May 21 2025, Mark Luis Foster

The Minnesota Legislature ended as it began, with a dull thud.

The much ballyhooed HOA reform legislation took a back seat as other priorities, such as agreeing to an actual budget, got in the way. To say the least, many of us are relieved that the letters “H-O-A” stayed off their radar during the wrangling, with some experts now predicting that such legislation will remain in the back seat even into the special session that is likely to happen before their June 30 deadline.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Major areas of the budget, like the K-12 education and health bills that account for about two-thirds of state spending, are still incomplete. There isn’t a final bill on taxes either. Negotiations continued Tuesday on those incomplete budget areas with “working groups” made up of members of both parties from the Senate and House.

The legislature has to agree on a budget before June 1, so they have their hands full.

From the PP:

If the budget deal makes it through in its current form, the state will have a two-year budget of more than $66 billion. It aims to control spending growth in social services and education to address a projected $6 billion budget shortfall looming later this decade. It’s down from the last budget, which topped $70 billion. There are also some tweaks to state taxes that result in cuts of more than $300 million in the next four years.

With no budget attached to HOA reform legislation, there was no telling where the bill (SF1750) would end up in this session; but it appears that it remains in limbo- land. It also seems the poorly envisioned “ombudsperson bill” that seeks to wedge a state-hired person in between HOA leaders and HOA residents as a collector of complaints has been met with the same fate, at least for now.

We will keep monitoring it to see if it makes to into the special session – but it more likely makes a comeback when the legislature starts its next budget year.