Minnesota Legislative Session Ends With No Finished Budget

(KNSI) — The clock has run out for the 2025 Minnesota legislative session with no finished budget.

Lawmakers needed to finish their work by 11:59:59 p.m., but remained deadlocked on several key bills right up until the end, meaning a special session may be needed.

The last bill to make it across the finish line was the Government Finance Bill, but several more pieces needed to fall into place to complete and pass a balanced budget. Left dangling in the wind was funding for education, human services and health, which make up more than half of state spending. Bills that were passed included agriculture and housing finance bills, veterans, judiciary and public safety finance bills.

It appeared everyone had come to an agreement for the budget targets late last week, but a provision in the health spending bill that would sunset taxpayer funded healthcare for illegal immigrant adults set off a firestorm within the DFL. That sent some of the caucus’s lawmakers into a tizzy, leading them to try barging in on a press conference the governor was holding with reporters to announce that progress had been made. Dems pushed the bill through when they had the trifecta in 2023.

The legislative session got off to a rocky start thanks to House Democrats, who boycotted the first several weeks, upset over what they called an illegitimate power grab and an attempted coup after Republicans had a one-seat majority and showed up to conduct business as usual when the session started. The holdup was due to a Democratic lawmaker being stripped of his victory after it was discovered he lied about where he lived, and another election was held. When the ballots were all counted, the DFL candidate was declared the winner.

Democrats were also upset Republicans refused to seat DFLer Brad Tabke over ballots that had been accidentally thrown away before they could be counted.

Once the dust settled, Democrats finally showed up to work with an even split in the chamber between both parties, meaning bipartisan cooperation was needed to get anything done.

A funding package must now be passed and signed by 11:59:59 p.m. on June 30th to avoid a government shutdown for portions of the government not fully funded.

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