Republicans Outline Budget Process to End Session

Private negotiations to find agreement on global targets for the state’s next two-year budget between Governor Mark Dayton and legislative leaders continued through the afternoon Friday, May 19, until Republican leaders called a press conference to announce their latest compromise. Speaker of the House Kurt Daudt stressed that they are not walking away from the Governor, but “hope to engage with the Governor over the next three days” to find agreement.

Lawmakers have an almost $1.5 billion dollar surplus to divvy up. The latest Republican proposal would direct $660 million dollars towards tax relief, down from their original conference position of $1.1 billion dollars. In other areas, they propose spending $300 million dollars on roads and bridges, $467 million dollars for E-12 Education and $164 million dollars towards Judiciary and Public Safety.

Senate Majority Paul Gazelka reported that he spoke to Lt. Governor Tina Smith, explaining that, “We want to keep moving. We want your Chairs to be involved with us as we move through the process so that we can still finish on time.”