A revised budget, a tax bill and a bonding bill are among unfinished items at the Minnesota Legislature as the clock ticks down to next Sunday’s adjournment deadline. Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt says they’ll probably delay on buttoning-up the major bills as they try to get agreement with the governor. Daudt says, “Can’t guarantee that we’ll have everything that he wants or that we won’t have everything he doesn’t want, but we’re gonna make our best effort to put bills together that the governor can support.”
Dayton’s office says they’ve sent detailed explanations of the governor’s objections to a number of provisions in Republicans’ major bills. Dayton has warned lawmakers not to embed controversial measures in major bills to try to get him to “swallow” what he doesn’t like. Daudt says, “The governor can’t pass a bill and we can’t sign one into law, so we need to work together. And that’s what I think people should expect us to do over the next week.”
With or without a nod from the governor, Republicans probably need to finalize major bills and bring them up for floor votes by Thursday or Friday. They and Dayton still have major differences over education funding and other programs, the mix of tax cuts, and the dollar amount of a bonding bill for state public works projects.
More in this interview with Speaker Daudt: