Minnesota legislative leaders said earlier this week that they’re inching toward the finish line as they work to draft bills and secure enough votes to pass budget bills.
If lawmakers don’t finish their work by July 1, the state could go into a partial government shutdown. A first round of layoff notices was sent to state employees on June 1, warning of the shutdown possibility. Gov. Tim Walz said the second round, affecting 28,000 employees, go out June 9, but he’s hoping to finish work before then.
Gov. Tim Walz.
“That causes great uncertainty for folks. I think it adds unnecessary chaos,” he said. “It’s still my desire, and this is a negotiated issue … that that be a one-day (special) session. So it means once we come out of this room … we got a day to do it. So I would tell you, it’s my desire that this thing be buttoned up so I don’t have to send out those notes.”
Walz and DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman, DFL–Brooklyn Park, said a special session could happen soon — possibly Saturday. Speaker of the House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, did not commit to a specific date, but said a special session “should be called soon.”
House Speaker Lisa Demuth (Courtesy photo)
All leaders said significant work remains, and agreed that the budget bills for Health and Human Services, Transportation and Taxes are currently the biggest holdups. A bonding bill is still up in the air.
Concerns over budget agreement
The transportation bill is under scrutiny after the Dakota County Board of Commissioners wrote to lawmakers Wednesday, claiming the budget agreement — reached last month by state leaders — would divert $93 million in regional sales tax revenue for the Metropolitan Council.
The tax bill is up in the air after the chairs of the Tax Committees in the Senate and House, Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, and Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, spoke out on Monday against the tax bill agreement that leadership released over the weekend. Davids said he would have liked to see more relief for data centers, as well as some proposals that leadership left out, such as a sustainable aviation fuel tax credit.
House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman.
The Human Services budget bill comprises the second largest part of the state’s budget, at $24 billion, and also will be subject to the most net cuts out of any budget bill this year — $300 million. Hortman said the delay in the Health and Human Services bills is mostly due to the time-consuming process for the Office of Revisors of Statutes in drafting such a large and complex bill.
It’s still unclear whether the issue of repealing MinnesotaCare for undocumented adults — a contingency in the budget deal struck by Walz and leaders — will travel in the Health budget bill or as a stand-alone bill during the special session.
State leaders didn’t confirm whether they have the votes from their caucuses to pass all of the budget bills. Hortman said the process of caucusing and securing each vote takes time — especially when drafts are still in progress.
“I signed an agreement that committed my caucus to deliver votes to pass bills … But we’re not at the point where we have caucused every single bill,” she said. “You can’t ask people will you vote for a bill until the bill is done being drafted.”
Missed deadline
As lawmakers work to wrap up business, most of it is behind closed doors, as public meetings are few and far between.
Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy.
Beyond the regular session May 19 deadline, leaders have missed several self-imposed deadlines for finishing their work: May 26, May 29 and June 4. Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said Wednesday that lawmakers are “making progress — it is as slow as molasses, but molasses is good.”
The budget is looking to be $66 billion to $67 billion, roughly $5 billion less than 2023’s budget. Cuts are coming in heavy for the 2026-2027 budget after a February forecast showed the state could be headed toward a $6 billion deficit in 2028-2029.
“We have the closest split in any Legislature maybe ever for the tie in the House and one vote of the Senate, which means the details matter, “ Walz said Wednesday. “We’ve been saying all along this needs to get done. We have already blown through some of the gates that needed to be accomplished, and those become much more serious as we move closer towards July 1.”
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