Monday was adjournment day for the 2025 Minnesota legislative session, but lawmakers weren’t done with their work just yet and wouldn’t be by midnight.
Leaders were expected to roll into a special session shortly after they adjourn Monday night — with the hopes of wrapping up a new budget before Memorial Day. State lawmakers chipped away at their to-do list over the weekend in a Capitol lacking the usual intensity to beat the clock.
The roadmap for a session finish was finally laid out late last week, but that framework left a lot to be filled in and ignited opposition that the deal’s architects have had to smooth over.
Erin Murphy, the Democratic Senate majority leader, told her colleagues Friday that they’ll pass any budget bills that get completed by committees Monday night. But she didn’t share much optimism that there would be much on Monday morning.
“I am feeling the same level of frustration and concerns and have a mouthful of cuss words that I’m going to leave there,” Murphy told her colleagues before a Senate recess around 11:30 a.m. “But we’re here to do the work of the people and right now there is no work coming to us from the House.”
Her comments followed Republican Sen. Jim Abeler’s attempt to get a vote on a bill to provide continuing funding to agencies that don’t get funded by June 30, which would head off any possible shutdown.
“It just may well be at some point we’re going to need this resolution,” Abeler said. “If you saw the paper, there was a tall ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge. I want to avoid that.”
Abeler, of Anoka, withdrew his motion before a vote.
Murphy said last-minute policy requests from House Republicans were slowing budget bills and preventing them from moving out of conference committees.
She said GOP members want to reopen a jobs and economy bill to alter a provision around earned sick and safe time and paid family and medical leave benefits; they also want a say on picking University of Minnesota regents during the upcoming special session. Right now, Walz would get to choose those nominees since it didn’t happen in the regular legislative session.
“When you reach a conclusion and negotiation and new conditions are being added that slow down the budget, that’s frustrating, and that is getting in the way,” she told reporters. “And I’m concerned that Republicans are driving us to a special session, and I’m concerned about their commitment to finishing this work for the people of Minnesota. “
The politically divided Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz came to agreement on how much money to spend for all the different state budgets, an overall plan that is on track to add up to about $67 billion over two years.
Walz urged lawmakers to keep moving budget bills late on Monday afternoon. He said he would call a special legislative session when they’d buttoned up details of outstanding budget proposals and asked that they expedite the work.
“Once we get past June 1, we’ll be obligated then to start looking at what does it look like if you shut down? That means we send out the layoff notices and things like that,” Walz said. “That is not without a cost, and I would just argue with all the time we’ve had to do this. We’ve got plenty of time to finish this over the next few days.”
GOP leaders said that efforts to impact budget bills weren’t part of the global framework but should still get aired in the event they could pick up bipartisan backing.
“That was not part of the global agreement. But yet, if there is a desire to do that here in the Legislature, that could be part of things as we move forward,” House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said. “I have no intent of going back on the global deal that was reached. We signed that in good faith.”
There was a light bustle in the halls of the Capitol on Sunday as lawmakers shuffled from conference committee meetings to floor sessions.
Some policy bills were voted through as were the smaller of the budget proposals. Negotiators were still working to lock in agreements on the main components, from health care to education.
Among those items to get sent to Walz over the weekend was a bill that sets harsher penalties for drunk driving and promotes the use of interlock systems in vehicles for offenders with multiple DWIs.
“It was born of tragedy in St. Louis Park, and hopefully will prevent, or take steps toward preventing future similar tragedies,” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park.
A bill that makes changes to Minnesota’s existing cannabis market regulation also advanced. It would allow testing facilities to begin testing during the accreditation process.
Rep. Nolan West, a Republican who has supported the move toward full legalization, still took a swipe at Minnesota’s slow-to-get-going marijuana program.
“It’s like trying to run Amazon out of an Etsy store with three inspectors checking the doilies for antitrust violations,” West said during House floor consideration. “We’re inching closer to a legal, safe and tested market thanks to this bill.”
A few but not all conference committees met. Bills were then ping-ponging between the House and Senate.
One big sticking point that could gum up the conclusion involves health care.
The leadership plan would undo MinnesotaCare health insurance for adult immigrants who don’t have legal status. The agreement would allow children to continue on MinnesotaCare.
Rep. Sandra Feist, DFL-New Brighton, gave a nod to undocumented immigrants when she spoke in favor of passing the agriculture budget bill.
“I was not going to speak on this bill. I do support this bill. I just thought this might be an opportunity, a moment to remind the body that 40 percent of farm workers are undocumented immigrants,” she said. “They play a really critical role in the farming industry.”
The measure could eke through in the House if all Republicans and at least one Democrat endorse the deal.
But ending health care for undocumented immigrants could be an even bigger challenge in the Senate where Democrats have just a one-seat majority — and no firm assurances from Republicans that they’ll put up votes to pass any of the big budget bills.
A solid core of the Senate DFL is outright opposed and even more-moderate Democrats like Sen. Judy Seeberger of Afton suggested they weren’t in favor of ending the coverage — a DFL initiative that was passed just a couple years ago.
“I believe that undocumented folks should be, are entitled to the same access to health care that all the rest of us are,” Seeberger said. “So no, I do not support that at all.”
The bumpy ending is a fitting bookend to a session where little has gone smoothly this year.
From a tied Senate at the beginning due to a senator’s death, to a tied House now that got down to business many weeks into the year, it’s been rocky throughout. A senator also resigned this year after being arrested and charged in a prostitution sting.
The overall 101 Democrats and 100 Republicans now in place make it the tightest split on record.
Murphy, the Senate leader, has her work cut out for her to get to the end. She faces a revolt in her caucus over a deal she signed her name to.
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson declined Monday to say if he or other Republicans will put up the votes needed to pass bills in jeopardy.
“We’ve all got to represent different caucuses, and so trying to figure out how this puzzle fits together is a big chore,” Johnson said, describing his conversations with Murphy as “very good and very respectful.”
Demuth doesn’t have an easy task either.
By nature of the House tie, bipartisan backing is needed for anything and everything to pass.
So as lawmakers reached what they thought would be the end, now the question is whether they can clear the final obstacles and when. Only then can they break for home.