Lawmakers are back at the State Capitol to start the 2018 session, and one of the first things they must do is pass an operating budget for the legislature after last year’s protracted court battle over Governor Mark Dayton’s vetoes. Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt says their intent is not to add anything extra: “Just send a bill just the way it was [at the end of the 2017 session],” he says, “Not to try to use it for a vehicle for anything else, but just to kind of use it as something to close that chapter.” Daudt says the House won’t pass it on the first day of session, but in “the first couple of weeks probably.”
Senate Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka says they would prefer a “clean bill”, but “there are some other issues that we’ve already been talking about: What do we do about different things? And I don’t want it to be a ‘Christmas tree’ bill. That’s why we didn’t get a transportation bill for about 10 years.” Governor Mark Dayton says he prefers a “clean” bill but legislators have the right take their own action. Dayton says he agrees with Republicans that “I don’t want it to be a ‘Christmas tree.’ I’m not gonna make it absolute. I want to sign the bill. I want to put it all behind us. I want to move forward.”
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Tom Bakk says approval of state employee contracts should be included so those workers get cost-of-living increases. Bakk says, “I will advocating very hard that ratification of those state employee contracts be included in the legislative budget. I was pretty disappointed when it was rejected by the subcommittee.”