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Legislative PrioritiesMNASCA promotes the interests of the ASC community before the state legislature as well as state regulatory and executive agencies. MNASCA identifies and analyzes critical issues affecting ASCs and acts on behalf of members to enhance and protect the ASC’s ability to provide high quality, cost-effective patient care.
2023 Legislative Priorities The 2023 Legislative Session began on January 3, 2023. With the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) having secured the Minnesota State House, Senate, and Governor's Office in the 2022 election cycle, the DFL's focus was developing the next two-year state budget and how to spend a $9 billion budget surplus that was left on the table during the last session. In contrast to the previous legislative session, Minnesota no longer had a divided legislature. Instead, both chambers of the legislature were controlled by the DFL. While this dynamic can lead to more productivity in the legislature, it cannot happen without the full cooperation between DFLers of both chambers. Because of the DFL's one seat majority in the Senate, Senate DFLers had to find agreement among themselves in order to pass laws. The leadership in the Minnesota House remained similar, but with some changes. Representative Melissa Hortman continued as Speaker of the House. With the retirement of Rep. Ryan Winkler, the House DFL elected Rep. Jamie Long to act as House Majority Leader. Rep. Kurt Daudt, who was previously the GOP House Minority Leader, did not seek a leadership role for the 2023 session. Instead, Rep. Lisa Demuth was elected to serve as GOP House Minority Leader, making her the first Black woman to lead any of the state's legislative caucuses, and the first woman to lead House Republicans. Lastly, leadership in the Minnesota Senate was entirely different in the 2023 session since the DFL won control of the Senate. Senator Bobby Joe Champion became President of the Senate, making him the first Black President of the Minnesota State Senate. With the retirement of Senator and DFL Minority Leader Melissa Lopez-Franzen, Senator Kari Dziedic was elected to be the Senate DFL's Majority Leader. Senator Jeremy Miller, having won his reelection bid, also did not seek a leadership role this session. Instead, Senator Mark Johnson led the Senate GOP as their Minority Leader. During the 2023 legislative session, MNASCA focused on these priorities:
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