The Minnesota Legislature had a short week, with no official business on Friday due to their Easter recess. The legislature will return on Tuesday, March 29, at noon. This week, committees continued to hear budget details...more
The Minnesota Legislature had a full schedule of committee hearings and floor sessions this week. Some hearings were already scheduled into the evening. Governor Mark Dayton released his supplemental budget recommendation,...more
The second year of the 89th Session of the Minnesota Legislature began Tuesday, March 8, 2016. Only 10 weeks remain in the brief legislative session. This first week of session highlighted the significant partisan divide with...more
The second year of the 89th Session of the Minnesota Legislature convenes on March 8, 2016. This year’s session is unusually late and will last an atypically short 11 weeks.
The February Forecast released today projects...more
Legislative activity is picking up in St. Paul as the 2016 Minnesota legislative session draws near. The Governor and legislative leaders created several working groups, each with members from the House and Senate, to...more
Minnesota's November budget and economic forecast was released on December 3, 2015, showing a projected $1.9 billion budget surplus for the remainder of the FY 2016-2017 biennium. This is $1 billion above the budget surplus...more
After 10 years of budget deficits, the Minnesota Legislature convened in January to set the state’s biennial budget with a projected $1.9 billion surplus. This surplus spurred hope of an orderly session and predictions of tax...more
5/31/2015
/ Bonds ,
Budget Surplus ,
Chemicals ,
Children's Products ,
Dentists ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug & Alcohol Abuse ,
Governor Dayton ,
Infrastructure ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pollinators ,
State Budgets ,
Tax Cuts ,
Tax Reform ,
Wetlands
During the final 10 days of the 2015 session, Governor Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Bakk and Speaker Daudt met frequently, attempting to reach a final agreement to end the session. Last week, the negotiators agreed to table...more
The focus at the Capitol this week for the Minnesota Legislature has been budget negotiations among Governor Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Bakk and Speaker Daudt. As of Friday morning, only two targets have been released —...more
With the clock running out for the legislature in 2015, members are spending more time in each chamber. Majority leadership from each body has been working with the Governor to find middle ground between gaps in budget plans....more
With committee deadlines out of the way and the last day of the session approaching, the Minnesota House and Senate went to work this week passing omnibus bills on the floor and appointing conference committee members....more
All week, both chambers and their respective finance committees have been working toward tonight’s third deadline of the session, by which committees must act favorably on major appropriation bills....more
This week, as the Minnesota Legislature worked on finance bills, Governor Mark Dayton took the opportunity to comment on the House and Senate budget proposals. He criticized both plans for being too low in most regards....more
The legislature returned from a week off and started putting together omnibus finance bills, which must be out of committees by April 24. With just over a month left in the session, the pace of activity will continue to...more
With policy committee deadlines out of the way, Minnesota state legislators return this week to focus on passing finance bills, working in conference committees, and putting together a bonding bill. ...more
Today marks the end of the second deadline week at the Capitol. Non-finance bills which have not been heard in all required House and Senate policy committees by midnight tonight may not be acted upon. ...more
Today was the first of three committee deadlines during the legislative session. By midnight tonight, bills must be approved by policy committees in the House or Senate. ...more
The legislature has finished the 11th week of session, meaning only nine weeks remain before the 2015 session comes to a close. With the first bill deadline approaching at the end of next week, committees have been conducting...more
The pace is beginning to pick up at the Capitol, and this week both the House and Senate added floor sessions to hear bills and confirmed commissioner appointments. Committees are starting to take on more controversial...more
The release of the Minnesota Legislative Auditor’s MNSure report this week dominated conversations at the Capitol. Commissioner pay raises were also in the spotlight while Governor Mark Dayton tried to direct attention toward...more
This past week, commissioner salary raises were amended into deficiency funding legislation, tax committees heard a host of potential omnibus bill legislation, and additional testimony was heard on teacher tenure policy, as...more
Bills are starting to move from Minnesota legislator hands to the committee calendar. The House’s introduction calendar on Thursday brought forth a record 102 bills to be included in this year’s session....more
The Minnesota Legislature had a short week after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This week was one of transition as committees had fewer introductory hearings and more testimony on bills that are being considered. ...more
Most House and Senate committees met for the first time this week, and spent the majority of their committee sessions hearing caucus staff and experts review issues they are expected to handle during the session. Talk around...more
The Minnesota legislative session began on Tuesday after Governor Mark Dayton and constitutional officers were sworn in Monday. Twenty-six new members were sworn into the House. Both the House and Senate schedules were light...more