At Minnesota Capitol, the focus is on deadlines and a timely finish

Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders are eager to avoid last-minute legislating and hours of budget negotiations behind closed doors.

April 22, 2017 at 11:29PM
The Minnesota State Capitol sits quiet in the early morning hours, a few days before legislators return from Easter Passover break. ] GLEN STUBBE ï glen.stubbe@startribune.com Friday April 14, 2017 EDS: Available for use for any related story. GS ORG XMIT: MIN1704161945521165
The Minnesota State Capitol sits quiet in the early morning hours, a few days before legislators returned from Easter Passover break. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Eager to avoid last-minute legislating and hours of budget negotiations behind closed doors, Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders are setting Friday as the deadline for finalizing spending levels in different areas of government.

In the last budget-setting session, a lack of agreement over how much government should spend on schools, public safety, environmental protection and other areas extended right up to the end of the session.

What resulted was a chaotic end, as then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, and House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, cut their own deal on the so-called joint budget targets, cutting out Gov. Mark Dayton. The murky process led to a June special session, just a few weeks before the state would have entered a government shutdown.

Joint targets will allow chairs of House-Senate panels to work out how much money will go to various programs and components in their budget bills.

Dayton last week had breakfast with Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, and Daudt to talk about the session timeline. The last day the Legislature may meet is May 22.

"The three of us expressed a strong desire to complete this session on time," Dayton said.

If targets are set by Friday, "We'll be well on track to meet that constitutional deadline," Dayton said.

House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman said the sooner the better. "Or we start to run the risk of going into overtime, or worse yet, a shutdown."

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