What’s next after the Minnesota Legislature adjourned without finishing the budget

Minnesota lawmakers likely won’t reconvene in a special session until the end of the week at the earliest, as the most narrowly divided Legislature in state history tries to pull together the votes to finish work on a $66 billion budget.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Walz agreed to a broad framework last week that balances the next state budget and makes progress in reducing the deficit in the budget that will follow.

But the two parties, sparring over fiscal details and unrelated policy proposals, failed to pass all the required budget bills by the end of Monday night, which was supposed to lawmakers’ final day of work this year.

“We’ve got to get on the train of working together, getting things done, and save the kind of partisan pot shots for campaign season,” DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman told reporters late Monday after the House adjourned.

Lawmakers must pass a two-year budget before the start of the next fiscal year on July 1 or face a government shutdown. If there’s no deal by June 1, layoff notices will be sent to state employees.

Walz has to call lawmakers back to the Capitol to finish their work. The earliest a special session could happen is Thursday, Hortman said. But Friday, she added, is more realistic, or even next week after the long Memorial Day weekend.

Hortman said she pushed for work to continue over the holiday weekend but that appears to be “highly unlikely.”

In another late-night news conference, GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth didn’t answer a question about whether lawmakers would be working through the weekend, only saying that they “are working really hard to get things done as soon as possible.”

It appears at least some of the most sensitive work will happen behind closed doors.

An agreement struck Monday night between Walz and legislative leaders called for negotiations on all outstanding budget areas, beginning Tuesday.

That includes complicated and expansive budget bills pertaining to commerce, education, energy, environment and natural resources, health, higher education, human services, labor and workforce development and transportation.

They must also find the votes to pass a proposal to strip MinnesotaCare access for undocumented adults. The change, which would partially undo a law passed in 2023, was the linchpin for Republicans to agree to the broader budget framework. Rank-and-file Democrats are pushing to keep the law intact.

These “working groups” will generally consist of members appointed during the regular session and function as much like bipartisan conference committees “as possible,” according to the agreement.

The groups have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to complete their negotiations.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said those meetings “should be public” and Demuth said they will be “as public as possible.” Murphy added that she’s “sure there will be conversations that happen among members.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, just one public meeting — for the tax bill working group — was on the legislative schedule.

“This is a public meeting,” Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, said shortly after she gaveled it to order. “Decisions will be made in public.”

The working groups are encouraged to “present offers at least twice daily” that fall within the broader budget deal announced by Walz, Democratic and Republican leaders last week, according to the agreement.

If work isn’t done by tomorrow, legislative leaders will intervene “to get them unstuck,” Murphy said.

Janet Moore, Ryan Faircloth and Allison Kite of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.