Minnesota state Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, and Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, talked about the upcoming state legislative session during a town hall meeting Tuesday morning.

MARSHALL — When the Minnesota Legislature goes back into session in January, it will have a different balance of power between Republicans and Democrats. With a tie in the House of Representatives, it might be a chance for Republicans to walk back some parts of recently-passed laws, area legislators said.

“It’s going to be an interesting session,” said state Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls. “The House is not going to be able to pass a lot of new legislation. But they can stop a lot of this stuff and try to roll back some of this stuff,” Dahms said.

Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, said Republican legislators would likely have to work fast to try and make “common sense” changes to new requirements for family medical leave and earned sick and safe time.

“It’s always easier to keep something that’s already in, than it is to undo,” Swedzinski said. “Right now is really the time that we need to strike, and stand strong for it and do something as big as possible.”

Swedzinski and Dahms met with area residents at a town hall meeting in Marshall Tuesday morning. The two made stops in several area communities, including Tracy, Marshall, Canby and Granite Falls.

Dahms and Swedzinski talked about the upcoming session, before taking questions and comments.

“Minnesota does have a very unique situation. Not only did we have our governor at the national top of the ticket, but we also managed to get a tie in the Minnesota House. The Senate is currently tied, so that’s probably why we’re not seeing a special session or a lame duck session,” Swedzinski said.

Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, resigned from the Minnesota Senate this summer to campaign for Congress. This month, Ann Johnson Stewart, DFL-Minnetonka, won a special election for Morrison’s Senate seat, giving Democrats control of the Senate again.

“We had a pretty tough race,” Dahms said, and added that the Republican candidate came within four points of Johnson Stewart.

“I’m looking forward to an opportunity to bring some common sense back to Minnesota,” Swedzinski said of the 2025 session. He said he hoped that, after Gov. Tim Walz’s unsuccessful vice presidential campaign, Walz might be willing to “rein back” some of the recent state legislation affecting businesses. “Primarily, my goal would be that they can exist, but allow businesses, allow cities, allow any entity the choice whether or not to participate.”

Swedzinski and Dahms said another unique situation facing the Minnesota Senate was the criminal charges facing Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, after she broke into her stepmother’s home.

“When that court case starts, it’ll be interesting,” Dahms said. He said the COVID pandemic rules allowing state legislators to vote remotely could raise questions about whether Mitchell could still act as a senator. “We tried to get that rescinded back in 2023, but we didn’t have the votes to do that. So technically, if she is convicted and would end up in jail, she could vote.”

“A lot of people seem to think she may resign if she’s convicted. I’m not convinced of that,” Dahms said.

In the early part of the 2025 legislative session, DFL legislators will need to adjust to not having a majority in both the state House and Senate, Dahms said.

“Paid family leave, that certainly needs some attention, and certainly there’s some changes that could be made to make that more palatable. And hopefully there’s something (the Democrats) will need bad enough that they want, that we can live with, that we could use as a negotiation tool to roll some of that back,” he said.

The new paid family and medical leave law was a concern among people at the town hall, as well. One audience member said family farmers receiving commodity wages should not be included under family and medical leave requirements.

“We’re doing a good job of doing what we do. Don’t be burdening us with that,” the audience member said.

“This is something that we need to try and get some work done on. I don’t know how far we’re going to get, but we certainly need to give it a good push,” Dahms said.

“I think that the key is for businesses to stand together,” Swedzinski said. “We need to allow the relationships that have been developed between business owner and employee to thrive and be competitive, not through government mandate, but through the marketplace. If we fail to do that . . . we’re going to have huge costs that other states, other jurisdictions do not have, and it’s going to put us at a disadvantage.”

Dahms said other issues with the paid family and medical leave law included questions of who counted as a family member, and the fact that there were no checks and balances to see whether people taking leave actually needed to care for their family members.

If no changes were made, Dahms said, “It’s going to be interesting how many people take care of Mom and Dad down in Arizona for 12 weeks in the wintertime.”

Another audience member asked if Minnesota lawmakers needed to consider the new Trump administration possibly cutting federal funding to states. “There’s talk about eliminating the Department of Education and certain taxes. What are your thoughts on it?” the audience member said. “How much does it affect the state of Minnesota?”

Minnesota does receive “quite a bit of money” from the federal government, in areas like Medicaid, roads and bridges, and education, Dahms said. “So it could have an effect, absolutely. How much? Depending on how much they cut and where they cut it,” he said.

Dahms said it was his understanding that the administration would possibly be looking to cut funds that weren’t being spent for their intended purpose.

“You kind of operate under the assumption that, until something drastically changes from the federal government, we as a state will probably operate within the system that is just how it’s naturally been,” Swedzinski said.