Good morning, and happy Tuesday. It was another long day at the Minnesota Capitol Monday, but not long enough for the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton to finish work on a new two-year state budget. The special session started right away and is expected to end late tonight or very early tomorrow. Let’s check the Digest.
1.Minnesota lawmakers missed their deadline for completing their year’s work and transitioned straight into a special session Tuesday to complete work on a $46 billion two-year budget. The twist came asRepublican legislative leaders and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton announced they had reached a tentative agreement on the budget that they didn’t have enough time to pass Monday.The remaining bills include measures funding schools and health and human services programs. They also need to pass funding for state government agencies. In addition, they plan to pass a public works construction bill, a $660 million package of tax cuts, and a transportation funding measure. Dayton said he won $50 million for a preschool initiative that still falls short of what he had hoped to accomplish. (MPR News)
2.The agreement came only minutes before the clock struck midnight, and was capped with an actual handshake between Republicans and Democrats who had spent hours locked in private rooms trying to find a middle ground. "I think we decided we were all in," Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, said. The sticking points were nothing new. Bargaining over health and human services spending was the most difficult. Republicans said it was necessary to reduce spending there to protect the state from fast-rising costs, while Dayton arguedcutting budgets in those areas wouldharm Minnesotans in need. (Pioneer Press)
3.Even minutes before the announcement from Dayton and the legislative leaders, it was not clear if a deal would be pending. Rank-and-file lawmakers were optimistic even as a special session of some length became inevitable to finish the budget. Inside the Senate chambers, some senators sat idle at their desks in the chamber, listening to music, browsing the internet and resigning themselves to knowing they wouldn't be done at midnight. "We're not down in the dumps at all," insisted Sen. Andrew Lang, R-Olivia, saying that reports from inside the budget talks were that Dayton and Republicans maintained a more amicable tenor than in recent years. (Star Tribune)
4.Internet privacy was a popular idea earlier in the Minnesota legislative session — getting 200 of the 201 votes in previous votes in both the House and Senate. Lawmakers didn’t want internet service providers to be able to sell information about their customers’ web browsing history. But that provision didn't make the final cut in the final jobs budget bill hammered out in the early hours Monday morning at the Capitol. "There's nothing in existing law that would prohibit an internet service provider from refusing access to the internet, refusing to provide service to a customer that declines to give them permission to collect and sell their private information," said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL, St. Louis Park, during the Senate debate on the bill. (MPR News)
5. A Minnesota state senator whose father's deathcould have impacted last-minute budget negotiations decided to stay at the Capitol, because, she said, that's what her father would have wanted. Norman Huse, Republican Sen. Carla Nelson's father, passed away Monday morning. Earlier this month, Huse's ailing health forced Nelsonto leave St. Paul, promptingthe Senate to halt passage of budget bills. She also departed Saturday. Without her present to cast votes, Republicans don't have their one-vote majorityand can't pass controversial legislation. (Pioneer Press)
