Legislature wheezes toward the finish line with the hardest work still to be done

The House and Senate were able to pass several non-controversial bills on the second-to-last day of the legislative session, but lawmakers continued negotiating behind closed doors on major budget bills to fund human services, education, transportation and more. Education alone comprises roughly 40% of the general fund budget.

Democratic and Republican legislative leaders hope they can finish their work with a one-day special session before Memorial Day, but that depends on quickly hammering out the most contentious parts of a $66 billion to $67 billion two-year budget that their respective caucuses can support.

That won’t be easy, given the dynamics of a 67-67 House and 34-33 Democratic-Farmer-Labor majority in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said on TPT Almanac on Friday that this has been the most difficult session of the 18 she’s been through in the Legislature.

Still unresolved is whether the state will roll back access to subsidized health insurance for undocumented adults and cut funding to private schools, both of which have staunch advocates and opponents.

Lawmakers must pass a budget by June 30, or the government shuts down. Only Gov. Tim Walz can call a special session, but only lawmakers can adjourn once they’re in a special session.

While lawmakers and staff scrambled behind the scenes Sunday afternoon, lobbyists turned the television outside the Senate chambers to the pro golf championship to pass the time until more bills came to the floor.

The House and Senate both passed the judiciary policy and budget bill (HF2432), which in addition to funding law enforcement and the courts, approves closing the Stillwater correctional facility over four years. Walz and legislative leaders announced Thursday that they agreed to close the more than century-old prison, which came as a surprise to other lawmakers, who nevertheless have broadly supported the decision.

Rep. Josiah Hill, DFL-Stillwater, said the prison looks worse than the one in “The Shawshank Redemption.” He said it has to be closed, but in the least disruptive way for the prison’s more than 550 full-time workers and 1,200 inmates.

“We need to make sure we get this process right,” Hill said on the House floor on Sunday.

Union leaders representing correctional officers blasted the decision to close the facility, saying it was made without their input.

The Senate also approved a House bill (HF1143) by a wide margin that cancels $77.2 million in funding for a passenger rail line between Minneapolis and Duluth to help school districts pay for unemployment benefits for bus drivers, paraprofessionals and other hourly school workers.

The Northern Lights Express, a longtime dream of Duluth residents and transit enthusiasts, is dependent on winning federal grants to cover the majority of the cost. That funding seems unlikely to materialize under the Trump administration while it pursues drastic cuts that will further strain the state’s tight budget.

The bill didn’t cancel all the funding for the rail project, and Sen. Jen McEwen, DFL-Duluth, said she’s holding out hope that it will happen one day.

“Although we are making a substantial cancellation because of this austerity that is being imposed upon the people of Minnesota … the Northern Lights Express project is still alive,” McEwen said on the Senate floor.

The bill, which passed the House on Friday and is expected to be signed by the governor, would give school districts $100 million for unemployment insurance for hourly school workers.

Republicans have pushed to end the entitlement, which was passed in 2023 under Democratic control. School districts have complained the benefits make it harder to recruit staff to work part-time summer jobs, and that the mandate will take away critical resources for classrooms.

The state has been funding the cost so far, having appropriated $135 million in 2023. There’s about $33 million left in the account, only about half of what’s expected to be needed this summer.

The Senate also passed a bill (SF2884) with bipartisan support that increases pension benefits for public employees, including school teachers, firefighters and state patrol officers. If it becomes law, teachers would be eligible to retire at 60 years old with lower early retirement penalties if they have 30 years of service. State patrol retirees will receive a permanent 1.25% annual increase in their benefits to help keep up with the cost of inflation. The police and fire plan also gets a one-time 3% boost. The bill must still pass the House.

The House and Senate have also passed a bill funding housing and homelessness prevention (SF2298) as well as agriculture, broadband and rural development (HF2446).