Done Deal: Gov. Dayton and GOP Agree on Preliminary Budget

Minnesota’s legislators are heading back to work.

Gov. Mark Dayton and state Republican legislative leaders agreed the afternoon of Thursday, July 14 on a preliminary budget and took the first steps toward ending the government shutdown.

During a three-hour meeting in the governor’s office, the parties agreed to a June 30 Republican budget proposal that would not raise taxes, but would borrow money to balance the budget. The deal will raise $1.4 billion by issuing state bonds against future tobacco revenue ($700 million) and shifting K12 education aid from 70/30 to 60/40 ($700 million).

In a tense meeting with reporters at the Capitol following the meeting, Dayton said he expects to call a special session for legislators and to pass a budget “very soon. Within days.”

Local lawmakers are mulling over the new proposal.  “It is certainly something to consider," Representative Joyce Peppin (R-Maple Grove) said July 14. "We have a conference call planned a little later on to really dig into this and talk more about it as a group."

Peppin says she needs to understand what Dayton means by removing all policy issues.  "At this point I have some questions and I want to learn more about it."

Senator Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove) says he was surprised earlier this week that Governor Dayton wasn't interested in passing a lights on bill. "He didn't want to agree to anything unless everything was solved," he said.  "I don't believe that was the right approach, it certainly didn't give Minnesotans much hope."

Limmer was also bothered by the governor's recent road trip to chat with residents at town hall meetings. "I don't think he should be criss-crossing the country side while we have such important work to do."

While republicans review the impacts of Dayton's proposal, Peppin says one thing she knows for certain. 

"We have to live within our means," she said. "We need to get our budget under control because if we don't two or four years down the road we are going to have an even bigger problem and we'll be in a really bad position then."

Dayton said he expected he and Republican leadership would work late into the night and through the weekend.

“This is an agreement that is difficult for both sides,” said Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo. “There’s been some good discussions and some coming together on agreements for reforms.”

House Speaker Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) agreed reaching a deal—as well as the shutdown—has been difficult.

“We are in an imperfect situation,” Zellers said. But in the end, “we’re focused on getting the lights back on and getting the government up and running again.”

Despite the agreement, Dayton reiterated his disappointment with the deal which he announced Thursday morning.

“I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to pursuade a legislative majority of the wisdom of my approach to raise taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans,” Dayton said. “In the absence of that, however, this is an agreement today.”

Said Zellers: “Today was about making a deal that we’re disappointed in, but that’s done. None of us got exactly what we wanted. But we have a deal that will be done, a budget that will be balanced and a state that will be back to work.”

As part of the agreement, Republicans agreed to three of Dayton’s conditions.

Koch said she expected the budget to pass the special session.

“We’re working with our caucus. We need to hammer out final details in these bills but we’re confident,” Koch said. “We’re focused solely on making sure these bills are processed as quickly as possible.”