Republican Leadership Elects to Finish Budget Bills, Governor Threatens Vetoes
Following the release of “joint” budget targets two weeks ago and the adoption of “compromise” budget bills in conference committee last week, most Capitol insiders expected this week to consist of a series of back and forth negotiations between legislative leadership and Gov. Mark Dayton. However, on Tuesday afternoon Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) and Speaker of the House Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) emerged from a meeting with Dayton and announced their intention to close up the budget bills and send them to the governor for his signature or veto. They expressed concern with what they saw as a lack of progress being made during recent negotiation sessions and, with less than two weeks remaining in the legislative session, they decided to send a complete round of budget bills to the governor. Dayton immediately responded and promised to veto every budget bill the Legislature sent.
On Tuesday evening, members of both the House and Senate met well into the evening and passed the first five omnibus finance bills (Agriculture, Health and Human Services, K-12 Education, Environment & Natural Resources, and State Government Finance). Their intention was to return the following day and pass the remaining bills (Higher Education, Jobs & Energy, Judiciary & Public Safety, Transportation, and Taxes). However, in the Senate, that plan hit something of a roadblock when Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester) was called away from the Capitol to attend to a family situation. With only a 34-33 majority in the Senate, Republicans no longer had the votes necessary to pass the remaining budget bills. While the House took up and passed the omnibus transportation and tax bills on Wednesday, no additional bills could be passed.
All 201 legislators are expected to leave town this weekend with many of them, including legislative leadership, travelling to St. Cloud to attend the 70th annual Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener. Gov. Dayton has announced his intention to veto the five budget bills he received before leaving for the weekend. Dayton’s veto letters – which customarily provide the rationale for the governor’s veto – are expected to detail his specific objections to each bill and provide something of a framework for when negotiations resume. Legislators and governor have until May 22 to reach a budget deal and avoid the need for a special legislative session.
Governor Promises Veto of the Uniform State Labor Standards Act
Having been passed by the House of Representatives in early March and the Senate in late April, the Uniform State Labor Standards Act currently sits in conference committee as legislators work out minor differences between the two versions. The bill, which would prevent local governments from passing ordinances relating to minimum wage, paid or unpaid leave, hours of employment or scheduling, or any other employment benefit, has been met by strong resistance from both labor/advocacy organizations as well as Gov. Dayton. However, after Dayton made comments in late April which, at least to many of his Democratic allies, appeared to signal some willingness to negotiation the Uniform State Labor Standards Act, Dayton publicly committed to vetoing the legislation earlier this week. That is a significant setback to legislative Republicans and the business community who, throughout the legislative session, had prioritized the initiative.
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