the state… we have to make sure it doesn’t fold.”

That goal was accomplished in a final-hours vote on an omnibus health and human services finance and policy bill (passed in the House 108-26, Senate 35-32) with an immediate $205 million to stabilize HCMC. New board oversight was also established for the safety-net hospital and trauma center, along with a new five-year reserve account to support hospitals and health centers struggling with uncompensated care. Finke described this success as “absolutely essential” and a situation that could have “cost the entire state so much additional money” had the hospital been lost.

Gun violence prevention
While the stabilization of HCMC was regarded as a crucial success, other proposed bills never came up for a vote or passed solely in the Senate. Finke described that as a more common outcome during this past session.
A gun violence bill that Finke co-sponsored, would have banned military-style semi-automatic assault weapons, untraceable ghost guns, and large-capacity magazines, along with outlining “provisions for possessing dangerous weapons in schools,” firearms safe-storage, and modifications on “reporting on firearms discharge by law enforcement,” according to the bill summary.

Drafted in response to the lethal assault-weapon shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, this bill passed in the Senate (SF4067) but House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) did not allow it to be brought to the House floor for a vote. Demuth publicly cited a party-line, tie-vote in committee as the procedural reason for not permitting that vote, despite the efforts of a DFL-led sit-in during the final days of the session.

Finke noted that “69 percent of Minnesota wants to see assault weapons banned” (Lumaris Research poll) and speculated that there are GOP legislators who would be open to such a ban. But she cited pressure from gun rights lobbies making it impossible for Republicans to support a ban if they hope to win re-election.

She also described a misperception that such bans cannot stand up to legal challenge. “Every state that has banned assault weapons has had those laws challenged in court, and they have won,” Finke said. “The Constitution does not protect the right to own AR-15s.”

Other measures that failed included legislation in response to Operation Metro Surge, which would have restricted use of face coverings by federal agents and regulated locations where arrests could be made – a statewide version of city-based ordinances passed in St. Paul. This measure passed in the Senate, but lost in the House.

Bipartisan accomplishments
The legislature did successfully pass an anti-fraud bill (Senate 66-0, House 127-5). “It was an entire year of negotiation on that to create a position specifically designed to fight fraud in the state government,” Finke said of the bill, which established the Office of Inspector General.

“I don’t think it’s a perfect solution to create a brand new agency… a whole new independent office of government,” Finke said, reflecting on the pros and cons. “Other states have had record and historic fraud, especially Texas. But we are on the hit list of the president. So, our fraud is what the country is talking about, and we have to respond to that. It’s both real, and it’s political.”

She described her hopes about what the new office might preserve. “Part of what has made Minnesota great for years… is our social supports,” Finke said. “We need to protect that effort from thieves and get back to having a social support system that’s working for the people it’s designed to (serve).”

Asked about other areas of bipartisan discussion, Finke quipped, “I’m not the one that Republicans come to. Let’s just be honest about that. Urban, progressive, and a trans woman.”

Still, she has seen “some real conversations about limiting the harms of social media for minors.” Speaking in advance of another final-week vote, Finke said, “We’ll be moving a bill to limit the addictive features for minors… like infinite-scroll or auto-play for all videos.” She added that while she doesn’t “love” age estimation technology, “we’re in a position now in time where we have to respond to… harmful addiction to social media” particularly for young children and teens.

That bill (HF4138) did pass (Senate 66-0, House 131-2), and it amends the existing Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media statute. The new regulations are intended to take effect in 2027. Tech industry pushback is expected regarding state-based app-compliance.

Finke also described varied but productive discussions regarding data protection. “The Trump administration is trying to sweep all data basically everywhere. And sometimes we can’t agree,” Finke said. One of those areas of disagreement was regarding “the voter rolls being given over.”

But there is some common ground regarding personal health data. Finke gave examples of data collected on “period-tracking apps or other healthcare related apps” and noted that Minnesota’s Health Records Act is already “one of the strongest in the country… but there are still ways that we are working together to strengthen this data protection.”

Looking forward
One of the most pressing concerns on Finke’s list right now is the current federal government’s deferral of $260 million in Minnesota Medicaid funding. The current deferral, according to a Minnesota DHS announcement, “could potentially last several quarters, costing the General Fund more than $1 billion this year.” This is in addition to cuts outlined in the federal reconciliation bill of July 2025.

“The federal actions around healthcare are going to just really devastate the state,” Finke said. “Our communities with disabilities are going to suffer the most… we simply don’t have the money as a state to backfill those cuts.”

Despite these concerns, Finke described her constituents and all of Minnesota as “galvanized,” having survived the early months of this year, and heading into an important election season. “This is the hardest we’ve ever seen it, but I’ve… never been more proud to represent Minnesotans.”

Finke described receiving daily calls and texts during the height of Metro Surge and personally troubleshooting for constituents who had been directly affected. Whenever possible, she found ways to connect mutual aid and response networks in both the Twin Cities and in Texas, in order to help released detainees return to loved ones.

“We fought back a federal occupation of our state… the people did that,” Finke said. “And that’s not something to be taken lightly.”

Editor’s note: One week before the end of the 2026 State Legislative session, the Midway Como Frogtown Monitor caught up with Representative Leigh Finke, whose district (66A) comprises significant portions of the Como and Midway neighborhoods. This piece is updated with final-hours results of that session.