Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, yet legislators at the Minnesota Capitol still have plenty of work to do to reach final agreements with a handful of outstanding budget bills.
Despite the circumstances and uncertainties, state leaders have expressed calm confidence that they can finalize a budget agreement and codify it in a special session in the coming days.
Repealing MinnesotaCare access for illegal alien adults remains outstanding
At present, a handful of working groups—select groups of legislators appointed from both the House and Senate—are hammering out differences in their respective budget bills.
One of the most closely watched groups is writing the health and human services budget bill. In that group, lawmakers are trying to figure out how to manage a measure to repeal MinnesotaCare access for illegal alien adults.
At least one DFL senator in that group has said she’ll fight the repeal—even though Walz and Democrat leaders in the House and Senate agreed to honor it, as part of a global budget agreement they reached earlier this month with House Republicans.
Despite the ongoing negotiations, DFL leaders in the House say they believe resolution will come soon.
Optimism despite challenges and uncertainties
On Tuesday morning, House DFL leader Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, told WCCO Radio that he believes a special session could start as soon as this week.
“The governor is the one who gets to make the call and I think he’s going to want to make sure all of the budget bills are wrapped up,” said Long. “I could see Friday as a possibility, but I suspect it might be a day or two after that.”
Last Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz signed a bipartisan teacher pension bill into law. During a press conference about that legislation, he expressed confidence that Democrats and Republicans in the remaining working groups will be able to resolve differences in their respective bills in time for him to call a special session in the coming days.
House Speaker Lisa Demuth told reporters at the Capitol last week that she expects Walz will hold up his end of the deal they reached just days before the close of session, which includes that repeal of MinnesotaCare access for illegal immigrant adults.
“When we made the agreement—the leaders along with the governor—my expectation, although the governor could veto something, my expectation is he will uphold his part of the agreement, getting these things through. I don’t have any reason to doubt that,” Demuth said.
While Walz and DFL legislative leaders said they fundamentally disagree with repealing the MinnesotaCare access for illegal immigrants, they have said they are willing to concede on that area to get a budget deal done before a partial government shutdown would begin on July 1.
A few details worth noting: veto power and public access
Republican leverage in budget negotiations has come from the 67-67 tie among DFL and GOP members in the state house. No bill can pass that chamber without 68 votes. As such, Republicans effectively have veto power over the budget.
Unlike the regular legislative session, which expired on May 19, these legislative meetings are not required to be public.
Legislators working on the health and human services spending bill have not been willing to make their meetings publicly available. Meanwhile, the tax working group and the jobs and labor working group have met publicly.
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.
