The Minnesota Reformer article republished below is a fair account of the closing of the Minnesota Legislature's session.
But there's something more, something's that was more down home to my partner and I as we watched the end of the Minnesota House floor session, after prolonged Republican performative speeches about fraud and waste.
Oh the 2026 campaign themes.
So we were struck by the last announcement on the floor, made by pollinator champion Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, in recognition of World Bee Day.
Not that he stuck strictly to the United Nation's theme for the day:
This year's theme, "Bee inspired by nature to nourish us all", highlights the critical roles bees and other pollinators play in agrifood systems and the health of our planet's ecosystems. Indeed, pollinators are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, unsustainable agricultural practices, climate change and pollution. Their decline jeopardizes food production, increases costs and exacerbates food insecurity, particularly for rural communities.
Pollination is essential for agrifood systems, supporting the production of more than 75 percent of the world's crops, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. In addition to increasing crop yields, pollinators improve food quality and diversity. . . .
Hansen also built a lovely extended metaphor about how House members could in the days to come choose to sting or pollinate with each other to good law, make honey. As a graduate of the Ozarks Famous Writers School, I was impressed.
Here's the video of the moment from the Minnesota House Information Services YouTube channel (it will scroll to Hansen's remark, so don't be deterred by the screencap on the embedded video below)
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It's a sweet contrast to the accurate Minnesota Reformer article below. That article can be paired with the Minnesota House-only Session Daily article, Legislature — with budget incomplete — gavels out, prepares for special session.
From the Reformer:
Minnesota legislative session ends: no bang, barely a whimper
by Michelle GriffithA narrowly divided Legislature adjourned Monday without completing a state budget for the next two years, ending the session just as it began: with rancorous finger pointing.
The session started with the Minnesota Supreme Court settling a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over control of the House, and now lawmakers are leaving with the biggest budget bills still outstanding, including health and human services, education and taxes.
The Legislature only passed nine budget bills out of some 20 in process, and now they will need a special session to do the rest.
Lawmakers are working to pass a $66 billion to $67 billion two-year budget that will fund everything from schools to parks to health care and services for people with disabilities. The state is grappling with a structural deficit that’s arisen from the rapidly increasing costs of special education and caring for an aging population. Given the Republican refusal to agree to any new tax revenue, lawmakers are looking to trim spending.
Most consequentially, Gov. Tim Walz and DFL leaders agreed — at Republicans’ behest — to remove undocumented adults from MinnesotaCare, the state’s subsidized health insurance for the working poor. Children will still be enrolled. The bill hasn’t passed yet, and DFL Caucus leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brookyln Park, told reporters Monday night that Democrats would fight it until the end.
“Until the last gavel drops on the last minute of passing a budget for the state of Minnesota, Democrats are going to keep fighting to try to get Republicans to relent on that demand,” Hortman said.
In between now and the special legislative session — date yet to be announced, though ideally before Memorial Day, they say — lawmakers will hammer out the bills in “working groups.” Because the lawmakers won’t be in session, these will be unofficial meetings that include House and Senate members of both parties. Legislative leaders have given the working groups until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to finalize their budget bills, after which Walz will likely call a special session, which leaders and Walz say should last just a single day.
Lawmakers will be back at the Capitol Tuesday morning to start the working groups.
“We have to finish this. We don’t have a choice,” House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring said. “That is what Minnesotans expect us to do. We will be able to get that work done in a bipartisan fashion.”
Despite the Wednesday deadline, Hortman said the earliest a special session could occur is Friday, though next week is probable. If lawmakers can’t reach a deal by Friday, they will have to work over Memorial Day weekend, Hortman said.
Only Walz can call legislators back into session, but only lawmakers can adjourn once they are in special session.
In the hours leading up to midnight, rank-and-file lawmakers had little work to do because legislative leaders were meeting behind closed doors and making last-minute decisions on what bills they could pass in the few remaining hours.
Multiple members walked laps on the Capitol’s second floor, while Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson played catch on the Capitol lawn. Rep. Joe McDonald, R-Delano, was spotted using an electric scooter to “have a little fun,” traveling from the bowels of the Capitol to the House members’ offices in the Centennial Office Building.
In a series of press conferences, lawmakers laid the blame on each other for failing to finish their work. House Democrats argued that Republicans were attempting to change the parameters of an agreement Walz and legislative leaders announced last week.
“Republicans keep moving the goal posts. None of the GOP demands are necessary to pass a state budget bill. All of them will make life harder and more expensive for Minnesota families,” said House DFL floor leader Jamie Long.
House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said Democrats’ 23-day boycott at the outset of the session derailed lawmakers from finishing on time.
“Waiting 23 days of a stall out was not helpful,” Demuth said.
Walz on Monday afternoon told reporters he’s confident the larger budget bills will get done and said Minnesotans shouldn’t be concerned about the lack of progress.
“Against the backdrop of the dysfunction in D.C., this is a pretty remarkable thing to see — the most closely divided Legislature in Minnesota history working together in a fiscally responsible way,” Walz said.
Walz noted that June 1 acts as a perfunctory deadline: The state will be obligated to send lay off notices to state employees if there is no budget by then, and leaders want to avoid that.
The session kicked off in January with House Democrats refusing to appear at the Capitol, seeking to to prevent Republicans from using a 1-seat, temporary advantage to take control of the House and potentially block a Democrat from being seated in a hotly contested election. The Minnesota Supreme Court was forced to intervene before the two sides agreed on a power-sharing agreement.
Image: The United Nations logo for World Bee Day.
This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
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