This week, the Legislature was called into special session to complete state budget work and for Gov. Walz to extend the peacetime emergency. Even though the Capitol building has officially “opened” to the public for the first time since March 2020, access is minimal. Public access is still restricted for the House and Senate chambers and office buildings.
An ice cream social held by the Civility Caucus on the first day of special session set a much milder tone than legislators are used to for in-person work. With access to legislators still so limited, they get to dodge the normal volume of protestors, demonstrators, constituents and lobbyists.
Budget Bills Update
It was expected that on June 17, the first 4 of 14 budget bills would be heard, debated, and passed in the House, and then those bills would be sent to the Senate for passage as well. The House minority had other plans.
“But, after a 12-hour filibuster — actually back-to-back filibusters, as motions were made to re-refer the bill to two different committees — the House eventually got down to debate on the bill at hand around 10:15 p.m.,” wrote House Information writer Rob Hubbard.
In the end, the body decided to call it a night just before midnight, with no bills passed. The Senate discussed the four scheduled budget bills, but because they were waiting for them to come over from the House first, no official action was taken. Both bodies will attempt to pass budget bills again today.
State Revenue Update
State general fund revenue for May was 119%, about $1.8 billion, over projection. This is due to the delayed income tax filing deadline and greater economic activity than anticipated. In total, revenues for May totaled $3.3 billion.
A revenue and economic update with further detail covering April-June is generally released in early August.
They Said It...
“I still with absolute confidence — we’ll be done by the first of July. Whether we can be done by next week or not? We’ll see.” – Gov. Tim Walz on special session and avoiding a government shutdown
