Minnesota legislature begins negotiations on budget, outstanding policy as end of session nears
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota lawmakers began end-of-session negotiations on the roughly $72 billion proposed two-year budget, and other unfinished policy priorities, as the legislature enters the final three weeks before adjournment.
Conference committees, which are panels of lawmakers from both chambers tasked with ironing out differences from dueling proposals, convened Monday to discuss budget areas like public safety, education, rural development and more.
Paid family and medical leave, gun control measures and recreational marijuana -- which passed in both chambers last week in two different proposals -- are also still on the table. The House and Senate also have contrasting tax bills that include several cuts and credits.
The newly DFL-led legislature moved swiftly on issues early this year, like codifying abortion rights and establishing new carbon-free electricity goals. Piecing together parts of the state budget takes much more time, but House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, still believes lawmakers will adjourn on time May 22 without a special session to finish the work—a defining feature of recent sessions in a divided legislature.
"I think in past years what has happened is all of the members have been waiting for the leaders to give them [budget] targets. This year, we reached targets on March 21," Hortman said. "So now the end of session is in the hands of each of the members chairing the conference committee."
The tax proposals have some of the most significant differences. The Senate version includes direct rebate checks of $279 per single filer making up to $75,000 per year and doubles that to $558 for married couples with an income cap of $150,000. There'd be an additional $56 per child up to three dependents, meaning the max rebate would be $726.
That's a little more than half of the max rebate for a family of five under the House proposal at $1,375. Democrats in that chamber boosted the additional dollars for dependents.
"We are going to have a very easy time getting to an agreement on those rebates that's meaningful to both of us," Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, the tax chair, said last week of the different visions. "I don't mean just splitting the difference, but really looking at should we be concentrating on the number of children in a family like the House did or the number of adults and what their situation is."
The chambers also diverge on the scope of tax credits for families with children and property tax relief. The House includes a new fifth tier income tax on the state's wealthiest earners, while the Senate plan does not.
Republicans have criticized the DFL majority and its policies, but have limited power in the minority. Sen. Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said he hopes conference committees in the next few weeks will be an opportunity for compromise.
"We've got a one-vote minority," Johnson said. "We can really pressure the DFL to putting more reasonable bills together. That's how I see it."
On recreational cannabis, the House and Senate have different plans for taxing marijuana and allowable amounts of weed a person can keep in their home.
On Tuesday, the Minnesota House will take up its paid family and medical leave proposal, which would establish a state-run program guaranteeing all workers up to 24 weeks paid leave for their own health or to care for a loved one, including a newborn baby.
The Senate's plan has not yet come up for a vote, but in the committee process the legislation was amended to offer 20 weeks, down from 24.