Minnesota Senate trims members' postage allotment by 10% as amendment to resolution passes

The Minnesota Senate on Thursday adopted Senate Resolution 13, which sets postage budgets for calendar year 2025, after approving an A3 amendment that trims members' postage allocations by about 10%.

Senator Johnson moved the A3 amendment to reduce the line-item amounts on page 1, line 5 — deleting “1,300” and inserting “1,170” — and to proportionally reduce additional postage provided to committee chairs and majority and minority leaders. "What the A3 amendment does is simply takes us down, our postage budget 10%...this is a small amount of sacrifice but I think is necessary, to make sure that we are being fiscally prudent, within our operations here at the Senate as well," Senator Johnson said on the floor.

The amendment drew pushback from Senator Murphy, who supported maintaining the 2024 postage amounts and described direct mail as an important communication channel. "I worry a lot about our ability to continue to communicate directly with people around the facts of the matter and the truth," Murphy said, adding that mail remains a tool for reaching constituents along with in-person events. After debate and a roll call request, the amendment was adopted and the resolution then passed as amended.

Why it matters: The change reduces operating expenses for the legislative body itself and is the chamber's first budgetary decision of the biennium. Supporters framed the amendment as a modest, symbolic step toward tighter internal spending amid what they described as statewide budget uncertainty. Opponents said preserving the postage allotment is important to maintain direct communication with constituents.

Details and debate Supporters of the A3 amendment argued the 10% reduction is a modest measure and a signal of fiscal restraint. Senator Weber urged the body to "do an about face" from what he characterized as previous large budget increases and described the reduction as an appropriate example of shared sacrifice.

Senator Murphy acknowledged the broader budget concerns raised by proponents but said he would not support trimming the postage budget, arguing that direct mail remains a necessary way for lawmakers to communicate important information to Minnesotans.

Votes at a glance - A3 amendment to Senate Resolution 13 (mover: Senator Johnson): Adopted (roll call requested). The transcript records individual aye votes for several senators during the roll calls (for example, Senator Westrom and Senator Frentz are recorded as voting "aye"; Senator Latz is recorded as voting both "no" and later "aye" in separate recorded segments), and the resolution was adopted as amended. The full roll-call tally was not provided in a single contiguous transcript segment. - Senate Resolution 13 as amended (mover to adopt: Senator Murphy): Adopted.

Other procedural actions during the session - Senator Anderson moved to withdraw Senate File 253 from the Committee on Capital Investment and return it to the author; the motion prevailed. - Senator Feite moved to withdraw Senate File 1140 from the Committee on Capital Investment and return it to the author; the motion prevailed. - Senator Bowden moved that Senate File 1346 be withdrawn from the Committee on Environment, Climate and Legacy and re-referred to the Committee on Labor; the motion prevailed. Senator Bowden said both committee chairs agreed to the re-referral.

Discussion vs. decision The floor debate on SR 13 focused on whether the chamber should slightly reduce internal communications spending in a time of broader budget uncertainty. Senators explicitly framed their remarks either as policy choices for internal operations (discussion) or as the final decision the body needed to take (adoption). The A3 amendment represented a formal change to the resolution (direction/decision), followed by a roll call that resulted in adoption of the amendment and then adoption of the resolution as amended (formal action).

Context and clarifications - The A3 amendment text reported on the floor instructs replacing the figure "1,300" with "1,170" on page 1, line 5 of the resolution, a change characterized on the floor as a 10% reduction to the postage budget line. - Senator Murphy said the amounts in the resolution (before amendment) were the same as in 2024. - During debate senators referenced wider state budget pressures; those broader fiscal claims were framed as context for the postage decision and do not appear tied to any specific statutory requirement in the transcript.

What to watch next The vote signals a willingness among some Senate members to trim internal operating costs in response to broader budget uncertainties cited during floor debate. The resolution itself governs internal postage allocations and does not change programmatic spending in state agencies.