Jessica Hanson spent most of her first two years in the Minnesota Legislature participating virtually from her Burnsville home, balancing her legislative duties with being a single mother to two kids who were frequently distance learning.
Hanson and other lawmakers who were first elected in 2020 had to learn how to legislate under unprecedented circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, they're working at the State Capitol full time, a welcome but jarring shift that has some feeling like newcomers all over again.
"We're not real freshmen, but we feel like it," said Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, sharing a sentiment held by lawmakers in the group that's dubbed itself "the corona class." "We really came into this having to do things differently, and so it's kind of our status quo to be flexible."
The return to normalcy at the State Capitol is a welcome sight for the legislators who knew it before and an unfamiliar one for those who had never experienced it. After two years of virtual and hybrid work, their days are once again packed with face-to-face committee hearings, constituent meetings and House and Senate floor sessions.
A reshaped political dynamic has added to the learning curve. Democrats now control the House and Senate and are sprinting ahead with hearings on numerous priority bills, leaving lawmakers new and old scrambling to keep up with the unusually fast pace.
"I'm trying to learn new aspects of the committees I'm on, but unfortunately we're not even getting the time to do that," said second-term Sen. Zach Duckworth, R-Lakeville. "We're just diving in on some very complex, fast-moving legislation."
Duckworth said he found it easier to work with Democrats from afar during the pandemic when control of the Legislature was divided. Democrats now have little incentive to work with Republicans.
"They know that they can push through whatever they want," Duckworth said.
