Minnesota Capitol. Photo courtesy House Information Services.

The Minnesota Senate met for less than one hour as of Saturday afternoon despite having about 30 hours left to take up more than 20 bills, including high-profile legislation to keep Uber and Lyft operating in the Twin Cities and another to place an Equal Rights Amendment on the 2026 ballot.

The Senate passed just one bill on Saturday morning — allocating $24 million in aid for emergency medical services statewide. The bill passed 66-0, with just one lawmaker missing: Sen. Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis. 

Democrats maintain just a one-seat majority in the Senate, meaning they need all their members present and voting to pass their agenda without Republican votes. 

Fateh is a key player in on-going negotiations over minimum pay rates and labor protections for Uber and Lyft drivers, and his absence on Saturday morning signaled his willingness to hold up the rest of his party’s agenda until a deal is reached. Fateh didn’t respond to the Reformer’s question about why he didn’t vote on EMS funding. Despite being missing from the Senate floor, the Reformer spotted Fateh in the Senate Office Building on Saturday afternoon.

Last week, legislative leaders and members of the Minneapolis City Council announced an agreement on minimum pay rates — $1.27 per mile and 49 cents per minute — but Uber and Lyft said they’ll leave the state if those rates are enacted, and Gov. Tim Walz said keeping those companies operational is essential to win his support.

A key sticking point beyond pay rates is whether the Legislature will preempt local governments from enacting their own pay rates. Democrats are leery of overriding local control of labor standards, but the Minneapolis City Council passed rates set to take effect on July 1 that will lead Lyft to pull out of the city and Uber to pull out of the Twin Cities metro. 

If Democratic leaders can’t find a compromise among their own members, they could try to win over enough Republicans to pass a bill. But time for such a deal is running out and the lead Republican negotiator on Uber and Lyft — Rep. Pat Garofalo of Farmington — said Republicans haven’t been included in negotiations. 

In one positive sign for a deal on Uber and Lyft regulations, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill that would appropriate $2 million to create a new 0% interest car loan program for Uber and Lyft drivers. The loans would be administered by non-profit organizations, which could take up to 10% in administrative fees. 

Inside the Capitol, about 25 Uber and Lyft drivers were chanting “Fair pay now!” outside the House and Senate chambers while the rotunda hosted a small wedding ceremony. The Senate was scheduled to go back into session at 6 p.m. and will likely meet late into the evening.

While the Senate stood in recess from 10:15 a.m. on, the Minnesota House passed a slew of conference committee reports — or the final version of a bill — on Saturday including a cannabis policy bill and a judiciary and public safety bill. 

The House didn’t take up the ERA bill again on Saturday after debating it for a few hours late on Friday, suggesting the success of that bill in its current form is not assured. The ERA bill would ask voters in 2026 to amend the state constitution to codify abortion rights and protect Minnesotans from discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. 

The fate of a major infrastructure package this year was still unknown on Saturday. The funding package requires Republican votes to pass with a supermajority because it will be funded with borrowed money. Infrastructure bills in past years have passed in the final hours of legislative sessions, so there’s still a possibility lawmakers may come to a deal.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, in an interview said negotiations on an infrastructure package had stalled. Johnson said whether an infrastructure package passes this year will hinge on the bill to put the Equal Rights Amendment on the 2026 ballot.

A bill to legalize sports betting was still up in the air, though whether there is enough time to pass a sports betting bill remains unknown. The House on Saturday introduced a bill to ban historic horse racing.The Minnesota Racing Commission last month approved the machines, which allow users to bet on races from the past, and Democrats have said what the commission did was illegal.

Reformer reporter Max Nesterak contributed to this report.

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