A ‘last day’ goes by Minnesota lawmakers without a budget concluded; special session on tap
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Minnesota’s Legislature adjourned Monday without finishing a state budget, forcing the work into overtime and leaving some nagging issues to resolve.
Just after 10 p.m., the Senate passed one more link in the bigger state budget — a bill funding several agencies, changing some election laws and adding some anti-fraud protocols — and then called it a night.
The politically tied House was not far behind; it passed that agency funding bill, went back and forth over bill to create an Office of Inspector General that didn’t pass and then signed out about 11:45 p.m..
It will be up to Gov. Tim Walz to call a special session, but he indicated he’ll wait until a fully formed budget is ready for votes. There was less than 10 percent of the next $66 billion-plus two-year budget completed before the session ended.
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Walz urged lawmakers to keep moving budget bills.
“Once we get past June 1, we’ll be obligated then to start looking at what does it look like if you shut down? That means we send out the layoff notices and things like that,” Walz said. “That is not without a cost, and I would just argue with all the time we’ve had to do this. We've got plenty of time to finish this over the next few days.”
The roadmap for a session finish was finally laid out late last week, but that framework left a lot to be filled in and ignited opposition that the deal’s architects have had to smooth over.
Erin Murphy, the Democratic Senate majority leader, told her colleagues that working groups will form.
She said those panels would keep going “in order to finish up the number of bills that need to be completed in the negotiation before we can come back here in a special session and pass them.”
A sheet signed by Walz and most House and Senate leaders (minus the Republican Senate leader) contains the plan for those working groups said they are expected to hold meetings and work within the confines of a prior budget agreement. They’ve been given a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline to complete their task.
Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault, said the need for extra time is “frustrating” but a sign that actual give and take is involved this year after two years of Democrats getting most of what they wanted.
“I think the main thing is the other side has been used to having full control for two years and I think they need to realize that they need to compromise,” he said. “And I think that’s where a lot of things are sticking.”
Earlier in the day, Murphy said last-minute policy requests from House Republicans were slowing budget bills and preventing them from moving out of conference committees.
She said GOP members want to reopen a jobs and economy bill to alter a provision around earned sick and safe time and paid family and medical leave benefits; they also want a say on picking University of Minnesota regents during the upcoming special session. Right now, Walz would get to choose those nominees since it didn't happen in the regular legislative session.
"When you reach a conclusion and negotiation and new conditions are being added that slow down the budget, that's frustrating, and that is getting in the way,” she told reporters. “And I'm concerned that Republicans are driving us to a special session, and I'm concerned about their commitment to finishing this work for the people of Minnesota. "
The politically divided Legislature and Walz came to agreement on how much money to spend for all the different state budgets.
GOP leaders said that efforts to impact budget bills weren’t part of the global framework but should still get aired in the event they could pick up bipartisan backing.
“That was not part of the global agreement. But yet, if there is a desire to do that here in the Legislature, that could be part of things as we move forward,” House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said. “I have no intent of going back on the global deal that was reached. We signed that in good faith.”
One big sticking point that could gum up the conclusion involves health care.
The leadership plan would undo MinnesotaCare health insurance for adult immigrants who don’t have legal status. The agreement would allow children to continue on MinnesotaCare.
The measure could eke through in the House if all Republicans and at least one Democrat endorse the deal.
But ending health care for undocumented immigrants could be an even bigger challenge in the Senate where Democrats have just a one-seat majority — and no firm assurances from Republicans that they’ll put up votes to pass any of the big budget bills.
A solid core of the Senate DFL is outright opposed and even more-moderate Democrats like Sen. Judy Seeberger of Afton suggested they weren’t in favor of ending the coverage — a DFL initiative that was passed just a couple years ago.
“I believe that undocumented folks should be, are entitled to the same access to health care that all the rest of us are,” Seeberger said. “So no, I do not support that at all.”
The bumpy ending is a fitting bookend to a session where little has gone smoothly this year.
From a tied Senate at the beginning due to a senator’s death, to a tied House now that got down to business many weeks into the year, it’s been rocky throughout. A senator also resigned this year after being arrested and charged in a prostitution sting.
The overall 101 Democrats and 100 Republicans now in place make it the tightest split on record.
Murphy, the Senate leader, has her work cut out for her to get to the end. She faces a revolt in her caucus over a deal she signed her name to.
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson declined Monday to say if he or other Republicans will put up the votes needed to pass bills in jeopardy.
“We've all got to represent different caucuses, and so trying to figure out how this puzzle fits together is a big chore,” Johnson said, describing his conversations with Murphy as “very good and very respectful.”
Demuth doesn’t have an easy task either.
By nature of the House tie, bipartisan backing is needed for anything and everything to pass.
So as lawmakers reached what they thought would be the end, now the question is whether they can clear the final obstacles and when. Only then can they break for home.
The Legislature is scheduled to convene again for its next regular run on Feb. 17.
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