Effort to create state budget continues at Minnesota Capitol mostly out of public view 

Minnesota lawmakers continued meeting mostly behind closed doors Wednesday to come to an agreement on the biggest budget bills to fund state government, including education and health and human services.

Lawmakers have a self-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday to finish their work, which they will likely blow through. They are trying to come to an agreement on over a dozen budget and policy bills after the narrowly divided Legislature adjourned Monday.

Gov. Tim Walz has said he will not call legislators back for a special session until all the budget bills are agreed to in the tied 67-67 House and in the Senate, where Democrats have a one seat majority. Only Walz can call lawmakers back into session, but only legislators can adjourn once they’re in session.

Lawmakers are working to pass a $66 billion to $67 billion two-year budget that will fund everything from schools to parks to health care and services for people with disabilities. The state is grappling with a structural deficit that’s arisen from the rapidly increasing costs of special education and caring for an aging population. Given the Republican refusal to agree to any new tax revenue, lawmakers are looking to trim spending.

Most consequentially, Gov. Tim Walz and DFL leaders agreed — at Republicans’ behest — to remove undocumented adults from MinnesotaCare, the state’s subsidized health insurance for the working poor. Children will still be enrolled.

Lawmakers have to pass a budget by June 30 or the government will shut down.

Legislators over the past few days have been meeting in informal “working groups,” which include members of both parties from the House and Senate. If the working groups can’t come to an agreement by Wednesday, legislative leaders and Walz will take over negotiations.

The only working group to meet in public has been taxes; Senate and House members have exchanged several offers. But the working group has frequently adjourned on recesses to consider the offers in private.

Open government advocates have criticized the private nature of the legislative work.

“The public has ZERO way of knowing who to hold accountable,” Common Cause Minnesota wrote on X.

The Star Tribune reported that one of their reporters was kicked out of a working group meeting.

House DFL caucus leader Melissa Hortman told reporters on Monday that negotiations must occur behind closed doors, especially among leadership, so they can speak candidly.

“It just doesn’t work. You need people to be able to say what’s their bottom line and to make their emotional pitch,” Hortman said. “People have to really show their cards, so that is a space that has not ever and probably will not ever be transparent.”

Hortman said that if lawmakers can’t reach a deal by Friday, they will have to work over Memorial Day weekend. The earliest a special session could occur is Friday, she said, though next week is more likely.

Walz said he would like to pass a budget before June 1, because that’s when the state will be obligated to send layoff notices to state employees if there is no budget by then, and leaders want to avoid that.