ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO/CBS) – The Minnesota Legislature approved the remaining pieces of the next state budget on Monday during a special session, after lawmakers failed to complete their work in May.
The House adjourned around 10:40 p.m., and the Senate was on track to do the same around midnight or early on Tuesday. They had 14 bills on their to-do list; most were spending plans that made up the roughly $66 billion budget for the next two years.
The political make-up of the Capitol is unique, with a tied House for only the second time in state history, and is as closely divided as a Legislature can be in Minnesota, with 100 Republicans and 101 Democrats. That made negotiations challenging and forced compromise.
“The tie forced us to work together, and I think that’s something that people outside of the bubble here in St. Paul are looking for people to do,” said House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring. “They want representation in the state that can work together and do the best things for our state.”
A delayed start in the House, after DFL lawmakers boycotted the first few weeks over a power dispute, ended in overtime. But a divided Legislature is not unique in Minnesota. Four of the last five budget-writing sessions, including this one, have ended with special sessions because they didn’t finish the budget on time when Republicans and Democrats shared power.
“We prevented a duly elected member of the Minnesota House from being kicked out for no reason whatsoever other than political expediency. And I think in the end, fighting for that equal shared power made this a better session,” said former DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “And I think the way that today unfolded was about cooperation and collaboration, we could have had that from the word go. I’m really happy that we did finally get there.”
Finishing their work on Monday prevented nearly 30,000 state workers from getting layoff notices on Tuesday in advance of a partial government shutdown on July 1 if they failed to approve a budget.
As of 11:30 p.m. Monday, the Senate had to pass a tax bill and a bonding proposal funding infrastructure projects before they adjourned, but had approved the budget bills. The legislation made significant cuts to stave off a projected $6 billion deficit in future years.
Most of the day was smooth sailing after lawmakers in the House began by passing the most contentious bill of the year that will remove undocumented immigrant adults from MinnesotaCare, a state health care coverage program, by the year’s end.
The debate in that chamber lasted for four hours and at times was emotional. The change was a top priority for Republicans who are concerned that growing enrollment would balloon costs in an unsustainable way.
Democrats in both chambers are deeply opposed to the measure, which will preserve coverage for children despite the rollback for adults.
Through tears, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said approving it, which she agreed to in a larger budget compromise among legislative leaders, was among the most “painful” votes she ever had to take.
She and three other Democrats supported it in the Senate. Hortman was the sole DFL vote alongside Republicans in the House.
Hortman was similarly emotional when reflecting on that moment.
“What I worry about is the people who will lose their health insurance. I know that people will be hurt by that vote,” she said. “We worked very hard to try to get a budget deal that wouldn’t include that provision, and we tried any other way we could to come to a budget agreement with Republicans, and they wouldn’t have it. So I did what leaders do, I stepped up and I got the job done for the people of Minnesota.”
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