Lawmakers cut deal to end session
DFL legislative leaders appear confident that they can finish the legislative session today.
The House passed two bills earlier this morning that spend more than $1 billion on public works projects. The bills fund the renovation of the state capitol, civic centers in St. Cloud, Mankato and Rochester and a regional water pipeline in southwestern Minnesota.
DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen said legislative leaders also agreed on a supplemental budget bill and a tax bill.
He says he's confident lawmakers will focus on having a successful end to the session.
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“I think there's going to be a lot of interest on both sides to get done,” Thissen said. “At this point, once the bonding bill is done, everybody knows that everything else is going to get done and we can either make it long and painful or we can get it done. And I think people are going to choose to get it done instead of making it long and painful."
The Senate still needs to pass the bonding bill. Both chambers have to pass a budget bill, a tax bill and a bill that legalizes medical marijuana.
Republicans secured commitments from Democrats to fully fund the Lewis and Clark pipeline. Democrats agreed to fund it by providing state aid and by granting taxing authority to local communities to finance it in the long term.
Republicans also convinced DFL leaders to drop several policy proposals like a bill that requires manufacturers to disclose the presence of toxic chemicals in children's products.
GOP Senate Minority Leader David Hann said that agreement will help bring a smooth end to the legislative session.
“In exchange for votes to do that, we asked for some of the bills that probably aren’t going anywhere anyway to just be set aside so nobody has to worry about them,” Hann said.
Gov. Dayton made a last minute push to include the "Toxic Free Chemicals" language in the final budget agreement but legislators eventually rejected it.
The budget committee did agree to accept several of Dayton’s other requests before wrapping up their work earlier this morning.
Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, said the budget bill spends roughly $260 million on early childhood and K12 education, funding for home and community based health workers and funding for rural broadband.
Lawmakers still have to pass a budget bill, a tax bill and a bill that legalizes medical marijuana.
Here's the bonding bill that passed the House early this morning