Legislative Break Time Is a Great Time to Advocate for Cities

The Legislature recessed on April 11 following the third committee deadline. City officials are encouraged to contact their legislators to discuss key pieces of legislation during the break.

Minnesota legislators are likely to be home in their districts from April 11 to noon April 21 as they take their final legislative break for Passover and Easter.  

While lawmakers are on break, it is a great opportunity to meet with, call, or email them about issues that are important to cities. City priorities such as housing and zoning, emergency medical services (EMS) funding, bonding, and more are still being considered.

• View the League of Minnesota Cities 2025 legislative priorities (pdf).
• Read about legislation that is currently being considered.

When legislators return on April 21, they will continue their work on individual pieces of legislation but primarily focus on shaping omnibus budget and policy bills. They will have less than a month to complete their work by the constitutionally mandated May 19 adjournment of the legislative session. Any work beyond that would require calling a special session.

The League is here to help

Not sure where key bills are in the legislative process? Can’t find where a bill or amendment was buried in an omnibus bill? Is a provision still alive for the session? We are here to help.

To stay up to date on these measures and all other city issues and legislation, the League offers several resources:

• The League’s Intergovernmental Relations team (IGR) will continue to give updates and analysis on legislative issues through the League’s Cities Bulletin and the LMC website.
• Access issue specific fact sheets and toolkits to help communicate city issues to legislators.

Contact your lawmakers

You can typically contact your state lawmakers to give your direct input on legislation affecting your city through phone or email, which you can locate on their member pages. Unsure of how to contact your representative and senator?

• Enter your address or search a map to find your legislators and their contact information through the Minnesota Legislature’s website.
• Access the list of Minnesota state representatives and the list of Minnesota state senators to find their contact information, links to their bios, bills they have authored, and their newsletter updates.

Pass a resolution supporting housing and land use authority

The League has been collecting resolutions from cities across the state in support of housing and land use authority. Cities that pass and submit these resolutions are encouraged to share them with their legislators to communicate the impacts preemption legislation would have on their local communities.

• Download the resolution for supporting the retention of local zoning authority (doc).
• Once adopted, be sure to email a copy of the resolution to your legislators and copy the League at advocacy@lmc.org.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the League’s IGR team.

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