UPDATED: No Monday Special Session to End Government Shutdown

UPDATE (11:45 p.m. Monday): Just when budget negotiations appeared to be headed toward another impasse, quick work from Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP leaders led to a Monday evening announcement that Minnesota legislators could be back in their seats to confirm a deal as early as Tuesday.

The parties gave cursory approval to the Public Safety/Judiciary and Transportation bills Monday afternoon and then, around 8 p.m., approved $664 million for an Environment bill.

The fourth approved bill of the day appropriates an estimated $178 million in Legacy funds to outdoor heritage preservation.     

The four bills worked out Monday are the latest legislative moves in the past two days.

MPR News reported Sunday evening that a handshake deal was reached on an $11 billion Health and Human Services bill, but that budget has not been confirmed by either party.

In a move aimed at building transparency within the special legislative session, Dayton’s office issued a statement Monday night confirming that the State Capitol would be open to the public as of 9 a.m. Tuesday.

“The Governor ordered the (Capitol) doors opened to allow public access and transparency as the Legislature prepares to reconvene to pass a budget,” the statement read.

The government shutdown will end once the legislature passes the bills and Dayton signs them into law.

UPDATE (6 p.m. Monday): A special session is imminent, according to Assistant Senate Majority Leader Geoff Michel.

“I think we are ready to go. It’s time to get Minnesotans back to work,” Michel, a Republican who represents Edina and West Bloomington, told WCCO radio on Monday afternoon.

“It is up to the governor to decide that, though,” he said.

Michel also pointed to the release of preliminary versions of the Public Safety/Judiciary and Transportation bills as evidence of Monday's progress.

“I think there is more progress to talk about today,” Michel said. “(The two bills) are part of the framework that we talked about with the governor.”

Negotiators appropriated $4.7 billion for the Transportation bill and $1.9 billion for Public Safety/Judiciary for the next biennium.  

MPR News reported on Sunday evening that a handshake deal was reached on an $11 billion Health and Human Services bill, but that budget hasn’t been confirmed by representatives of either party.

Original post (6 a.m. Monday): Minnesota's is entering its 18th day, but Monday won't bring a special session of the Minnesota Legislature after all.

Work continued over the weekend on a package of budget bills that Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-Columbia Heights/Fridley) :

I cannot vote in favor of this budget proposal and live with myself with the negative results that will occur for our great state in the near future.

'Progress'
Gov. Mark Dayton, House Speaker Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R-Buffalo) report reaching “considerable progress” during weekend budget negotiations. The parties struck a positive tone with their joint statement, released at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.  

A handshake deal was reached on an $11 billion Health and Human Services bill, MPR News reported on Sunday evening. But despite any progress—and contrary to Dayton’s intent, the governor won’t call a special session on Monday morning.  

“Work on the detailed budget bills continues to move in a positive direction, with an urgent focus on getting Minnesotans back to work,” the joint statement read. “A special session will be called as soon as our work is completed, and all bills have been reviewed and agreed upon.”

The state-government shutdown meant the Minnesota Capitol remained closed to the public even as negotiations to end the shutdown continued there. That prompted a tweet of protest Sunday evening from former House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher:

Pretty amazing that MN Capitol is not open. Business is going on inside and public does not have access?

Saturday
Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders remained locked in negotiations Saturday after they failed to meet a 10 p.m. Friday deadline for having all budget bills in place.

The biggest sticking points remain the bills on Health and Human Services, K-12 education and state government.   

Despite the complexity of those three bills, Taxes Committee Chair Sen. Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen) said Saturday’s talks made “very good progress” compared to those on Friday.

After a short break in the afternoon, the Taxes Committee reconvened at 5 p.m.

The aim, Rep. Linda Runbeck (R-Circle Pines) said, was to present a finished bill to the governor as quickly as possible. “We’re making progress. It’s all down to small details,” Runbeck said before returning to the negotiations.  

Capital Investment Committee Chair David Senjem also reported progress on the $500 million bonding package, which was a condition of the governor’s acceptance of the GOP budget July 14.

“We are 80 to 90 percent of the way there,” Senjem told reporters.  
Legislative leaders gave no indication of how long they would meet tonight.

Dayton has maintained all along that he will only call a special session once negotiations are finished and he approves the bills. The shutdown will end once the bills are signed.

See Shutdown Roundup for news links from all over, updated daily. Or .