The constitutional deadline for adjourning this year’s legislative session came and went on May 19 without a completed state budget. Now, Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders will need a special session to finalize what’s expected to be a $67 billion state budget.
The agreement on that budget, which was reached last week by state leaders, outlines how much the state will spend over two years and contains major policy provisions.
Actually passing the budget may still prove difficult given how closely divided the Minnesota Legislature remains; the Democrats have a one-seat majority in the Minnesota Senate while the Minnesota House of Representatives is evenly split at 67-67.
As the regular session drew to a close on Monday, Republican leadership in the Minnesota House of Representatives pointed to the three-week House DFL boycott from the beginning of the year as one of the reasons for the failure to pass a budget before adjournment.
Addressing this issue, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said enduring “23 days of a stall out was not helpful when we were looking at the calendar.”
While both chambers passed an omnibus state and local government and elections bill with just minutes remaining in the legislative session, there are still a number of budget areas that have yet to be finalized. Those areas include, but are not limited to, K-12 education, health and human services, and taxes.
Omnibus bills on agriculture, transportation, public safety, housing, and veterans issues have already been passed by both chambers and placed on the governor’s desk.
After the House adjourned on Monday night, Demuth said legislators from both chambers had formed “working groups” that will hash out differences in the remaining omnibus bills starting Tuesday morning.
When lawmakers have a plan to pass the final omnibus bills, Gov. Walz will call a special session to pass them.
Unfinished bills will be negotiated in ‘working groups’
Since the legislature is now adjourned, conference committees made up of select House and Senate members can no longer meet to work out the details of the remaining budget areas. As such, legislative leaders confirmed that those conference committees have now been converted into “working groups.”
While those working groups are technically not a formal part of the legislature, they are still made up of lawmakers who will author the remaining omnibus bills. However, the working groups are not required to meet publicly because they are not official legislative meetings.
Despite this, legislative leaders have encouraged working groups to make their meetings public. According to House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, those groups were also instructed to finish their work by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Among the most closely scrutinized elements of the budget deal is a provision that would repeal state law which allows adult illegal immigrants to access MinnesotaCare, a state-run healthcare program for low-income individuals.
Republicans have consistently argued that allowing illegal aliens to access MinnesotaCare is fiscally unsustainable and will make Minnesota a magnet for illegals. In recent weeks, the number of illegal aliens enrolling in the program has nearly quadrupled past initial estimates.
And while Gov. Tim Walz told media members on Monday that he believes excluding illegal immigrant adults from being able to enroll in public health insurance is “a cruel policy,” he said he intends to stick to the deal made with legislative leaders.
“It’s one that (Republicans) made clear nothing else was going to happen until agreement was done about that,” Walz said on Monday.
Whether that repeal makes it into an omnibus bill will be decided behind closed doors by five DFLers and four Republicans that were appointed by legislative leaders. One of those DFLers, Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, has been one of the most outspoken lawmakers opposed to the repeal, which would still allow illegal alien children to enroll in the program.
Another issue that has been in the spotlight is a DFL proposal to end nonpublic pupil aid in the K-12 budget. Republican leaders in the House and Senate have express strong opposition to cuts in nonpublic pupil aid.
Further, a highly-touted bipartisan proposal to establish a statewide Office of the Inspector General (OIG) appeared to be dead when the legislature adjourned. That office would have been charged with investigating any suspected fraud in state agencies and been given broad powers to do so.
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
