Senate Democrats will hold a public hearing at the Capitol Thursday so commissioners and members of the public can air their grievances with the GOP budget.

DFL Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk said the hearing was necessary because the public and the media have not fully examined the impacts of the combined GOP budget bills.

Bakk also said the event would be "valuable for the governor," despite the fact that Dayton is already expected to veto the budget bills headed out of the Legislature.

The hearing is slated to run just three hours, from 2 p.m to 5 p.m. Most recent floor debates on budget conference committee reports have lasted about twice as long per bill.

Just in case, Bakk said, they also reserved the room on Friday.