The House and Senate focused on their funding bills this week, with each body considering their respective set of supplemental budget recommendations. Legislators spent late nights working through the bills and abundant...more
Thursday, April 21 was the third bill deadline at the Legislature, by which date committees must act favorably upon all major appropriation and finance bills. During the week, committees in both the House and Senate met...more
This week, the Senate DFL majority released their budget targets, setting guidelines for committees to address the $900 million surplus. In their budget targets, $300 million will go toward tax relief. In addition, voluntary...more
The second of three Minnesota legislative committee deadlines arrives tonight at midnight. By this second deadline, committees must act favorably upon a bill that met the first deadline in the other house, or the bill does...more
The first of three Minnesota legislative committee deadlines arrives tonight at midnight. By the first deadline, a committee must act favorably upon a bill in its body of origin or the bill does not move forward. As a result,...more
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
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
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
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
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
As a result of November's elections, there is no longer one party control of Minnesota government. When the 89th session of the Minnesota Legislature convenes on January 6, 2015, the new House Republican majority, along with...more
Policy decisions, as well as fiscal decisions, influenced the direction of the session. Legislators passed a total of 165 bills that were signed into law by Governor Mark Dayton. Among them was the Women's Economic Security...more