ST. PAUL — Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders from both parties agree on at least one thing — they want lawmakers to pass some easy bills quickly in the new session to grease the skids for tougher decisions later.

At a briefing Monday hosted by Forum News Service, they said several noncontroversial proposals that died amid other disputes at the end of the 2018 session could be ripe for early approval. Measures to address election security, the opioid crisis, elder abuse and distracted driving were mentioned as potential early wins.

While the leaders agreed on wanting to bring the state’s tax code into conformity with the 2017 federal tax overhaul, another issue leftover from last year, they cautioned that doing it in a way that spreads the breaks fairly won’t be simple.