Walz, Hortman and Gazelka Reach A Bipartisan Agreement On Nearly $50 Billion Budget
Special One-Day Session Is Still Likely Since The Session Officially Ends Monday
ST. PAUL, MN — Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota legislative leaders have struck a long-awaited deal over the nearly $50 billion state budget they announced during a news conference.
The deal includes no gas tax, a slight decrease in the medical provider tax to 1.8 percent, a 2 percent per student increase in K-12 spending and $56 million to replace MNLARS.
“This is a budget that invests in education, healthcare and community prosperity in a fiscally responsible manner,” said Walz. “Today, we proved that divided government can work for the betterment of the people we serve. As one of only two divided state governments in the country, we reached a bipartisan agreement on time for the first time in over a decade.”
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said, “Ah, but as you found out in the media we never really said anything that we would have regretted because frankly we worked pretty well together when you consider that we were so far apart.”
The agreement comes after nearly two weeks of negotiations, the last six days of which were conducted entirely in private between Walz, House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Gazelka.
The deal likely comes too late to avoid a special session at taxpayer expense, because the end of the regular legislative session is Monday.
A planned 1-day special session to finish the budget is expected as early as Thursday.
Any budget deal must still be approved by conference committees and both the House and Senate.
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt called it the least transparent session in Minnesota history saying Speaker Hortman’s promises of transparency proved to be nothing more than lip service.
He issued a statement saying in part that Republicans will not vote to accelerate a budget deal that raises health care costs.
He says tax increases demanded by Democrats will raise health care costs on families by over 2 billion dollars.
