2024 Session Begins / Tax Fixes, Tax Policy & Artificial Intelligence / Legalizing Sports Betting

It was a sweet and bipartisan start to the 2024 legislative session, initiated by Governor Tim Walz sharing homemade apple blondies with lawmakers. After the gavel, Senate leaders offered hopeful sentiments for a cooperative session, followed by press events outlying their respective outlooks for the coming months.

The Senate tax chair, one of the most powerful positions in the Senate, decides which proposals will come before the committee for consideration. Senator Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, the current chair, has said no to any significant new spending or tax increases for the 2024 session. She joins Capitol Report moderator Shannon Loehrke to talk about why she does not favor costly proposals this session, the need to fix several inadvertent errors in the 2023 tax law, her position on fully eliminating the tax on social security benefits, and the potential of Artificial Intelligence.

With the Superbowl in the rearview mirror, where a reported 68 million adults placed bets according to the American Gaming Association, Minnesota remains an island of non-betting. Senator Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, joins Shannon to talk about his updated proposal to legalize sports betting in Minnesota.

Also in the program, lawmakers grapple with resolving the 2023 law change that prompted some law enforcement agencies to remove school resource officers (SROs) from schools, and highlights of recent press conferences where lawmakers outline their priorities for the 2024 session.