Agreement over education funding clears way for special session
Not every detail is settled on what lawmakers will address in a special session, but leaders say they’re close. Here’s where the outstanding issues currently stand.
Not every detail is settled on what lawmakers will address in a special session, but leaders say they’re close. Here’s where the outstanding issues currently stand.
What may be most surprising about the upcoming special session isn’t that it might be over in a day. It’s that it will cover such a wide variety of issues.
Addressing the needs of Greater Minnesota was supposed to be a priority this year. But groups representing rural parts of the state are giving the 2015 session an incomplete.
House Republicans are taking a flogging from the right, even as they try to claim the high ground.
As the 2015 Legislature came to a close, many lawmakers complained the final bills contained provisions that had never even been seen in committees.
It’s been a messy end to a messy session. And if Gov. Mark Dayton has his way, legislators may be coming back for more, sooner rather than later.
The agreement would leave “significant” money on the bottom line to eventually work out a deal on two thornier issues: transportation funding and tax cuts. The governor wants more money for education.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk says the prolonged negotiations among the governor and legislative leaders means there will be little time to tackle transportation and taxes.
Meanwhile, back at the Capitol, a lack of progress has caused some lawmakers to raise the specter of an overtime session this year.
A three-hour meeting Monday evening involving the governor and legislative leaders ended abruptly — and without any progress.
No one expected the metro to be the focus of the 2015 legislative session. But Twin Cities politicians say the House GOP is waging an “all-out assault” on the region via dozens of bills and proposals.
Despite a looming deadline to pass a budget and a $2 billion surplus, there’s a still a lot that divides Minnesota lawmakers going into the final weeks of the 2015 Legislature.
Curt Johnson, who was chief of staff to Gov. Arne Carlson, offered his thoughts on bringing together the irresistible objects and immoveable forces at the Legislature in the next few weeks.
Republicans estimate that the tax cut would apply to about 2 million Minnesotans, and save a middle-clase family of four about $500 over two years.
Gov. Mark Dayton says he won’t back off on his big-ticket priorities — transportation, education funding, construction projects — even if they don’t pass this session.
The speech contained few surprises, but there were a handful of things to glean from the governor’s fifth State of the State address.
Dayton’s comments on Tuesday continued a unique dynamic at the Capitol: Instead of moving toward common ground, the two parties seem to be diverging.
After the state Senate voted to suspend pay raises for Gov. Mark Dayton’s commissioners, the governor said he didn’t know if he could ever trust Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk again.
Even those who most-passionately opposed the measure are talking about tweaking, not repealing, the new law.
In an agreement reached Wednesday night, state Senators will have fewer offices in the Capitol to make way for public spaces.