Peter Callaghan covers state government for MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter or email him at pcallaghan(at)minnpost(dot)com.
After weeks of foreboding, days of filibusters and speculation on lack of progress, lawmakers face looming … success, with agreement on 10 of the 13 budget bills and two more that are said to be close.
Moving to civil citations for fare violations and using transit ambassadors for enforcement have been priorities for both the Metropolitan Council and DFLers in the Minnesota House.
Now that most of the governor’s executive orders have been rescinded, Walz and the Legislature may reach a deal to end Minnesota’s state of emergency.
Lawmakers also announced Monday that they have agreed on a three-phase eviction moratorium “off-ramp.”
Year-to-date tax receipts are now $2.170 billion more than projected just four months ago.
Looking at you, liquor law liberalization.
The Minnesota Legislature is expected to reconvene on June 14 in order to pass a budget. Will that goal mean anything more than all the other deadlines lawmakers have already blown this year?
It’s not only that state leaders have all said they want to avoid a shutdown. It’s also that nobody is threatening to hold up the budget unless their top issues are adopted.
The side deals including additional tax cuts and funding to help Minneapolis and St. Paul businesses.
How a four-year-old state Supreme Court decision has changed the nature of budget negotiations at the Minnesota Legislature.
From the role of federal stimulus money to the sidelining of once hot-button issues, what we know (or think we know) about the just-completed session.
What has been dubbed an “off-ramp” is supposed to smooth the process for those with unpaid rent accumulated during the pandemic.
State Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho said Thursday there are 18,000 pending applications, and predicted that half a million dollars in payments will be sent out this week.
Under the state Constitution, the Legislature’s regular session had to end Monday at Midnight. With a broad spending deal now in place, lawmakers will spend the next several weeks working out the details to meet another constitutional requirement: actually passing a two-year balanced budget before July 1.
Gov. Tim Walz made the announcement Thursday and said the mandate will be dropped for everyone — not just for those who have been fully vaccinated.
The move could be key to a budget deal, eventually.
The news from the U.S. Treasury came as DFL and GOP legislative leaders remain far apart in their negotiations over a two-year budget deal.
Of those households, 60 percent are people of color, 43 percent are receiving unemployment payments and 75 percent earn less than $50,000 a year, according to the Rent Dent Dashboard, a new tool created by a California-based nonprofit, PolicyLink, and the USC Equity Research Institute.
Gov. Tim Walz said that it should take away some of the conflicts that have soured relations with legislative Republicans.
