Tick…
Pursuant to the State Constitution, the legislature may not pass legislation after midnight on Sunday, May 22. Impacting the time pressure as well are the state party conventions. Republicans are meeting in Rochester now (Friday and Saturday), bringing an early end to legislative activity this week. The DFL State Convention is next weekend, also in Rochester, and Governor Walz will need to attend to receive the nomination. Finally, Speaker Hortman announced on Tuesday that she has COVID and will only be able to participate in end-of-session negotiations via Zoom.
…Tock
The legislative staff in charge of actually processing the bills has stated that omnibus bill language must be agreed to by Wednesday, or approximately noon on Thursday at the very latest, in order for them to be able to guarantee they will get the bills drafted in time to be voted on by the midnight, May 22, deadline.
Sunny (Financial) Days Continue
On Wednesday, May 10, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) reported that net general fund revenues in April were 31.4 percent more than forecast in February. For fiscal year 2022, year-to-date receipts are now $1.781 billion (7.6 percent) more than the February forecast. MMB estimates that about $540 million of the fiscal-year-to-date variance reflects the timing of pass-through entity (PTE) tax payments and refunds. The increase in revenues are in addition to the February forecast projected surplus of $9.253 billion. View the full memo, including tabular data.
Sports Betting Gets a Vote
On Thursday, the House passed H.F. 778 (Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids) by a vote of 70-57. The bill would allow for online sports betting, as well as sports betting at tribal casinos. Also included are provisions that would address issues around problem gambling. With just over a week before the end of session, the prospects of Senate passage—where the bill has yet to even receive a hearing—are slim.
What Everyone is Really Talking About
Following sixteen years of winter and no spring, summer has arrived in Minnesota…and the Minnesota Wild are out of the playoffs.
