Minnesota Legislature budget progress slow, but work getting done

Still no budget agreement at MN State Capitol

The Minnesota Legislature missed their May 19 deadline to finish their work. Now they are working to pass the state's two-year budget. FOX 9's Soyoung Kim has the latest.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - It has been days after the end of Minnesota’s regular legislative session, but the state’s next two-year budget remains incomplete.

The backstory:

The Minnesota Legislature missed its May 19 deadline to pass the next two-year budget.

The Minnesota Legislature is closely divided – tied in the House and Democrats have a one-seat majority in the Senate.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and legislative leaders had previously announced a universal agreement that working groups are using as a framework. That two-year budget agreement was roughly $66 billion.

Preparing for a special session

What we know:

Since the end of the regular session, many of the meetings have been happening behind closed doors. However, more working groups held public meetings on Thursday.

Leaders in both chambers said progress is slow, but work is getting done. They said most bills are either close to being done or essentially done and groups were finalizing language.

House leaders called out taxes, education, and health and human services as still needing quite a bit of work. They also said mediators were needed to help transportation along.

A major point of contention remains unresolved -- whether to continue funding health insurance for adults who are undocumented.

What they're saying:

When asked about how the news coming out of Washington D.C., as House Republicans passed a sweeping bill including tax cuts and changes to Medicaid, will impact state budget discussions, state leaders said they will not change course – for now.

"We will likely be back later this summer or this fall to reconcile the damage they are doing to Minnesota’s budget, to Minnesota’s healthcare system and to Minnesotans’ lives. But right now, we have to do this job," said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, (DFL-St. Paul).

"We were already having those conversations and signed a deal before anything would have passed federally in the House. Our decisions going forward are going to adhere to what we know and what we have already signed in on our global deal with the governor and the other leaders," said House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring),

What's next:

Gov. Walz said he will not call a special session until all the work is done. Legislative leaders said, in terms of timing, it will be mid-next week at the earliest.

A budget needs to be passed by June 30th to avoid a government shutdown.