The Minnesota Legislature will continue fast-paced budget activity this week heading into a weeklong break between Passover and Easter (April 9-16). Legislators will spend most of this week on the House and Senate floors passing the remaining omnibus finance bills and possibly even establish a conference committee – or two.
The plan is to have an entire budget plan passed out of conference committee and placed on the Governor’s desk by the end of April. At this point they’re on track to do that.
However, Gov. Mark Dayton has made it clear that he’s inclined to veto the entire package of bills due to any number of budget and policy concerns he has. Assuming he follows through with vetoes, the Legislature and Governor would have three weeks in May before the adjournment date on May 22 to negotiate a compromise budget.
It’s been a long time since the Legislature and Governor concluded all of their budget work on time. Common wisdom in the Capitol complex assumes we’ll be here in June and perhaps beyond in order to get a budget deal in place.
The proposals presented by the Senate, House and Governor are, in many ways, quite far apart. It will take time to agree on a compromise. Learn more about the plans.
