I watched most of the time the Minnesota House was in session on Monday. It was about what one would expect.
I'll take a look at votes on some of the bills when the roll calls are published. I'll be gone for my partner's eye examine in Sioux Falls much of the day, so it may have to wait for Wednesday.
For now, a quick digest of news about the session.
From House Session Daily, there's Mike Cook's Lawmakers deliver budget bills to governor's desk in one-day special session:
About that talk of needing all 21 hours left in a legislative day to complete a special session?
House members were more than up to the challenge Monday. Beginning at 10 a.m., they had all but two bills passed by the end of the 2100 hour, if one wants to use military time.
With passage shortly thereafter of the tax and revisor’s bills, representatives who live in the Twin Cities metropolitan area were likely home before midnight.
And Minnesotans need not worry about a partial government shutdown July 1 with an approximately $66 billion state budget for the 2026-27 biennium a few Gov. Tim Walz signatures away from becoming law. . . .
Read the rest at Session Daily.
At MinnPost, Matthew Blake reports in Minnesota lawmakers grit teeth, pass state budget in crammed special session:
An incensed Minnesotan took to the state’s House floor Monday night to rail against a bill to fund transportation.
“I just kind of want to get this off my chest here a little bit first. This bill is a result of a broken deal.”
Another speaker pointed out holes in legislation outlining spending for the environment and natural resources.
“There is no happiness in this bill. It truly was a compromise bill, and as I like to tell my children, when you compromise that means everyone is unhappy.”
These dissenting voices were not irate members of the public or even renegade legislators. Instead, they were, respectively, Rep. Kristi Pursell, DFL-Northfield, and Erin Koegel, DFL-Spring Lake Park, the co-authors – alongside two Republican House co-chairs – of the very bills they were railing against.
Like a college sophomore completing their tardy term papers in one night, the Minnesota Legislature met Monday for a one-day only special session called by Gov. Tim Walz. . . . .
Read the whole mess at MinnPost.
Over at the Minnesota Reformer, Madison McVan and Michelle Griffith captured the mood and details in Minnesota Legislature passes gloomy $66 billion budget:
. . . Here’s some key takeaways from the now completed budget, pending the signature of Gov. Tim Walz, who has 14 days after he receives them to sign or veto the bills passed during the Tuesday special session:
- The budget is smaller than the record-breaking $72 billion two-year budget passed by the DFL-controlled Legislature in 2023, which was bolstered by the American Rescue Plan and other federal spending under President Joe Biden.
- The budget bills take a step towards resolving the deficit projected to begin in the 2028-29 budget years, but don’t avert it entirely. It closes the gap between revenue and spending by 45%, and will leave approximately $1.9 billion on the bottom line at the end of the biennium. But current projections — which are likely to change significantly based on the economy and federal budget — predict a $290 million deficit in 2028-29.
- The budget will cut approximately $283 million from projected expenditures over the next two years, with most of the savings coming from the Department of Human Services.
- Republicans, who control half of the House, won a major concession from the DFL: the repeal of MinnesotaCare eligibility for undocumented adults. The vote came after impassioned speeches from Democrats opposed to the bill. Rep. Kaohly Her, a St. Paul Democrat, said she was “illegal” because her father lied on an immigration paper to expedite her family’s journey to the United States, highlighting the desperate circumstances many immigrants find themselves in. She later clarified that she and her family are American citizens.
- Lawmakers opted not to give agencies a bump in funding to cover inflation, except for areas of the budget where inflation is built into funding formulas, like education and some areas of DHS. The move saves money across the budget, but will squeeze state agencies as the cost of providing services outpaces their funding.
- The budget holds education funding steady for the next two years. It also funds pay raises for home care and nursing home workers.
- The Legislature also passed a roughly $700 million infrastructure package to pay for upgrades to the state’s roads and bridges. The package, known as a bonding bill around the Capitol because it’s funded with borrowed money, required a three-fifths supermajority to pass.
Also worth a read in the Reformer? Griffith's ‘I’m a citizen,’ clarifies Minnesota Democrat after saying she came to the U.S. illegally.
Over in the Minnesota Star Tribune, Allison Kite and Nathaniel Minor provide a wrap up in What did — and didn’t — pass during the special session. Ryan Faircloth describes the process in How the most closely divided Legislature in Minnesota history came together to pass a state budget.
At Minnesota Public Radio, Brian Bakst, Peter Cox and Ellie Roth tell the tale in New Minnesota budget sealed up in legislative spree as immigrant health coverage rescinded:
A budget bottleneck came unclogged as the Minnesota Legislature bolted through bill after bill to finish a $66 billion two-year spending plan early Tuesday and avoid a possible government shutdown.
It took a special session to complete the job after the regular session ended in May with much undone. With a firm deal in hand, lawmakers churned through sprawling bills one after another and wrapped up their work.
The House beat the Senate to the finish line, adjourning at 10:40 p.m. after about 12 hours of work. Senators clocked out around 1:55 a.m.
“From the very beginning, this has been a hard-fought session,” Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, said as he drew things to a close. “And to get here we ultimately had to forge relationships and compromises that are not always easy.” . . .
In some of the Forum Communications network papers, there's Minnesota State Correspondent Mary Murphy's Update: Minnesota Legislature ushers budget bills to Walz, repeals health insurance for undocumented adults.
Digest the reads at your own pace.
Photo: Lights stay on inside the Minnesota State Capitol Building as the sun sets during a special legislative session Monday, June 9, 2025. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer).
Related posts
- Minnesota Legislature repeals MinnesotaCare for undocumented adults
- MNLeg convenes today for a 21-hour special session. Here’s what they plan to do.
- MinnPost: What to know about MnLeg Monday special session to finish the budget
- Governor Tim Walz calls special session for Monday, MNLeg aims to pass 14 bills in one day
- Minnesota legislative working group strikes agreement on environment and natural resources finance and policy package
- Infrastructure package is dead this year, Minnesota legislative leaders say
- MNLeg session ends: no bang, barely a whimper, while Rep. Rick Hansen closed with a buzz
- MNLeg lawmakers play blame game as session comes to end without major budget bills
- MNReformer: Where things stand with just over 48 hours left of the Minnesota legislative session
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- Budget breakthrough? MinnPost on what Gov. Walz and MNLeg did and didn’t accomplish.
- MNLeg budget targets digest: House bipartisan leadership and Senate Democrats release figures
- Looming federal cuts complicate MN budget; will they change BOAH's avian flu response?
- Even Mary Franson got one: Minnesota House committee, division co-chairs announced for 2025-26 legislative biennium
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