Minnesota Capitol Comes To A Slowdown.

Minnesota Capitol Comes To A Slowdown. 

Lawmakers are up against a May 19 deadline to complete their work. 

Efforts to finalize and pass state budget bills are hitting a sticking point as legislative leaders and the governor struggle to bring negotiations about a budget framework to a close.

And two top DFL leaders on Wednesday acknowledged that lawmakers will need extra innings to finish their work.

For more than two weeks, the leaders have entered closed-door negotiations almost every day to negotiate how much the state should spend on schools, health care, public safety and other government programs. Democrats hold the governor’s office and a one-seat edge in the Senate, meanwhile the House of Representatives is evenly split.

Ahead of a round of meetings, House DFL Caucus Leader Melissa Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said they’d need overtime to pass budget bills. Their deadline to adjourn is Monday.

“I think at this point it is really difficult to get done and do the work in the way we need to. So yes, I think a special session is very, very likely, if not inevitable,” Murphy said.

Legislative leaders entering meetings on Wednesday said they hoped to reach a deal soon. Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, disagreed that lawmakers would need additional time.

“They’re always pessimistic,” he said about his DFL peers.

Asked about the status of talks Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz said the timeline to get a budget will probably be similar to 2019 when leaders got a framework with about a week remaining in session. Back then, Walz called lawmakers back to the Capitol for a one-day special session to pass remaining bills.

“We’re probably getting pretty close to that. I can say that it has been very productive. It’s moving,” Walz said. “I will still say the tone of these are really encouraging, respectful differences, ideological differences, still working.”

He and others have raised concerns about a race to the finish that could overtax lawmakers and staff and lead to legislative errors. Murphy agreed.

“It is important for us to recognize that we do our best work if we get some sleep, and we need to do good work for the people of Minnesota. And I think that that is more important than finishing at midnight on the 19th of May,” Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said.

Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth and Johnson have been involved in the closed-door talks along with heads of top budget committees. They’ve provided little feedback on the negotiations going in and out of the meetings other than to say they’ve been making progress.

“I am always optimistic about the timeline,” Demuth said Monday. “We have a week left, and that’s what we’re going to get in and work on right now.”

Without a framework to draw from, leaders of conference committees have met this week but effectively said there’s little they can do. Budget targets dictate how much they can spend. That’s what is needed to finalize bills.

“Was hoping for some targets, I didn’t really promise them but that’s what was indicated to me,”

Rep. Jon Koznick, R-Lakeville, said as the Transportation Conference Committee closed out a meeting on Tuesday. Koznick is one of the co-chairs of the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee.

“Before we can send up our white smoke, we need them to send up their white smoke,” Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, replied.

The chair of the Senate Transportation Finance and Policy Committee was alluding to wrapping up a conference committee after legislative leaders shared a budget framework.

And a House tax bill that came to the floor on Tuesday was paused with the target talks ongoing. The bill must originate in the House and often serves as a catch-all for other spending and policy proposals that get cut elsewhere at the very end of the legislative session.

SOURCE: MPR news