Dana Ferguson
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ST. PAUL — Details of pieces of a $48 billion state spending plan slowly rolled out Wednesday, May, 22, after they'd been weighed and agreed to behind closed doors. Lawmakers missed the deadline Monday, May 20, night to finish their work, and with just one of nine budgets approved by both the House and the Senate, they still have a lot of work yet to do.
ST. PAUL — Hundreds of protesters rallied at the Minnesota Capitol on Tuesday, May 21, to oppose restrictions on abortions like those recently considered and signed into law in Alabama and other states. Reproductive rights advocacy groups, state lawmakers and those who'd experienced abortion procedures spoke at the event and urged state legislators not to restrict abortion access. And for those who introduced or supported similar legislation, protesters said they'd work to vote them out of office.
ST. PAUL — Minnesota legislative leaders and the governor on Wednesday, May 15, continued the second day of marathon budget talks, which they said entered a "really important time." The seemingly productive talks come after a series of negotiations that ended in deadlocks, stalling progress in advancing a two-year state budget expected to top $48 billion. A day prior, the leaders spent more than 10 hours talking through how they might bring their budgets closer together in the last week of the legislative session.
ST. PAUL — Legislative leaders and the governor reentered closed-door budget negotiations Tuesday, May 14, a day after they deadlocked and broke off talks. For more than eight hours on Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Tim Walz, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, and House Speaker Melissa Hortman, D-Brooklyn Park, discussed possible paths to a timely budget deal. Democrats and Republicans sit on either side of a $2 billion divide in terms of how much the state should spend over the next two years.
ST. PAUL -- State legislative leaders and the governor on Monday, May 13, again deadlocked over state spending with a week left to get their work done. Legislative leaders in the nation's only divided Legislature started their conversations with a $2 billion gap in proposed spending and seemed to inch closer to the middle, each giving up a bit more with each counteroffer. But their talks abruptly broke off after Republicans committed to blocking new taxes and Democrats said they'd fight to levy them to help pay for priorities such as schools and health care programs.
ST. PAUL — Budget negotiation talks remained in limbo Wednesday, May 8, days after Minnesota legislative leaders and the governor deadlocked over plans to raise taxes to fund boosts to education, road repairs and other state government spending. But two key leaders said they'd be willing to talk shop Saturday, May 11, at the Governor's Fishing Opener. The event has traditionally offered a reprieve from budget talks for legislative leaders and the governor as they cast their first lines of the fishing season together.
ST. PAUL -- Budget negotiations came to halt late Monday, May 6, as leaders in the nation's only divided Legislature reached an impasse over education funding and proposed tax increases. And early Tuesday, it was unclear whether conversations would continue without one side willing to bend on its spending plan.
ST. PAUL -- Some of the toughest fights of the year are set to start this week at the Capitol. Legislative leaders and the governor will come together to negotiate how much the state should spend on its responsibilities like education, health care and roads and bridges. And those targets will constrain what lawmakers can pass as they negotiate compromise bills in conference committees. The talks come after weeks of debates over on either side of the divided Legislature over how the state should spend nearly $50 billion over the next two years.
ST. PAUL — Minnesota should buy a packaged computer software system to handle vehicle licensing and registration rather than finishing the rollout of the state's system, an independent group of information technology experts found. And that will come at a cost. A panel of experts on Wednesday, May 1, released its report of findings on the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System, known as MNLARS, and recommended that the state cut its losses, let the program enter one more update, then transition to a system developed by a private vendor.
ST. PAUL -- Leaders in the nation's only divided Legislature dug in hours before the Minnesota House of Representatives was set to debate two gun control measures Monday, April 29, as part of a larger public safety funding proposal. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, rallied with gun control supporters Monday morning and said the measure would pass in the House, despite opposition from some in her caucus. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, meanwhile, said the bills would be "dead" in the Senate.