Hello from St. Paul,
I hope you all had a very Happy Easter holiday, and were able to enjoy time with family and friends.
As it does every year, with roughly four to five weeks to go in our legislative session, the heavy lifting in the Minnesota House and Senate begins.
The dominoes usually begin to fall after we receive the most current state fiscal forecast. From here, both the House and Senate established budget targets, and eventually each finance committee then works within its limit to help build the overall state budget.
This week, the House Democrat majority began rolling out their comprehensive budget bills for every issue area in state government. Most of these committees, such as transportation finance and policy on which I serve, have approved their proposals and they are now moving through the process. The next stop is the Ways and Means Committee, and once approved there, it’s on to the House floor.
Eventually all of the finance bills will be debated on the House floor and approved. Once that occurs, and the Senate has approved similar legislation, a conference committee made up of an equal number of representatives and senators will be called to hash out the differences between the bills. When their work is complete, this compromise proposal will be submitted to both the House and Senate for approval and eventually sent to Governor Walz for his signature.
The 2023 legislative session must conclude on May 22, so expect to hear about a flurry of activity at the State Capitol in the coming days. There’s a lot of work to be done.
Also, stay tuned for details on the spending bills making their way through the process. More on that next week. Being that the Governor, Senate Majority Leader, and House Speaker – all Democrats – agreed to use almost all of our projected $17 billion budget surplus on government program spending, as well as tax increases, there will be plenty of spending to talk about.
Have a good weekend,
John