The state’s 12 budget bills made their way through the Legislature Tuesday night as Gov. Mark Dayton waited to sign them, ending the 20-day-old state government shutdown. But the central question remained: When will the state reopen?
Gov. Mark Dayton called a special session to break the nearly 3-week old state government shutdown in an announcement and proclamation on Tuesday morning. Dayton and legislative leaders agreed to the session on the condition that the only votes that would be taken would be on budget bills negotiated between the parties and no amendments would be offered. Legislators would have time to debate, however.
For the first time in almost three weeks, the Minnesota State Capitol will be open to the public Tuesday at 9 a.m.
A budget agreement being hammered out by Gov. Mark Dayton and Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature aimed at ending a state government shutdown came under fire from the state’s largest anti-abortion group over the weekend. Dayton and Republicans made an agreement late last week to resolve Minnesota’s budget impasse, in part by avoiding controversial social issues such as abortion and focusing on fiscal matters. A representative for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life told reporters that he now questions the pro-life credentials of GOP leaders and told Republican legislators to vote no on any budget agreement that does not ban abortion.
Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders emerged from more than three hours of negotiations Thursday with the “framework” of a budget deal that would end the state’s 14-day-old government shutdown.
One of Gov.Mark Dayton’s three requirements to accept state Republicans’ June 30 budget proposal is that all policy issues be removed from these finance bills. Here’s a look at some of the policies in question.
House Minority Leader Paul Thissen Thursday afternoon lauded Gov. Mark Dayton’s offer to agree to Republican legislative leaders’ June 30 budget proposal. “Given that the Republicans have repeatedly and publicly said that policy issues are off the table, the Republicans have every reason to accept their own budget offer,” he wrote.
At a speech at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota on Thursday, Gov. Mark Dayton announced that he is prepared to concede to most of the demands offered by Republican legislative leadership on June 30 in order to end the 14-day government shutdown. The Republican demands included a shift of $700 million in payments to public schools and borrowing another $700 million from the state’s tobacco settlement fund. Dayton will also drop his proposal to tax the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans. He excoriated Republicans for not offering any compromises during the shutdown.
Even after Gov. Mark Dayton offered to drop his signature tax increase on the wealthiest Minnesotans in exchange for a “sin” tax hike on cigarettes and alcohol, GOP legislative leaders continued not to budge on their no-new-taxes pledge, the Star Tribune reported Tuesday. These and more shutdown headlines inside.
After weeks of relative silence about negotiations to end the state shutdown, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton went on the offensive Monday, announcing a statewide, weeklong tour across the state. Dayton also released a video articulating his arguments to the people of Minnesota and submitted an op-ed to newspapers across the state.
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