Latest news with #specialsession
CBS News
an hour ago
- Business
- CBS News
Saturday special session? Leaders in Minnesota Legislature hope to avoid layoff notices to thousands of state workers
Minnesota legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Walz hope there will be a special session of the Legislature this weekend before layoff notices will be sent to nearly 30,000 state workers on Monday. They had pushed for mid-week, but by Wednesday they said negotiators still hadn't buttoned up outstanding issues, causing further delays. Walz will call a special session when the bills are complete, drafted and ready for passage. Leaders and key lawmakers have been working on the remaining parts of the budget for weeks, largely out of public view. DFL Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman said Wednesday they are "urgently" trying to finish by the weekend to avoid sending state employees that dreaded message. But other self-imposed deadlines have come and gone since the regular session ended May 19 and lawmakers began their behind-the-scenes work to finish everything up. "We are making progress. It is as slow as molasses, but molasses is good, and we are going to get done. I cross my fingers," said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-Saint Paul. This is the most closely divided Legislature in Minnesota history, which makes the process uniquely delicate and difficult to get everything done. It's unclearif there are even the votes to pass some parts of the carefully crafted agreement they made in late May. "We're at a point right now where, quite candidly, and the legislators know this—I'm not even saying as a pejorative—every single legislator is potentially a veto over the whole deal to get some of this done," Walz said. Among the sticking points are how they will pass a rollback of state health coverage for undocumented immigrants—a compromise reached by GOP and DFL leaders. There is also some contention with a transportation funding package and provisions in a tax bill. Many DFL lawmakers deeply oppose the cuts to MinnesotaCare for adults who are living in the country illegally. Murphy has said it needs to be a stand-alone bill to ensure passage, an acknowledgment of the many likely defectors she will have in her caucus, which only has a one-seat majority in the chamber. Republicans will need to support it. House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said for a stand-alone bill to happen, her caucus needs language in the legislation to ensure it won't be vetoed. Republicans, she said, want that assurance, even though Walz signed the agreement with leaders that included the change. "Some of the things that we're looking at is if that would be broken out into a separate bill, there would have to be a guaranteed contingency—say, funding for MDH, or whatever that might look like—that would be a guarantee that that bill would both be passed and enacted," she said. If lawmakers do not finish by the weekend, the layoff notices will be sent Monday morning, Walz said. Failure to pass the rest of the budget by June 30 will trigger a partial government shutdown on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year. The governor told reporters he doesn't think that will happen, but nevertheless Minnesota Management and Budget—which oversees the state's finances and payroll and HR operations for state workers—is following protocols to prepare for that possibility. Some state services, agencies and programs would remain operational in that scenario because the Legislature did approve some budget bills before session ended last month, like spending plans for the judiciary and state government offices like the secretary of state and attorney general.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri lawmakers prepare for special session on stadium funding
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's Missouri's turn to hold a who are contemplating new stadiums, or in the Chiefs case, possible upgrades to Arrowhead. But the session will be complicated by animosity between the chambers, and even members of the same parties who have their own priorities. Other issues, including construction spending and storm relief will also be in play. We're joined by , a Jackson County Republican, and of Platte County, for their previews and insights on what to expect during the upcoming special session. Download WDAF+ for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV And looming in the background, Kansas own package to lure the teams, . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
27-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Mississippi governor calling lawmakers into special session to seek a budget deal
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi lawmakers are headed back to the state Capitol after failing to pass a budget in their regular session, called back by Gov. Tate Reeves for a special session starting Wednesday. Reeves summoned the lawmakers earlier in the week, saying a proposed $7.1 billion deal before the legislators was 'fiscally conservative.' He expressed hope that a final agreement could be secured quickly for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1.
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Mississippi governor calling lawmakers into special session to seek a budget deal
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers are headed back to the state Capitol after failing to pass a budget in their regular session, called back by Gov. Tate Reeves for a special session starting Wednesday. Reeves summoned the lawmakers earlier in the week, saying a proposed $7.1 billion deal before the legislators was 'fiscally conservative.' He expressed hope that a final agreement could be secured quickly. 'It is my belief that this should not take long. In fact, I believe the passage of these bills could be done in as little as one day,' Reeves said at a news conference Tuesday when he announced the special session. Republicans, who control both chambers of the legislature, were unable to reach agreement on the next budget in their recent session. Mississippi Today reported GOP infighting led lawmakers to end their regular session in early April without passing a 2026 budget. It was the first time the legislature did not reach a budget deal during regular session since 2010. 'There weren't a lot of huge disagreements on funding of the core functions of government. There were quite a few disagreements on issues out here,' Reeves said, gesturing to the side, 'which led to them not funding the core functions of government.' Reeves said the proposed budget would keep recurring spending at roughly the same level as the current budget. But he acknowledged that uncertainty over the federal budget has played a role in budget planning. In Washington, House Republicans were jubilant after muscling through President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax and immigration package by a single vote last week and sending it for what is expected to be long negotiations in the Senate. 'There are still a lot of unknowns about what the federal government budget is going to look like going into the next fiscal year, and so I think that it certainly makes sense for states — all states and certainly Mississippi — to be prepared for whatever may occur coming out of the one big beautiful bill,' Reeves said.
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Special session headed for after Memorial Day weekend as Minnesota lawmakers continue to work through unresolved budget bills
A special session of the Minnesota Legislature is headed for after Memorial Day weekend as lawmakers continue to sort through unresolved bills that will make up the next two-year state budget. On Thursday, the conference committees between the House and Senate that have transformed into unofficial working groups met to continue their negotiations on spending plans for K-12 education, transportation, human services and economic development. Those panels met in public, after many meetings over the last several days have been in secret. Gov. Tim Walz won't officially call the special session until everything is wrapped up, but now it will be next week at the earliest, leaders conceded. "It is clear we're not going to have a special session by the end of this week because that's tomorrow. But I hope that in the work of today, and people are working really hard today, and hopefully tomorrow, we're able to button these things up,' said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-Saint Paul. Murphy, GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth and former DFL Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman gave negotiators until 5 p.m. Wednesday to find agreement between House and Senate versions of different spending plans, but none of them met that deadline. The House leaders told reporters they are pushing for everything to be finalized by Friday and then the bills can be drafted for a mid-week special session next week. "Even though it's slower than we would like, things are going well. It doesn't appear that anyone has quit or given up, and that is a very good sign in the right direction," Demuth said. Hortman noted that the situation becomes more complicated the closer lawmakers get to June with no budget passed. Layoff notices will go out to agencies without continued funding approvals starting June 1 — the government will shutdown if there's no budget by July 1. "That is really the next deadline that comes after May 19," Hortman said. "And human beings are deadline driven. So Friday is May 30. Saturday is May 31 I think people are probably not going to want to be here on Saturday May 31, so I think the drive will be to probably finish by the 30th." The Legislature adjourned the regular session Monday night, and the forthcoming special session will be the first since 2021, the last time there was divided government during a budget-writing year. The margins are slim at the capitol; the House is tied at 67-67 for only the second time in history and the DFL has a one-seat majority in the Senate. That means the make-up is more closely divided than ever before and it forced a compromise on a top-line budget agreement between Walz and legislative leaders with both the GOP and the DFL. Republicans and Democrats shared power on committees with co-chairs, so they had to find agreement among themselves before they could begin conversations with the DFL-led Senate, which is unique. Murphy lamented that dynamic has made the process of reconciling bills between both chambers difficult. "You would expect that the House conferees would come in together united, like, 'we passed a bill, and we're united, and we're going to fight for our position,'" she told reporters Thursday. "But instead, the House is coming in like a two headed monster." Hortman and Demuth — who had a rare joint news conference Friday — both said that despite the bumpy start to the session, they worked well together this year. "We had legitimate disagreements at the beginning of session. So it wasn't about trust or not trust, a relationship or not relationship. It was about a very different view of what was unfolding at the beginning of session," Hortman said. "We're at a different phase of session where we're working together to get things done." Demuth echoed those feelings. "I think that the way that we have set up our organizational agreement here in the House has served us well," she said.
