(ABC 6 News) – As part of their Easter break, some Rochester area legislators met with members of the local chamber to give an update on the legislative session, hitting on topics like the state’s budget, working around federal cuts, and specific bills looking to address workforce issues.

It comes with just weeks left in the 2025 session.

Conversations about the state’s budget were top of mind for all the legislators present, all of them conceding the need for balance as the state faces a $6 billion deficit in the 2028-2029 biennium.

To that end, progress has been made, as most House committees did manage to get their budget bills moved forward before last week’s April 11 deadline.

Republican Sen. Carla Nelson said bipartisanship has been crucial to that effort because of how tight the margins are in both chambers.

“We’ve had a lot of bipartisanship over in the House, in the Senate somewhat,” she said. “I’m a little concerned some of the Senate bills are not maybe quite as bipartisan as they need to be, I mean there’s only a one vote majority difference there. I’m hopeful though that we’ll get these done.”

Some of the legislators, however, seemed more focused on the impact of the federal government on Minnesota.

Cuts and changes in D.C. have had some serious implications for the state – including layoffs and funding cuts to some departments.

For some legislators, those consequences could mean the work won’t end even when the regular session does.

“What we’re going to be seeing I think,” said DFL Rep. Tina Liebling, “(is) the Minnesota Legislature is going to pass a budget and then depending on what the Trump administration does, we’re going to be back in special session after these cuts have come down to try to save the Minnesota we know and love.”

More practically, the legislators discussed multiple bills working their way through the House and Senate addressing workforce issues.

One is a proposal to establish a licensure compact in Minnesota for nurses.

If passed, the bill would allow nurses to be licensed in their home state but practice in any other state that is also a part of the licensure compact.

Currently, 41 states plus Guam and the Virgin Islands have enacted a nurse licensure compact, and eight more including Minnesota have pending legislation.

Another major bill is seeking to amend the Paid Family Medical Leave act passed in 2023.

The original bill established a state-run insurance program to allow Minnesota workers to take up to 20 weeks off for family or medical issues.

The program, set to start at the beginning of next year, would be funded through a tax on both employers and employees based on the employees wages and the number of employees a given business has.

The new bills filed earlier this month look to modify the original, first, by capping the maximum amount of time off at 12 weeks, and, second, allowing some small employers a chance to opt out of the program entirely.

The original bill has seen some changes already since its passage, namely an increase of the percentage of an employees wages contributed to the program from 0.7% to 0.88%, half of which is paid by employee and their employer each.

Legislators have until May 19th to finalize their budgets for the 2026-2027 biennium.