Minnesota leaders agree on $52 billion budget bill

Governor Tim Walz, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, and House Speaker Melissa Hortman say this is a win for all Minnesotans, Democrats, and Republicans.

MINNESOTA (KVRR) — Minnesota lawmakers working down to the wire on the next budget bill.

Lawmakers agreeing on a 52 billion dollar bill for the state’s economy for the next two years. Governor Tim Walz, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, and House Speaker Melissa Hortman say this is a win for all Minnesotans, Democrats and Republicans.

“We made the commitment together that this budget will be about recovering from COVID. It would be about investing in families, their children, and education. It would be providing relief to families in the form of tax cuts,” Governor Tim Walz said.

There is extra money allocated for summer school to help students get caught up after a year of distance learning. Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman says there are no taxes on Covid-19 unemployment benefits and PPE loans.

“There’s predictability in what they will get at the end of the day. The mechanics of whether they will have to refile or return or not is a question we can answer later with more information from the Department of Revenue,” Hortman said.

The bill does not mention any policy on police reform. Gazelka says there is more work to be done.

“Some of the policy issues we’re still working on. Relating to emergency powers, related to police accountability. That’s the role of the conference committees. As they work together, we’re hoping to find some solutions there, but we did not address every policy issue at this point. We know that the process should do its work,” Gazelka said.

Most of the lawmakers’ meetings were virtual making it harder this year for resolving their differences. Democrats and Republicans giving up things in the bill to come to an agreement. Hortman says more details will be determined in the coming weeks.

“We expect spreadsheets from our chairs by May 28th at 5 pm and language by June 4th,” Hortman said.

A special session has not been determined to finalize the details and to draft the legislation.