Minnesota lawmakers finish work on $66 billion budget before deadline

Minnesota lawmakers finished work on the $66 billion state budget early Tuesday morning, averting a shutdown and capping off a year of political turmoil in a Legislature that is almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

The Legislature gaveled into a special session on Monday morning, and by evening the House had finished passing all of the 14 bills that will fund state government. The state Senate finished its work a few hours later, avoiding a fast-approaching requirement to warn employees they could be laid off.

It was an outcome that at times seemed uncertain. The year started off with a power struggle for control of the House and boycott by Democrats, but also featured a senator who resigned in scandal, growing tension between Gov. Tim Walz and Washington, and a $6 billion projected deficit in a future budget that tested the most closely divided group of lawmakers in the nation.

They debated for hours over whether to strip health coverage from adult undocumented immigrants, a measure Republicans argue is necessary to balance the budget but one that many DFLers protested for being included in the budget deal.

“This is not about money. This is about demonizing and othering a group of people who are doing some of the hardest, most essential work in our society,” said Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis.

At one point Monday, House Floor Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, said he feared the Legislature wasn’t capable of finishing that day because of the protracted and emotionally charged debate.

Lawmakers acknowledged as they worked on the budget that neither Republicans nor Democrats were completely happy with the deal, which required compromises from members of both parties.

As they debated other spending bills, several legislators at the Capitol complained about the way the budget was passed. Most of the controversial issues were resolved in negotiations behind closed doors over the past few weeks. Some committees met only briefly in public to reveal what was in the bills before a vote.

Sen. Andrew Mathews, R-Princeton, lamented that an energy budget bill never received a public hearing.

“Calling a 20-minute virtual meeting ... to tell the public about the bill does not meet any rational or reasonable definition of openness, honesty and transparency,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said the budget process “was in the dark the whole time.”

Lawmakers adjourned their regular session on May 19 having passed only a handful of the bills that make up the state’s budget. While they had reached an agreement on topline spending in the state budget, they hadn’t finished negotiating the finer points.

At the Capitol Monday, a few people staged a protest outside of the House chambers opposing the bill related to insurance for undocumented immigrants. A small handful of activists unfurled a sign criticizing “tax breaks to Big Tech.”

Lawmakers also approved cuts to human services in the hopes of slowing the rising cost to provide services to disabled Minnesotans.

One of the budget bills extended unemployment insurance for more than 600 workers laid off from mines on the Iron Range, granting another 26 weeks of pay to workers at Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs facilities in Hibbing and Virginia.

Lawmakers voted for new guidelines for an influx of large-scale data centers to Minnesota, as well as an extension of lucrative tax breaks for the Big Tech industry.

Lawmakers also approved a package of infrastructure projects — called the “bonding bill” — valued at $700 million, including $250 million in investment in the state’s roads and bridges.

To get a state budget passed within a day, lawmakers voted to circumvent normal procedures, such as having multiple public hearings for bills, which required a supermajority of legislators to agree.

While Johnson, the Senate Republican leader, did not agree to the broad strokes budget deal Walz and other leaders struck in May, he signed onto the special session agreement following negotiations over the last few weeks. His caucus’ support was needed to suspend the rules.

Johnson said the Senate GOP wanted to avoid wasting taxpayer money by dragging out the inevitable, and they got a package of publicly financed construction projects they were happy with.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said in a statement that the budget “will fund the services Minnesotans rely on to live their daily lives, including care for people with disabilities and seniors, maintenance for roads and bridges, funding for courts and correctional facilities, and support for veterans. “

“We are making difficult but responsible decisions to reduce the budget without sacrificing core services,” Murphy said.

“We’re still facing a deficit in the out years,” Johnson said. “That’s going to be a huge concern for us.”