4 things to watch as Minnesota Legislature races to pass budget before deadline

With just a couple of days until the Minnesota Legislature is scheduled to adjourn for the year, some of its most significant work remains to be done.

Lawmakers are expected to gather throughout the weekend to work out differences on legislation they must pass to fund state government for the next two years.

But while Senate Democratic leadership and both parties’ leaders in the House struck a budget deal this week with Gov. Tim Walz, it faces headwinds to passing through the Minnesota Legislature.

“I think this has been the most difficult session I have ever been a part of,” Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said during a Twin Cities Public Television appearance with fellow legislative leaders Friday night.

Lawmakers may go into a special session to wrap things up if they don’t make their Monday night deadline. They have to pass a budget before July 1 to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Here’s what to watch over the next few days.

Far and away the most difficult decision Democratic lawmakers made as part of their compromise with House Republicans was to remove health care coverage for adult undocumented immigrants after this year. Children would remain covered.

Murphy, Walz and House Democratic Leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, have all said they don’t like the provision, with Hortman emphasizing it was a House GOP priority. Opposition from Democratic lawmakers, she said, means the provision to remove health care for undocumented adults might have to be voted on in a separate bill in order to pass the budget.

House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, has pointed to higher-than-expected enrollment in the program and said the state cannot afford to cover the more than 20,000 people who have enrolled.

Left out of lawmakers’ budget deal was how much — or whether — to invest in the state’s critical infrastructure projects.

Normally, Minnesota passes budgets in odd-numbered years and infrastructure (or bonding) packages in even-numbered years. But they passed bonding in 2023 and didn’t last year.

Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, has urged lawmakers to consider a major bonding bill of $1.35 billion, but House leaders proposed a bill about half that size.

Walz said Thursday that he and legislative leaders hadn’t yet agreed on how much to spend on bonding.

While budgets only require a simple majority, bonding needs a three-fifths vote to pass, meaning any bonding package would require even more bipartisan support.

With a tie in the House, Hortman and Demuth had to reach agreement on the budget deal already. But while Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks, was in on budget negotiations with the rest of the leaders, his is the only minority caucus this year.

Democrats hold a one-seat advantage in the Senate, meaning Murphy either needs her entire caucus in lockstep to pass a budget, or she needs to pull on support from Republicans. With progressive opposition to stripping health care from undocumented immigrants, she may not get unanimous support from DFL senators.

Murphy wouldn’t say on TV Friday night how many votes she has secured.

While Johnson hasn’t mentioned strident opposition, he hasn’t signaled he’s ready to sign onto the deal and has said there’s more work to be done.

The budget deal doesn’t go far enough in stopping “the harmful progressive policies hurting small businesses and working families,” he said in a statement Thursday.

While top lawmakers have a shaky agreement on a budget, drafting the bills — let alone actually passing them through the Minnesota Legislature — takes time.

They may not have enough left before their constitutionally mandated adjournment on Monday, but they’ve been hopeful they can wrap up next week and not have to reconvene after Memorial Day.

Hortman said lawmakers reached their agreement more quickly than they did in 2019 when they needed just one extra day to wrap up.

“So if all of the members have their noses to the grindstone, we should be able to come in for a one-day special session before Memorial Day Weekend,” Hortman said in the public television interview Friday. “Now, if they’re contentious, then that could push it into the week following Memorial Day. I hope not.”