Latest news with #MinnesotaBudget
CBS News
4 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Gov. Tim Walz calls special session to finish budget Monday, ending weeks of limbo in Minnesota Legislature
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders announced there will be a one-day special session on Monday to pass the remaining parts of the next two-year budget, ending weeks of limbo in the most closely divided Legislature in state history. Lawmakers have been urgently working to balance a budget since the regular session ended on May 19. Legislators had originally hoped they'd be able to finish by that day, but several sticking points left them working overtime. There is a tied House and a one-seat advantage for Democrats in the Senate. That make-up has made negotiations fragile and that dynamic is akin to every lawmaker as having their own veto, as Walz described. Among the most contentious issues is the GOP and DFL compromise to roll back state health care coverage for undocumented immigrants. Progressive DFL lawmakers protested the health care cut, threatening the bipartisan agreement. But Walz and leaders agreed, according to a signed document, that the session would begin Monday at 10 a.m. and end by 7 a.m. Tuesday, and that the scope of it will focus only on the budget bills at hand in addition to a stand-alone bill to remove undocumented immigrant adults from MinnesotaCare. The state legislature is required to adopt a balanced budget every two years. Roughly 30,000 state workers are set to get a layoff notice Monday morning as protocol, since failure to pass a budget by July 1 means a partial government shutdown. That hasn't happened since 2011. This story will be updated. contributed to this report.
CBS News
7 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Minnesota lawmakers continue to finish work behind the scenes, layoff notices go to most state workers soon if they don't pass budget
Minnesota lawmakers continued their behind-the-scenes work on Tuesday as they eye a partial government shutdown next month if they don't complete the next two-year state budget by July 1. Most state employees will receive layoff notices next Monday if a special session approving those spending plans isn't over by then, Gov. Tim Walz's office said. Walz won't officially call lawmakers back to the capitol until all of the remaining bills are ready to go. Lawmakers have been in mostly private meetings to make that happen, finding agreement and then sending it to the revisor's office for drafting. Key lawmakers have been meeting in "working groups" since the May 20, after the regular session ended, to sort out the details of each unifinished bill. Some broader agreements and actual proposals are posted on the Legislature's website, including a K-12 spending package. If they don't complete their work by the deadline at the end of the month, state services and programs would only partially shut down because some parts of the budget did pass before adjournment last month, including funding for the courts, attorney general's office, and agriculture and veterans departments. State workers in those agencies would be held harmless. The last time there was a government shutdown was in 2011. Four years ago in 2021, lawmakers in a divided capitol narrowly avoided one, passing the remaining parts of the budget June 30 during a special session. DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy told WCCO Sunday she hopes there will be a special session this week, but legislative leaders and key negotiators have blown past other self-imposed deadlines the last few weeks. What's unclear is how the Legislature will approve a part of a budget deal between legislative leaders and the governor that would remove undocumented immigrant adults from a state program providing health care coverage, which is sparking outcry among several DFL lawmakers. Murphy has said it needs to be a stand-alone bill, while GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth wants it to be part of a broader health package.
CBS News
01-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
State leaders hopeful for Minnesota budget deal ahead of special session
Thousands of Minnesota state workers will be getting layoff notices in the next few days because the Legislature has failed to come to a budget agreement. If the budget standoff continues through the end of this month at the Minnesota Capitol, there will be a state government shutdown on July 1 — the first time that's happened since 2011. For weeks, legislative leaders insisted they would have a balanced budget by the end of the session on May 19. That obviously didn't happen. The state is required to adopt a balanced budget every two years, and this is one of those years. And right now, the Legislature has a lot left to do. Among the bills not passed is the E-12 Education budget, representing about 30% of the total state budget, and the State Health and Human Services budget, which accounts for about 28%. Despite half the budget unfinished, leaders continue to be optimistic. DFL Majority Leader Erin Murphy, who was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m., says she's hopeful a budget will be ready so Gov. Tim Walz can call a special session for the Legislature to vote on it. "Gosh, even this week, we're hoping that it can be this week. I know everybody needs to give the revisors the time to draft the legislation," Sen. Murphy said. While the Minnesota House is tied at 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats, the Senate has a one-vote DFL Majority at 34 to 33. That slenderest of margins is one reason that reaching an agreement has proved so difficult. Another hold up has been the issue of free health insurance for undocumented immigrants. Legislative leaders — including GOP Speaker Lisa Demuth, DFL Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, Sen. Murphy and Walz — agreed to roll back the benefit for undocumented adults and leave it in place for children. But the pushback has been swift and strong. DFL legislators immediately protested the rollback agreement, even demonstrating at the governor's offices. Sen. Murphy says with the slim majorities, a compromise had to happen. "It is a very, very difficult vote for me and it is a very contentious issue for my colleagues, and rightfully so," she said. "But it was a chief priority for the Republicans." With DFL legislators deeply fractured, it's unclear how and when a new budget deal will be finalized. Walz says only when the deal is completely set will he call a one-day special session so the legislature can vote on the budget and he can sign it.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New deadline missed for Minnesota budget agreement
The Brief Legislators missed the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline set by leaders for finishing all the bills making up the Minnesota state budget. Almost all the negotiations are now happening privately and the details are not very public either. Meanders will insert themselves into negotiations now and they hope that helps them finish everything by next week so Gov. Walz can call a special session. ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The latest deadline at the Capitol has come and gone. Getting closer Teams were supposed to finish negotiating the remaining bills by 5 p.m. Wednesday. They got closer, but not especially close. One legislative leader told FOX 9 that three out of the remaining 11 big omnibus bills may be finished. Little in public But almost everything now is happening behind closed doors and the whole process is a lot different from how it happened during the regular session. The House and Senate chambers are empty. The only bill being negotiated in the daylight is the tax bill and a lot of its provisions are coming directly from the governor and legislative leaders from both parties. Tax increase That includes an increase on the cannabis sales tax from 10% to 15%. Cannabis advocates rallied against the change in front of the governor's office on Wednesday afternoon. They argue the increase shouldn't come before the state even gives out licenses, and they think it'll especially hurt medical patients, who will often shift to buying recreational cannabis because of the quality and convenience. But that tax is part of the global agreement signed last week, and it seems to be holding in the only public meetings. What's next The next step, according to leaders, is for the working groups to start meeting with a tribunal of leaders from both parties and the governor. They'll be directly involved in most of the negotiations from here on out. As for a timeline: They plan to work right through the Memorial Day weekend and if things go well, they could wrap it all up next week and that's when the governor would call for what they hope will be a short special session.
CBS News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
How much does it cost when the Minnesota Legislature needs to hold a special session?
When Minnesota lawmakers can't reach an agreement on the budget during the course of the regular session, that's when the term "special session" percolates. But how much does it cost the state's taxpayers when lawmakers go into overtime at the Minnesota Capitol Building? While on paper it would seem that the Minnesota Senate and House will remain empty until next year — as both the Senate President and House Speaker adjourned their duties until Tuesday, February 17, 2026 — the struggle this spring to secure the all-important budget bills all but ensures that lawmakers in both chambers will return well before then. It's a familiar situation for lawmakers in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Since 2005, there have been 18 special sessions. (The impending session in 2025 would make it 19.) Seven of those times, the special session was to finalize a budget. Another seven were held in 2020 alone, as lawmakers kept meeting to extend Gov. Tim Walz's peacetime emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rest were to provide disaster assistance to flooded communities. When it comes to matters of cost, just because the lawmakers are working overtime doesn't mean they'll make extra pay. Their salaries are set for the year at $51,170. However, each additional day spent in St. Paul means they can claim another per diem of $86 each. Multiply that by the 201 lawmakers and that's $17,286, if they all claim. Legislators also can earn up to $2,200 in lodging reimbursements per month. Given the often-brief length of special sessions, it's unclear how much they'll be compensated for potentially spending a few more nights near the Capitol. If you add in the cost of paying Capitol security, estimates show a special session could cost roughly $51,000 per day. That could be the full price tag this year, if Walz's own prediction holds true. "When the work's done and they're ready, I'll bring them back for a one-day special session and we'll button things up," he told reporters as the legislative session wrapped up Monday. Special sessions in budget years usually last no more than three days. In 2005, lawmakers were at the Capitol for an extra 51 days. The most recent special session, in 2021, lasted 24 days. Jeff Wagner Jeff Wagner joined the WCCO-TV team in November 2016 as a general assignment reporter, and now anchors WCCO's Saturday evening newscasts. Although he's new to Minnesota, he's called the Midwest home his entire life. contributed to this report.
