ST. PAUL, Minn. — The state Legislature adjourned on its mandated date to end its 2025 session without completing a state budget for the next two years. On the budget: Legislators passed only nine of some 20 bills that were in the pipeline. Without a complete state budget, state agencies will go into shutdown at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Only the governor can call legislators back into session to get their act together. This ignominious end to the 2023 regular session was a bookend of a session that got off to a bad start. In January a Democratic boycott over control made it impossible for Republicans to assemble the quorum necessary to do business. After 23 days the Supreme Court ended the boycott in the Democrats favor. But legislators in both the narrowly divided Senate and House never caught up.
Partisan showdown on healthcare
Lawmakers got hung up trimming proposed spending within projected revenue of $66 billion to $67 billion. The parameters reflected a projected a significant drop in revenue. .Republican refusal to agree to any new tax revenue. As a compromise, Governor Tim Walz and Democratic leaders agreed — at Republicans behest — to remove undocumented adults from the MinnesotaCare subsidized health insurance for the working poor but still covering children. Republicans dug in. In the final minutes before the session’s mandatory shutdown, Democratic leader Melissa Hortman said: “Until the last gavel drops, Democrats are going to keep fighting to try to get Republicans to relent.”
Other undone business
The bills on the table also included a specific plan to extend some tax breaks for data centers. Also mired in the partisan showdown was a bill to borrow for new buildings and bricks-and mortar improvements at state facilities. These included $700 million for a mental health treatment facility in Anoka. Other funding in limbo ranged from schools to parks to health care and services for people with disabilities.