Minnesota Chamber focused on permitting reform and legislative outcomes as special session nears

By Doug Loon
President and CEO
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce

It's been an interesting and challenging week, and we are now in special session mode at the Legislature for the 2025 legislative session. Big progress has been made on a number of fronts related to the business community's priorities as well as the Chamber's priorities. Two things I want to mention today on the podcast.

First, permitting reform is something we've talked about extensively. You know from our conversations that the permitting process in Minnesota for large industrial, Tier 2 permits is incredibly slow compared to our neighboring and competitor states. We take many times longer, creating uncertainty, and as a result, projects don’t happen in a timely way—or at all—in Minnesota.

A study conducted by the Chamber's Foundation shows that we can do better. It includes a series of recommendations, some of which are now embodied in legislation moving forward this year. We believe this legislation will be signed into law by the governor. We’re eager for a conclusion on our work to improve Minnesota’s permitting process, which will boost economic performance for the business community and communities statewide, providing meaningful jobs and economic progress while protecting the environment.

We’re also watching policymakers conclude their work on the budget and other policy priorities which relate directly to the Chamber’s efforts.

To get a full rundown of the progress and outcomes, join us in the coming weeks, starting June 3rd through the end of the month. We’ll be traveling across the state, stopping in 13 communities – from the Twin Cities to Grand Rapids to Worthington. The team will be joined by local business leaders and local chambers to share up-to-the-minute updates on legislation outcomes that matter to Minnesota’s business community.

We’ll also discuss what was blocked during the session, which is often just as critical to ensure we don’t move in the wrong direction for our private sector economy. Some anti-business policies that made progress in previous sessions were blocked this year, and we’re watching closely to ensure those poor ideas don’t reappear in 2025.

If you want to join us for live updates and session conclusions, check out our website at mnchamber.com, there you can find the full schedule of our upcoming Statewide Policy Tour. We look forward to seeing you in your communities across the state in the coming weeks to break down the outcomes of the 2025 legislative session.

I’ll hopefully be back with more conclusions and updates from the Legislature on next week’s episode of the Minnesota Business Podcast.