Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said in remarks after a House floor session that he has every reason to believe a deal is still in place on the volatile issue of pay raises for Gov. Mark Dayton's cabinet.
A sliver of doubt entered the situation after a Senate floor session today, when Majority Leader Tom Bakk, D-Cook, said he was waiting to talk to Dayton about the deal, which was crafted last week, though he said he wasn't againt the deal either.
The deal would delay raises for Dayton's cabinet until July 1 and restore legislative oversight of commissioner pay.
The raises, some of them as much as $35,000, have consumed the Capitol for several weeks.
The issue has been attached to a stopgap spending bill that will provide three state agencies about $15 million to pay for last year's Ebola crisis response, more staffing at the troubled Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter and a weather-related budget shortfall at the Minnesota Zoo, among other items.
The House and Senate have appointed conference committee members to iron out differences in the legislation coming out of the two bodies.
Daudt also said in his remarks that the pay issue may come up again during the session, but that he didn't intend to drag Dayton through the mud on the issue at every opportunity.
