| The 5 p.m. deadline came and went Wednesday without much progress (at least outwardly) of budget deals. Nearly a dozen working groups continued meeting to inch toward compromise and at least one — dealing with commerce and consumer protection — appeared to have wrapped up, according to a social media post from a member. The others had to enter the principal’s office (so to speak) last night to give their progress report to legislative leaders and the governor. Those not close to conclusion had their work pulled away for the big four to finish. We expect to hear more detail Thursday about what got clawed up and whether the governor could call a special session soon. Leaders have said they hope to finish up all budget bills before Memorial Day, but were prepared to work through the weekend (and warned committee members they would have to do that, too) if they couldn’t reach agreement.
Gov. Tim Walz said he thinks a special session early next week is possible. Ahead of evening meetings with conference committee chairs and legislative leaders, he said he could call lawmakers back to the Capitol as early as Tuesday. Walz told TPT's "Almanac at the Capitol" that he’s hopeful it could be a one-day session. And some issues that had been sticking points in bigger budget bills will be extracted. “I think most of them want to finish it up, you know, because by that point in time, the differences have been put aside,” he said. “It doesn't mean they've been solved. They've just been put aside for now, and we finish this up.” Big disagreements over cuts to human services funding, rolling back public health insurance coverage for adult immigrants without legal status and amending new benefits for workers could stymie efforts to pass a budget.
Disability advocates ramped up their campaign to limit cuts to waivers. A working group on the human services budget bill at the Minnesota Legislature is meeting privately to iron out differences. While they did that, advocates for disabled people held a rally Wednesday to push against possible cuts for disability waivers. Those waivers help people pay for in-home services that help them live independently. Rep. Kim Hicks, DFL-Rochester, would like to see parity in cuts across the board. "In the Human Services budget, there are three main things that can be cut: nursing homes, Disability Services and waivers and county funding,” she said. “So I believe, and I think most of these folks would agree, that we should make those required cuts equally across those three things." Advocates say they're worried the cuts will hit waivers the hardest, which they say will make life much more difficult for those that use them.
A Capitol press corps reporter got a glimpse inside one room where it happened, albeit a brief one. Star Tribune reporter Allison Kite (along with her colleagues Nathaniel Minor and Ryan Faircloth) writes that she was present during the kickoff of a working group meeting about a health and human services bill this week but was asked to leave by House leaders on the panel. They said they needed to privately discuss provisions of the budget bill before going public in a conference committee setting. Other members of the group advocated for allowing reporters (and members of the public) to sit through the meeting. Legislative leaders say these private airings are critical to help lawmakers in the narrowly split Capitol strike deals to get their work done. Transparency advocates say they cut out the voice of the public and lead to mistakes in legislation.
Speaking of deadlines, Tuesday is the final day to apply for a set of cannabis inspector jobs. The Office of Cannabis management has more than a half dozen positions to do compliance work for the budding market. The posts are scattered across the state, but there are up to four that will be based out of the St. Paul office. The others, according to the job postings, are in northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast Minnesota. The people will “review and investigate complaints regarding cannabis operations/businesses” and “provide outreach training to businesses and government groups on how to correct frequent issues and recognize misbranded or adulterated products.” Qualifications include at least three years of experience in inspection, investigation or regulatory activities. Pay ranges from $58,000 to $85,000 per year.
Security near the Capitol was also an element of one of the budget bills to pass prior to Monday’s regular session adjournment. The state government finance bill that awaits action by Gov. Tim Walz after legislative approval would allocate $3 million to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office to “implement a coordinated public safety and livability plan in the Capitol area.” It will be developed in partnership with state entities and deal mostly in areas in the vicinity of the Capitol. State-owned or leased buildings are not included in the sheriff’s jurisdiction. But the effort will focus on “public safety, youth and family programming and state and neighborhood cleanup and ambassadors” in the Capitol neighborhood.
On the tail end of the 2025 session, the Department of Public Safety is giving a pat on the head to one of its security agents. Maja just finished her first session on the team. She’s a 2-year-old German shorthaired pointer who sniffs for explosives, checks on unattended bags and aids with security sweeps. Maja’s handler, Trooper Megan Brynell, says the dog’s sense of smell is off the charts. “Once she gets an odor, she will pull me directly to it,” Brynell says in a news release from DPS . Maja is one of 13 state patrol pooches who are in use. The other 12 sniff out illegal drugs.
Tesla has been a punching bag for Gov. Tim Walz, but the automaker has dominated Minnesota’s EV market. Walker Orenstein with the Star Tribune reports that no car manufacturer has been more important for Walz’s goal to convince Minnesotans to buy electric vehicles. Tesla has been the most popular EV car since the market really picked up in 2018. Orenstein reports the divorce between Democrats and Tesla shouldn’t greatly affect EV adoption goals. The bigger setback for EV adoption are the likely soon-to-be increased registration fees on EV purchases and the lack of charging infrastructure. | 