Possible service disruptions and employee layoffs are coming into focus as Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Legislature struggle to finish a new state budget.
One aspirational deadline after another has been missed. Even as state leaders stay upbeat about everything coming together, they’re also going through the steps to plan for the potential they won’t.
It could all be resolved soon — maybe even this weekend — if the final pieces fall into place and Walz summons the Legislature back to the Capitol to take votes.
Still, Walz said his agencies have started to work through what they’d need to do if funding isn’t approved. Budgets for everything from state parks operations to highway workers to vehicle and driver’s licensing haven’t been set.
“They have the contingencies,” Walz said Wednesday. “I don’t want to have to get there, but we’re ready for it. They actually have procedures that are all worked out about what that looks like on shutdowns.”
That might involve cutting off camping reservations planned for early July, preparing to close highway rest stops or winding down construction projects to secure the sites.
“We are not there yet, but we are basically 28 days out on this,” Walz said.
Minnesota endured partial government shutdowns in 2005 and 2011, with some essential employees and programs protected by court orders. The state Supreme Court has since ruled that it would be more hands-off in budget standoffs.
Some tangible signs of shutdown planning have begun again. Nurses in state agencies got 30-days notice at the start of June of possible layoffs in July. Tens of thousands of notices to other state employees go out early next week.
Less than 10 percent of the two-year budget was adopted before the Legislature adjourned its session in May. Negotiations on the rest have dragged on for weeks, and Walz has made clear he wouldn’t call a special session until all of the rest of the bills are ready for votes.
DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said those finishing touches are being made.
“We are making progress,” she said Wednesday ahead of a meeting with Walz and other legislative leaders. “It is as slow as molasses, but molasses is good. And we are going to get done. I cross my fingers.”
Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth echoed that sentiment.
“The discussion and the working together has not stopped. And I think that’s really an important piece to point out is that those discussions and the work in a bipartisan way have not broken down in any way,” Demuth said.
Remaining points of dispute include:
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What measures could be added back to a stripped-down tax bill that several leading lawmakers of both parties said they can’t vote for.
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How to win passage of a compromise plan to remove adult immigrants lacking legal status from the MinnesotaCare insurance program; children would remain eligible. It’s possible it will be broken into a separate bill rather than tie it to a broader health care funding bill.
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The method for divvying up funding for transportation projects between different levels of government.
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If lawmakers will try to pass a bill financing public construction projects, a task that requires three-fifths majorities to pass.
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Whether to change a “noncompete” law that restricts mobility of people who take new jobs in industries with companies that compete with a prior employer.
DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman said leaders are being deliberate in how the bills are structured. She said once they are written and citations are checked they are being sent back to key lawmakers for signoff and needed changes.
“That takes a huge amount of time,” she said. “It’s complicated.”
Walz said he remains confident even with a lot seemingly fragile with the remaining bills. He said legislative leaders are operating with goodwill but there could be hiccups as the budget items are put to votes.
“I’m not even saying as a pejorative: Every single legislator is potentially a veto over the whole deal to get some of this done,” Walz said. “This is chaotic – democracy is. But against the backdrop of what you see in D.C., this is the contrast of the Democrats, Republicans working together. We’re finding compromises.”
