Budget Negotiations Continue as Clock Ticks Down on 2021 Legislative Session

(KNSI) – As the clock ticks down on the 2021 Minnesota legislative session, the one main area of business yet to be taken care of is the budget.

House Speaker Melissa Hortman says negotiations are moving in the right direction, and one major priority is providing adequate funding and direction to school districts.

She says lawmakers are “really intent on making sure that there’s enough staff in those school buildings to make sure that they can recover from COVID-19. Whether they go back to school this summer, or they go back to school next fall, they’re going to need extra help, and we need to give our school districts, some predictability in their funding going forward. So it’s not just about the money, that they’ll receive in the short term but it’s about being able to keep the commitment to those staff that they hired to help the children so that I would say it would be my number one focus in these negotiations.”

Other budget items still being haggled over include healthcare, policing, supporting frontline workers, and working out taxes on unemployment insurance payments.

House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler says, “the negotiations are important to get right, but even if it takes a little bit of extra time to get to a final conclusion, Minnesotans can have confidence that we will have a better state as a result of this 2021 legislative session, and we were all committed to making sure that that happens.”

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka agreed Wednesday that there are several issues to be debated, but “the good news is we’re talking to each other, not over each other, which sometimes happens. That’s not happening.”

He says lawmakers will communicate and work throughout the weekend to put together a package both sides can agree on, and the governor can sign.

The Constitutionally mandated adjournment date is Monday, May 17th.

Lawmakers could be called back into a special session in June if Governor Tim Walz extends his emergency powers for another 30 days.

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