End of Shutdown in Sight

Updated at 1:00 a.m. July 20: As of 1 a.m. Wednesday, eight bills were on their way to Gov. Mark Dayton's office to be signed into law. Two additional bills had been passed in the House but not the Senate.

Dayton has said he would not sign any bills until all 12 had passed the House and Senate.

Between the hours of 7 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, the process was moving along smoothly. Within 45 minutes, the Senate passed six bills and the House passed five. Then they recessed.

Lawmakers adjourned to discuss some of the most contentious and complex pieces of upcoming legislation. The bills: health and human services, taxes, K-12 education, bonding, pension and state government.

When the parties reconvened at 9:30 p.m., the finger-pointing began.

“This budget is morally bankrupt,” Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) said while debating on the House floor. “The GOP are the first majority to leave the state worse off than they found it financially.”

Minority Leader Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) added: “This is a beg, borrow and steal budget. It borrows and steals from Minnesota’s future and begs the people of our state to look the other way as once again (Republicans) simply kick the can down the road. ... Republicans have nothing to be proud of today. In fact, Republicans have every reason to hang your heads in shame.”

GOP House Majority Leader Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) fired back at DFL counterparts, accusing them of forgetting to do their jobs by balancing the budget and “dragging (Minnesota) into a shutdown.”  

As it stands, listed below are the bills and the votes that passed them:   

Special Session Bills
Senate Judiciary/Public Safety bill: 57-7
House Judiciary/Public Safety bill: 77-51

Senate Environment bill: 43-22
House Environment bill: 71-57

Senate Jobs and Economic Growth bill: 42-23
House Jobs and Economic Growth bill: 76-50

Senate Transportation bill: 38-27
House Transportation bill: 71-56

Senate Higher education bill: 35-30
House Higher education bill: 71-57

Senate Health & Human Services bill:
House Health & Human Services bill: 71-57

Senate K-12 education bill:
House K-12 education bill:

Senate State Government bill:
House State Government bill:

Senate Legacy bill: 65-0
House Legacy bill: 98-30

Senate Pension bill: 61-3
House Pension bill: 115-12

Senate Taxes bill: 37-27
House Taxes bill: 71-57

Senate Bonding bill:
House Bonding bill: 112-17

Updated at 6:00 p.m. on July 19: Minnesota legislators have been called back to their seats and an end to the government shutdown appears just hours away.

Gov. Mark Dayton called for a special legislative session to begin 3 p.m. today—19 days into the shutdown of Minnesota government—after approving preliminary versions of nine legislative bills totaling $35.4 billion over the 2011-2013 biennium.  

Legislators have resolved some of the session’s more contentious bills—on K-12 education, state government, jobs and economic development, taxes and higher education. The public safety/judiciary, transportation and environment bills were given the nod Monday afternoon, a day after legislators agreed in principle on a $11 billion Health and Human Services bill.

No mention was made of the governor’s $500 million bonding bill—a stipulation of his agreement to the Republican-written budget. The bonding bill, Dayton argues, allows the state to borrow money to pay for public works projects and the thousands of jobs that come with them.

Provided the bipartisan legislature passes the bills, Dayton plans to sign them into law “as they come in” Tuesday afternoon and, effectively, end the shutdown. The governor said it would then take a “few days” to notify and call back to work the 22,000 state workers laid off July 1.